10/24/2011
I thought the most interesting thing about my day would be that I was forced to use a chalkboard. Usually I have either whiteboards or a document camera and a projector, but today that doc cam wasn't in my room. I had two clean, green chalkboards (not blackboards) in the front and a few sticks of chalk.
I was stressed out. I had never taught with chalk. I'd used it, but teaching forces me to concentrate on my handwriting, legible-ness and keeping my work level (as in flat). When I first started teaching I'd spend time practicing with whiteboards. I haven't logged those hours with a chalkboard yet, so I wasn't confident I could make my work look nice.
The chalk was extremely screechy at first. I had to adjust the angle I held it at and... who'm I kidding, you don't care.
Turns out, it was great! I like the "click click click" sound it makes when I write. I enjoy the fact that I don't get minor highs by standing to close to the board. I think my writing actually looked a lot better. I don't like having chalk on my fingers, but I felt like an old-timey professor. Now I want to get a tweed jacket and a library to put in my house, and debate enthymemes and policies.
No, the most interesting thing was when a student of mine, at Lane Community College, told me he wrote some jokes about me. I knew before this conversation that he was a professional comedian, so I wasn't too offended. I choose to take this as flattery, and he said he'd record them and send them to me. What!? I can't wait, I am so excited. He asked if he could use my name and I told him if he didn't I'd fail him. I'm funny too!!
Having a student in your class who is a comedian is interesting. He doesn't crack jokes at all and is really attentive, but I want him to be funny. I also want to try and be a little funnier myself, to just show how similar I am to this big black guy from North Carolina. Today someone said to him "that sounds pretty intense," and from across the room I was this close to shouting "like the circus fire?"
You know, because circus fires are intense.
I'm glad I restrained.
Other stuff: A student got back a test and on the test she had said 11 - 3 = 7. This isn't a big deal to me, it's a minor brain fart that happens all the time (kind of like real farts), and at least two other students had done the exact same thing (I'm a good teacher!!). What was interesting was how she had been looking at the problem for a few minutes and then said out loud, to me, while going over other test problems: "explain to me how eleven minus three isn't seven." I thought she was kidding and chuckled (she has a good sense of humor, meaning she laughs at all my jokes). Then I looked at her and saw she was serious, and said as kindly as I could "eleven minus three is eight. I'm sorry, I honestly thought you were kidding." She blushed, and we agreed from then on to pretend like she had been kidding all along.
I put off grading till the last minute and got it done like 12 seconds before class started. Procrastination at its finest.
I told a woman that, when teaching high school, I always assume that a student's parents are divorced unless I know otherwise. There have been a couple of times I have said "mom and dad," only to learn that it's just mom or just dad. I never liked putting my foot in my mouth like this. Of course, the woman I told this to was a divorced mom. Is that irony?
It's okay though, because a few minutes later she said "The one advice I would give to people is to not get married at 21," and then promptly said, "you weren't married at 21, were you?" Of course, I was. Is that irony? Does anyone know what irony is?
A guy passed me while biking to work. Then I passed him, then he passed me, then I passed him again, and then he passed me again. We weren't racing (at least I wasn't). It was just how we timed the lights and the traffic, and we were going in the same direction for a long time. I wish I knew Yellow Helmet McWhiteBeard a little better after spending so much time in his vicinity.
I thought the most interesting thing about my day would be that I was forced to use a chalkboard. Usually I have either whiteboards or a document camera and a projector, but today that doc cam wasn't in my room. I had two clean, green chalkboards (not blackboards) in the front and a few sticks of chalk.
I was stressed out. I had never taught with chalk. I'd used it, but teaching forces me to concentrate on my handwriting, legible-ness and keeping my work level (as in flat). When I first started teaching I'd spend time practicing with whiteboards. I haven't logged those hours with a chalkboard yet, so I wasn't confident I could make my work look nice.
The chalk was extremely screechy at first. I had to adjust the angle I held it at and... who'm I kidding, you don't care.
Turns out, it was great! I like the "click click click" sound it makes when I write. I enjoy the fact that I don't get minor highs by standing to close to the board. I think my writing actually looked a lot better. I don't like having chalk on my fingers, but I felt like an old-timey professor. Now I want to get a tweed jacket and a library to put in my house, and debate enthymemes and policies.
No, the most interesting thing was when a student of mine, at Lane Community College, told me he wrote some jokes about me. I knew before this conversation that he was a professional comedian, so I wasn't too offended. I choose to take this as flattery, and he said he'd record them and send them to me. What!? I can't wait, I am so excited. He asked if he could use my name and I told him if he didn't I'd fail him. I'm funny too!!
Having a student in your class who is a comedian is interesting. He doesn't crack jokes at all and is really attentive, but I want him to be funny. I also want to try and be a little funnier myself, to just show how similar I am to this big black guy from North Carolina. Today someone said to him "that sounds pretty intense," and from across the room I was this close to shouting "like the circus fire?"
You know, because circus fires are intense.
I'm glad I restrained.
Other stuff: A student got back a test and on the test she had said 11 - 3 = 7. This isn't a big deal to me, it's a minor brain fart that happens all the time (kind of like real farts), and at least two other students had done the exact same thing (I'm a good teacher!!). What was interesting was how she had been looking at the problem for a few minutes and then said out loud, to me, while going over other test problems: "explain to me how eleven minus three isn't seven." I thought she was kidding and chuckled (she has a good sense of humor, meaning she laughs at all my jokes). Then I looked at her and saw she was serious, and said as kindly as I could "eleven minus three is eight. I'm sorry, I honestly thought you were kidding." She blushed, and we agreed from then on to pretend like she had been kidding all along.
I put off grading till the last minute and got it done like 12 seconds before class started. Procrastination at its finest.
I told a woman that, when teaching high school, I always assume that a student's parents are divorced unless I know otherwise. There have been a couple of times I have said "mom and dad," only to learn that it's just mom or just dad. I never liked putting my foot in my mouth like this. Of course, the woman I told this to was a divorced mom. Is that irony?
It's okay though, because a few minutes later she said "The one advice I would give to people is to not get married at 21," and then promptly said, "you weren't married at 21, were you?" Of course, I was. Is that irony? Does anyone know what irony is?
A guy passed me while biking to work. Then I passed him, then he passed me, then I passed him again, and then he passed me again. We weren't racing (at least I wasn't). It was just how we timed the lights and the traffic, and we were going in the same direction for a long time. I wish I knew Yellow Helmet McWhiteBeard a little better after spending so much time in his vicinity.
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