Moving right along

I'm in the thick of grading papers. But, I feel like I'm getting the hang of it. Though I collected essays on Wednesday and did take a look at them, I didn't really start grading till Friday. I was nervous about it, so I decided to wait till after our grading workshop in preceptorship on Thursday afternoon. At the moment, I've graded about twenty, with the goal of finishing one section by the end of the weekend. That leaves about five for tomorrow. I'll meet with DR on Monday to go over my grades and get her approval, then I'll grade the second set of papers. I'm hoping to have them all graded and returned by Wednesday. They are fun to read, since this assignment had a personal element. So I'm learning a lot about my students. But it is really difficult to put down the letter grade, because even with the rubric, grading is really quite subjective. So far, there seems to be a pretty good distribution of grades, with most falling in the B-C range. Still, it's not easy--I don't want to be too easy on them, but it's hard to be harsh when you know the student and want them to be successful. I also have to keep reminding myself that they aren't all shooting for A's like I did, so maybe a C is what they are looking for; maybe it won't be disappointing to them. I imagine some of this nervousness will pass with more experience. I think it'll also be easier to grade an assignment that doesn't include the personal element. We'll see about that in four weeks when I collect Essay 2.

In other news, I went to the English Dept party last night and although it was a nice event, it was a bit disappointing. I spent the evening with the other GAT's in my group, so that part was fun. Since we usually see each other on campus and mostly talk about school, it was good to socialize and talk about other things. But, the four of us felt disappointed that there were no other EL/L students there. Not one! We had all come hoping to get to know some of the other EL/Lers better, and maybe talk with some faculty, but neither happened. I think it's been harder for us to get to know other people in our program because of the Linguistics conflict--we would have seen other first year students more often if we had been in that class with them. And it seems like I should have gotten to know some of the second year students by now, but I haven't really. I missed the last EL/L get-together, which was a happy hour, so I wasn't sure I wanted to go anyway, but hopefully I'll make the next one and start to feel more connected.

Some exciting news--Mark has his first student taking lessons starting tomorrow. He also got a call today to play 2 concerts with the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra. Both of these are thanks to his professor recommending him. My TEAD plays in the SASO, so I think it's cool that Mark will get to play with her and I'll get to see them both perform. (That is, if he can get me a ticket--they're $20 each!) But I think it's exciting that his name is starting to get around here in Tucson.

Calm Before the Storm

The last couple of days have actually been pretty quiet, which is strange, because I know I'll be feeling quite overwhelmed by about 3pm today. By then, I'll have a giant stack of 50 papers to grade. (And not just the papers, but all the drafts we've been working on in class for the last week and a half). Thankfully, I planned ahead and brought an extra bag with me to carry them all in. Knowing I'll be busy grading, I've been trying to work ahead on my lesson planning and whatever else I can think of. I think my lessons for the next couple of weeks are pretty much done now, and I'm caught up on reading for the classes I'm taking. So I guess that means I can try to take it easy this morning.

Also, Mark has his first concert tomorrow night. He's in the Wind Ensemble here (that's the highest band). It's kind of strange knowing I'll be going by myself, since in ABQ I was usually with at least my parents and Mark's parents, and often some grandparents, too. I don't really mind going alone; it'll just be different. But it does feel like a long time since I've seen him play, so I'm looking forward to it. Of course, the concerts I'm most exited about are the Steel Band and Crosstalk ones. Steel Band is in November, but Crosstalk won't be till the spring. Anyway, we've got the concert on Thursday, then I'm going to the English Department party on Friday. I thought when we moved we might spend more evenings at home, but since the semester started, I think we've had stuff (dinners, lectures, small group) several nights a week. So it goes...

Sunday Lunch

We had lunch this afternoon with Aunt Linda and Uncle Chuck. First, they came to see our place, then we went to Claim Jumper. The restaurant has a great menu, and we were all stuffed by the time it was over. Their desserts look incredible, but we weren't able to try one today. Mark and I will certainly be going back just for dessert sometime. They have a GIGANTIC 6-layer chocolate cake, and a mud pie that we imagine Mark's dad would enjoy. Really, I'd have tried just about any dessert on the menu. Besides the good food, it was nice to spend some time with Aunt Linda and Uncle Chuck. They come down about once a month to spend a weekend with her son and his family in Tucson, so hopefully next time they're here, we can all get together.

