Really Looking Forward to the Weekend

I'm so glad it's Friday! This has been a really busy week, but it has flown by. Mark's parents and Katie will be arriving in Tucson around 3 this afternoon, and then I get to take the weekend off and enjoy some family time. It will be a much-needed break for me (and Mark, too).

When I was getting the apartment cleaned up yesterday, I tried a cleaning tip I'd read online a while ago. Our shower curtain liner had become pretty soap-scummy, and since Katie will be staying with us, I thought it might be time to do something about it. So, I took it down and tossed it in the washer on the delicate cycle, warm water, with some regular detergent and a splash of bleach. I added a splash of vinegar with the rinse cycle, and voila! I had a sparkling clean liner! I tried it because I figured there was nothing to lose (I could buy a new one if it got ruined), but I was very impressed. Mark even noticed the difference--I may never buy a new liner again!

In other news, Mark had a Wind Ensemble concert last night which I really enjoyed. He seemed to think it went well, too, which was good. This morning I completed our FAFSAs in a mad dash, having just realized earlier this week that our school's priority deadline is March 1. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to file our taxes yet (still waiting on some paperwork from Schwab), so I had to make a lot of guesses on the FAFSA. They allow you to come back and make adjustments, so I'm expecting to need to do that after we get our taxes done. What a chore!

I'm not sure what we'll do this weekend with our visitors, but I know we'll have fun! I hope to post some pictures documenting our adventures early next week. Till then...

Tough Week

I know it's only Tuesday, but this week is off to a tough start so far. Yesterday I was feeling so tired and overwhelmed. I think it came from having worked essentially two full days over the weekend (grading papers, reading, doing chores, etc.) and jumping into a long Monday (finishing everything that didn't get done over the weekend and having class till 9:30pm). It's not easy knowing that we have somewhere to be every night this week, too. It's certainly not that I want to just sit around for hours and hours, but I am feeling like I'd really like just one day off! I hope this weekend will be more refreshing--it should be fun with Mark's family here to visit. The only down side is that I'll have to work extra hard at the end of this week and the beginning of next to stay on schedule. I guess all this means it's really good that Spring Break is just two weeks away. (On the other hand, that means the semester is almost halfway over, which makes me feel stressed again!)

As far as what's been happening over the last week, we were able to celebrate Mark's birthday with dinner and dessert out, then I baked a cake on Saturday (which is disappearing fast!). I did get all my 102 papers graded and returned them in class yesterday (one of the most depressing days of the semester, because some of them are always disappointed, and that kind of ruins the atmosphere in the class for a few days...). This morning I also started tutoring a student through CESL, which means extra income and some more experience for me. The tutor coordinator asked today if I could take on any additional students, which I'd love to do financially, but unfortunately, I don't feel like I have time. I told her I'd take as many as I can in the summer, though, so I hope there's still some need by then. I've just about finished my short assignment for Contrastive Rhetoric, but I'm still debating between two possible final projects. I'll have to decide by 3pm tomorrow so I can get it turned in. Mark is busy as always practicing and in rehearsals. He's got a concert this week and two next week. At least we're both busy at the same time!

Quick Update

Amazingly, it's Wednesday again already. Time sure flies by! Today is Mark's birthday, so at least we have a dinner out to look forward to!

Other than that, I have made some progress in choosing paper topics. I did meet with the CR professor yesterday, and after that, spent a couple of hours writing out ideas and research questions. Now I feel like I have some interesting possibilities to choose from. I've also made progress on the short assignment comparing Bible translations, and that's pretty interesting, too.

Today, my 102 students are turning in their first essay. I'm very interested to see how they turn out and also try my new rubric. I hope I like it and that it helps my grading to go faster. We're meeting at CESL today for an "exchange" (students from my class and one of their classes just talk in pairs or small groups for the duration of the class). This activity went really well last semester; I'm just hoping everyone will find the right place, since they also have to turn in their essays.

So, I'm getting ready for a busy end of the week and weekend: grading papers, doing preliminary research for my own projects, and getting through a lot of reading. Let's hope I can get it all done! The nice thing is that since I'm only teaching one class, my grading will be done in essentially half the time it took last semester. I'll teach two classes all year next year, so I need to really enjoy this reduced grading load while I can!

Project Ideas

I've been spending a good deal of time over the last week trying to generate ideas for the final projects in my classes and make a decision about which idea to run with. This has been both time consuming and frustrating. When I started thinking about it, I realized that it's always been hard to make up my mind about assignments that were pretty unstructured--it's easier when I'm told specifically what to do and then just have to do it. Of course, I find myself giving my own students lots of freedom when I can because it seems like assignments will be both more useful and more interesting to them if they have the ability to choose topics that interest them. Especially at the graduate level, it makes sense for the instructors to allow a lot of leeway--they certainly don't want to read a bunch of papers on identical topics, and we should be eager to explore our own interests.

But, as I said, I'm having trouble both generating ideas and choosing an idea to pursue further. This seems to be something I have trouble with across the board, since I'm usually an indecisive person (as many of you know, it's hard for me to decide what to order at a restaurant!). The good news is that I have decided on the topic for my final paper in Dr. Troike's class (the meaning and use of prepositions in Spanish and English). I plan to visit another professor's office hours on Tuesday to talk with her about options for the Contrastive Rhetoric (CR) class. The other class is the one with the very laid-back professor. I think I'm going to keep waiting to see what exactly he's expecting from us.