It's amazing how quickly the weekends pass, although the weeks are flying by, too. Monday is the beginning of the 5th week of the semester, already! I'll be collecting my first set of essays from English 101 on Wednesday, so I'll be buried in grading for the next week or so after that. I'm excited (and a little nervous) to see how the papers look. And, as I've already mentioned, grading will be a challenge, so we'll see how that goes. I think the first set will be the hardest. I'm worried about having to give failing grades--I know that will be hard for me. On the other hand, I know not everyone in the class will pass. By this stage in the semester, though, I'm getting to know them and wanting them all to succeed. So, we'll see how it goes. Mark has already volunteered to encourage me to grade harshly. This also means I'm getting ready for a very busy week and weekend. Thankfully, I think this assignment will be particularly interesting because I'm asking for the essays to have a personal component. We'll see how it goes...

Unexpected Plans

Yesterday Mark and I were pleasantly surprised by a call from Steve Barber. He was in Casa Grande, visiting his sister and her family. You may remember that we went up to Casa Grande shortly after moving to Tucson and visited Eric and Stephanie's church. They told us Steve was coming out in the fall and suggested that we get together, but with school and everything we had completely forgotten. Steve, thankfully, remembered to call, even though it was a little last minute. So, at lunch time on Friday, we decided to drive on up to Casa Grande and have dinner with Steve, Stephanie, and the kids (Eric had a meeting and couldn't make it). We ate at a family-owned Mexican place; the food was pretty good. It was really fun to catch up with Steve and get to know Stephanie and her kids a little bit. They are a very kind family. And although I keep tabs on Steve, Ann, Ellie and Luke through Ann's blog, it was great to see him in person. (Just too bad the rest of the family wasn't there too!) So, last night was really fun, but I sure felt tired after the longer-than-expected day. Of course, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get together with a good friend--who knows when our paths will cross again. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, too. Aunt Linda and Uncle Chuck will be in town, so we're going to show them our place and have lunch together. Overall, this turned into a pretty exciting weekend!

Audio Illusion

Our linguistics professor showed us this "Audio Illusion" today in class and I thought you might have fun with it. Go to this you tube video and play it three times. The first time, listen to the video with your eyes closed and write down what sound you hear. Then, watch the video without the sound and write down what sound you see him making. Finally, watch with the sound and write what you think you hear.

Here's what's going on--it's called the McGurk Effect. You should have written down three different sounds, one for each time you watched the video. When we listen with our eyes closed, we hear ba, ba, ba. That's what the sound track actually says. When we watch without sound, we think he's saying ga, ga, ga, because the man we see is actually saying ga (we know by how his mouth looks). When we watch with sound, we think he's saying da, da, da, because we are combining the input we hear and see, trying to make sense of it. (b, d, and g are related sounds--d and g are the same except for where our tongue is (middle vs. back of the mouth), b is different because of where the tongue is (front) and because the lips are together.) So when we hear him saying ba, but it looks like he should be saying ga, our mind tries to find something in the middle, and we hear da. Cool, right?

Monday Night Small Group

I've already mentioned the small group we've been going to on Monday nights. We liked the people but really didn't care for the book they're using. So, we were delighted last night when one of the couples asked everyone what they thought of the book. As it turns out, no one's really enjoying it! Apparently, the first few chapters were pretty good, but by the second half (which is about where we came into it), people felt like the authors were 'beating a dead horse.' Mark and I thought the book was too self-help focused and not at all Bible-focused, and the others agreed. So, although the leaders of the study are still out of town, we unanimously decided last night not to finish this book. Next week, the guy who had already volunteered to lead will choose a topic/passage to cover and we'll all bring suggestions for what to study next. It sounds like we may just walk though a book of the Bible, which would be SO much better. I'm thinking about suggesting a precept study or one of the Following God studies. Any other suggestions? Hopefully, the leader will be okay with our decision, but the couples that know him well (we've only met once) think it won't be a problem. I think, now that we're changing direction with the materials, Mark and I will stick with the group and enjoy getting to know the other couples better.

Some other good news--Mark has been talking with his friends who teach at high schools, asking if they would refer students to him for lessons. It sounds like some of his friends have students interested in taking lessons, so hopefully they will sign up with Mark. Last night, we made some business cards for him to pass out. Since we have the marimba and snare drum at home, this would be an ideal work option for Mark. Plus, he'll make a great hourly wage and have some flexibility in scheduling. He's hoping to have a few students even by the end of the week, which would be great!

Second Language Teachers' Symposium

Today I went to the College of Humanities Second Language Teachers' Symposium. Attending fulfilled one of the requirements for my Methods of TESOL class. We were supposed to go to a professional development event, this one or AZTESOL. This one was free, the other cost $75. So, that settled it. It was convenient, because the symposium was in the Modern Languages building, and Mark needed to be on campus today, too, so we just went together. There was a keynote address, then 3 concurrent sessions. Overall, it was pretty good, but the material was definitely geared to Foreign Language teachers, like Spanish and German teachers in the public schools at the university level. Of course, there are many similarities between teaching one of those languages and teaching English, but more so when you teach English in another country (EFL vs. ESL). Anyway, the 3rd breakout session I went to was great, particularly because it will really help me with the third unit I'm teaching in English 101. It was a presentation about incorporating films into second language classes. The presenters both teach Spanish at the university, but designed the presentation to show how films can be used in accordance with the 5 standards used in Tucson public schools. It was interesting to see how they lined up the film and activities with those standards (and to know what foreign language teaching standards look like in public school), but the best part was that the film they used as an example is one I was considering showing my 101 class later this semester--Under the Same Moon. They showed some clips and provided us with a thorough lesson plan based on that particular movie. So, I've decided to go ahead and show the movie in my class, and I've got a whole bunch of discussion questions and topics for further research to use! The theme for my third unit in 101 is the border, and the movie is an engaging story that explores how the family is affected when parents come to the US to work and leave kids behind in Mexico. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in exploring border issues, or just looking for a good tear-jerker. So, overall, I was glad I went today. Now I'm supposed to write a 1-page summary report for my Methods class, but I'm not sure how to include everything about the day in one page--I'm sure I've gone over that already here, and I haven't even touched on the other sessions. I guess I'll have to make it work, though. Plans for the rest of the weekend are pretty low key--some reading for school, some housework, maybe a movie...

Some good news

Last night, Mark and I went back to the young married small group. We enjoyed this second visit more than the first, and I think we'll probably keep going. There seem to be about 5 couples involved, plus the older couple that leads. Right now, the leaders are out of town, so the group is meeting at each other's homes. As we were sharing prayer requests with another couple last night, I mentioned feeling a little homesick, and as it turned out, the wife felt the same way when they first moved to Tucson a year ago. She was really sympathetic, and made sure to give me her number so we can get together sometime. So, now it's up to me to take the initiative and get to know her better. Also, I talked to Pop-pop today (Happy Birthday, again!) and he was also sharing with me about their experiences during all the moves they had during the first half of their marriage. It's good to know that it's not weird to feel homesick, and that it'll pass with time as we get more involved here. (Not to say we won't still want to stay in touch with everyone at home!).

Also, I thought some of you might be interested to see this. I applied for this scholarship over the summer. I was notified that I was one of the recipients back in August, but I just found this page a few days ago. There should be something in "Dollars and Sense" when August statements come out, too.

A little homesick

It always feels like Monday comes too quickly...but, here I am at the end of another one! The weekend went well. Thankfully, I didn't feel like I had as much school work to do, so I had some down time to just relax, especially on Sunday afternoon. Mark, on the other hand, was quite busy, since he had his first lesson on Friday and his second today. He practiced most of the afternoon on Sunday. So, that left me alone at home, which hasn't really happened much yet, since he and I are coming and going together most of the time. I did some reading, watched a movie, talked to my mom for a bit, and started feeling quite homesick. I've resisted writing about that feeling so far, but maybe it'll help. I feel quite thankful that I've got kind of an instant set of friends--the other first year GATs who are also in the EL/L program. And I am enjoying getting to know them. It's nice to be with people who are doing exactly (or almost exactly) what I am. It gives us a lot in common from the start. But, it's no substitute for people who already know you like friends and family back home. I guess part of that is because of my personality. It takes me a while to feel like I really know other people and to let them really get to know me. And it's like I've left a whole other life behind. Maybe this is what it's like for anyone the first time they leave home. I try not to dwell too much on what's going on in ABQ, or I feel like I'm missing out. On the other hand, I do think about everyone. I miss my old office, for example. Right now, I'm in the computer lab at my new office. During orientation, they talked about how it was so hard to get work done here because there's always so many people around...I thought it would feel familiar, a bit like the office I left. But, so far, it's been almost deserted! The nice part about that is, of course, that I get a lot of work done here, there's always a computer available, etc. But I miss having people nearby to talk to. Occasionally, I see someone I know, but usually just in passing. It's not like at H-town where walking up and down the hall could take half an hour because everyone is visiting with you. So I miss that. And of course, my fantastic co-workers there. It's the same with church. Yesterday, we went back to First Southern Baptist's college worship service, and tonight we're going to go again to their small group study for 'young marrieds.' I think we may continue to go to this church, and maybe stay in the small group. It was really nice to meet a handful of other young couples still in or recently graduated from college. But being there made me miss our friends from home, too. I guess it'll just take some time to start feeling the same way about people here that I do about the people from home. Of course, the wonderful part of all this is being with Mark. I think I'd have a really hard time if I didn't come home to someone I already know well at the end of each day. Like everyone said before we moved, it is good for us to depend more on each other, and of course on the Lord. So, those of you who are reading this in ABQ--know how much I miss you. And don't worry (mom), despite feeling a little lonely from time to time, I am still glad to be here, and I know it'll start to feel more and more like home, too.