I'm also having to make some choices for a short assignment in CR, but I think I've settled on an idea, if she approves it, that will analyze and compare the same passage in two different Bible translations. (The assignment is basically to compare/contrast two texts of the same genre looking for differences in linguistic structure and content, and how those differences influence the audience's interpretation of the text.) As I was doing some reading online about translations and translation methods, I came across this site about scripture memorization, which seems to be based on a really good idea, but is actually a little cheesy. Well, now I'm off on a tangent...I hope to have decided on topics by the end of the week, at least for CR, since a preliminary project proposal is due next Wednesday!

Other than that, we're looking forward to a visit from Mom, Dad, and Katie at the end of the month--what would you all like to do while you're here? (Besides go back to Magpie's, that is.)

Teacher/Course Evaluations

Last week I got my evaluations (TCEs) from last semester. I first took a look at some reports online, but never having seen them before, it was difficult to interpret the numbers. On Thursday, though, my TEAD met with each of us individually during our preceptorship time to discuss our results. She said mine were really good! (especially, she said, considering this was my first time teaching composition). She told me to just pat myself on the back because they were great scores. That was really nice to hear! On Friday, I went to the English office to read the handwritten comments the students wrote (online, I can only access the results of the multiple choice type questions). Of course, the comments were really interesting. Most of them were pretty positive (like "this class was a pleasant surprise" or "the teacher was always willing to help") but it's funny how the couple of negative ones stick in my mind (I had one student who gave me the lowest scores possible all the way through the multiple choice questions and wrote some harsh comments, too). The TCEs are anonymous, but I know who some of the comments came from (I know their handwriting, or their major), and I'm pretty sure I know who the disgruntled one was. I guess that doesn't really matter, but it was interesting to see what some particular students said. In the end, I'm glad DR met with me to explain the TCEs and assure me that they were really good overall, otherwise even those few negative comments could be really discouraging. On the other hand, I know I can't please everyone (and it's not my job, either). One student wrote how all the workshopping was the best part of the class, while another said, "too much workshopping!" Ultimately, the results have to be taken with a grain of salt. And I guess a few complaints like that (or "the grading was really hard") actually mean I was doing things right. Hopefully, having good TCEs will help me get a summer job with the writing program...

Other than that, the weekend went by really fast (as always). Mark played a concert with SASO on Sunday (he's got another one next Sunday, too). I did some reading for my classes and the usual chores, and that's about it. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do for the final projects in two of my classes, but I didn't come up with any brilliant ideas over the weekend (Although I dreamed last night that I had dozens of ideas, which I was writing on little slips of paper so I could draw one out of a hat, or something. Of course, I don't remember what any of those ideas were.). Hopefully I'll make some progress this week, because I can already tell the end of the semester will be really crazy, and my only defense is to get a head start.

Interview Update

The interview at CESL yesterday went well--it was really quite informal, since they had already decided to hire me. Unfortunately, the lady I needed to talk to in the administrative office to complete paperwork was in a meeting yesterday, so I still have to connect with her to get my paperwork processed and find out the details about how I'll get paid, etc. I'm working on the giant packet of paperwork now, and I hope to hear back from her about when I can bring it in soon. Then (I think) I'll be ready to go.

Bits and Pieces

I don't have anything terribly interesting to write about, but I thought I'd mention a few little things. First, the weather here is just beautiful again. We had a little "cold snap" last week (I even wore a sweater on Tuesday!), but today the high is in the upper 70s again. (Which makes me wonder: why am I sitting here in a cold building working on the computer? I should be outside!) I know Mom Cook will be disappointed to hear about the warm weather, but I want you to know that I'm pulling for another cooling trend when you come to visit!

Other than that, classes are going pretty well, although it's hard to believe it's February already. In about two weeks, I'll be collecting the first essay from my 102 class. So far, I seem to be on top of things in Dr. Troike's class--we had a little "quiz" today on phonetics and I didn't run into any trouble. I'm still trying to figure out the Professor in my Monday night class--we still don't really understand what the assignments are all about, but our "symposium" (party) last night seemed to go fine.

And, I finally connected with the tutor coordinator at CESL and we're meeting tomorrow afternoon. She's going to "interview" me and then set me up with a student who needs to be tutored. I hope it'll be only a couple hours a week, because my course load is certainly heavier this semester, but I don't want to turn down the work. I'll be asking tomorrow about how much tutoring I might be able to do in the summer, when I'll have the time and need the money! I'm still working on various leads for summer jobs, but won't really know what's going to work out until the end of the semester.

I could also mention that the AZ State Legislature passed some huge budget cuts to education, exceeding the amount the university president said UA could manage reasonably. Changes are happening fast, and I'm just hoping my contract will stay in place for next year. More cuts are on the way next year, too, so everyone's on edge at the moment. But that's all out of my hands, so I just have to continue trusting that the Lord led us here and will continue to provide for our needs.