Week 2

I've made it through the second week! I think I'm close to finding a good routine that works for me, although Mark and I are both having a hard time getting home after 6 four nights a week. The main problem is that we're starving and it still takes at least half an hour to get dinner on the table. But, the mornings are more leisurely than ever because neither of us has to be at school till 11. We go earlier anyway, around 9:30. I'm spending a lot of time in the computer lab at CCIT (where my desk is). The main problem with that is it's really cold! But, I've been finding plenty to do.

So far, I'm really enjoying my classes, and the teaching is getting easier every day (although it's still very time consuming). My Methods of TESOL class is my favorite. It meets on Wednesdays from 4-6:30. This week, one of the other GATs and I gave a presentation on the Grammar-Translation Approach. (This is how most Latin and Greek courses are taught--lots of memorizing rules and vocabulary and translating). It went pretty well, I think; and it was a good idea to get it out of the way. Of course, giving the presentation isn't what I like about the class--it's taught by the director of CESL and I think she's really great. Plus, two people bring a snack to each class, which is a nice touch. I expect that class will give me the theoretical background I don't really have yet. (although I have learned about some of the techniques we're reading about at workshops in the past.) Next week, I'll be observing a class at CESL as part of an assignment for the class. I think I will really benefit from observing seasoned ESL teachers, so I'm looking forward to it. (We have to do 3 during the semester). My linguistics class was actually cancelled on Thursday, so I don't really know anything else about it. Sometime soon we need to meet with the professor and hammer out the details about the extra work we need to do. It sounds like we also need to get some kind of description about the course on paper since we're technically enrolled in an independent study. That way, when someone wants to know down the road what it was about, there will be a record in our files. So that's kind of how classes are going...

Teaching this week was also better. I feel like I'm getting to know the students, slowly but surely. I think I have most of their names down, which really helps during class. Today, D.R. observed my 2pm class. I was a little nervous about it, but it's part of the Preceptorship. And, it seems like the observation is designed to help me more than it is to evaluate me, if that makes sense. We talked for almost an hour afterwards, but mostly she said that I was doing a good job. Of course, she also had some suggestions for things I could work on, but overall I got the impression that I'm on track. Which is great, because having never done anything like this, I've been wondering if I'm doing a good job. I still think I need to work on the questions I ask in class, making sure they're the kind of questions that invite discussion. Also, it's still awkward for me when I'm trying to get the students' attention back after they've been working in groups. Everyone says, don't talk over them! It's weird, though, to just stand in the front of the class until they notice I'm up there again. I'm afraid they'll just keep talking forever! But I assume I'll figure it out with more practice. I do feel like I'm spending a lot of time thinking about my teaching--trying to evaluate what's working, what's not, how to get them to think more about the readings, how to get the quiet ones to speak up in class, etc. Teaching these two sections takes a lot of time, but I the experience is essential for me. Even though I don't see myself teaching "First Year Composition" forever, I will be teaching some ESL writing in the future, so I hope I can use/adapt many of the activities I'm using now. This week in Preceptorship we started talking about grading essays--digging into the debate about directive vs. facilitative comments. It's a really interesting topic, and one I've never thought about before. The basic contrast is between comments that give students specific instructions on what to do with their writing (move the thesis here, give an example, etc.) or ones that invite students to think about how to improve their writing (what about moving this sentence? How does this relate to your thesis?). Of course, it seems to me that the best approach is a little bit of both. I'm beginning to realize, though, what a challenge grading the first essays will be. But, I'll be able to compare notes with other GATs, so that should help. We'll see how it goes in a few weeks. In the end, I just hope the students are able to improve their reading and writing skills, and that maybe they even like writing more or feel more confident with their writing.

Now that it's the weekend, I plan to do some rearranging at the apartment--they finally finished the door on our outside storage closet, so I'm looking forward to moving some stuff out there (golf clubs, suitcases, etc). Also, I've got some short journal assignments to grade, and some reading to start on for the Methods class. And I plan to watch a movie from Netflix. Exciting, right? :-)

Linguistics Update

We decided yesterday to go ahead and stay in the Linguistics 201 course. All of us were uncomfortable with missing half of the other class and decided it would be unwise to put extra pressure on ourselves during the first semester. Our program director and the 201 professor will be talking about what extra assignments to give us to bring the course up to graduate level (we'll actually enroll in Linguistics 599, which is an independent study) and make sure that we are prepared for the next class in our program. At this point, it's just nice to have a decision made, and we'll make the best of it from here on out. I do hope this is the last time we'll run into this kind of issue, and that this won't happen to next year's students!