Travel and other news

Let’s see…since last week, I have found 2 more roommates for TESOL and submitted another application for funding. If that gets approved, I should be very close to having the whole cost covered (I won’t know for a month or so, though). Today, I’m going to work on putting together my presentation because I know by the time March comes around, I’ll be much busier with teaching and school work.
Mark has continued to work out arrangements for his auditions. Two of the professors have been particularly helpful—they are even going to have someone pick him up from the airports! Because of the scheduling with one of the schools, Mark will have to fly out early on Tuesday morning, the day after his recital, to audition there on Wednesday. He’ll then come home, but have to leave again on Saturday for another audition. So, he’s trying to be prepared for what will be a really stressful and tiring week and a half. But, after that, all the auditions will be over, and he’ll hopefully be able to relax on Spring Break.
I also wanted to share that our small group from church started the Truth Project study on Tuesday. We’re meeting at our place this month, which is nice. Mark and I completed half of the study in ABQ the summer we moved, and we’ve always wanted to finish it. So far, it’s still great (even the second time!). I think it’s good to have something to challenge us a little more in our faith. And, it will probably be good for our group too, to be able to discuss something more substantial together.

Read any good books lately?

Well, I know lots of you are avid readers, so I'm sure the answer to that question is yes. I've been trying to make sure I still read for fun, even when I'm doing a lot of academic reading. A few months ago, I signed up for the library's book list emails, and I keep my own list of things that look interesting to read. I was just able to check out one of these books last week, and I finished it this morning. It was great! So, I thought I'd recommend Shaffer and Barrows' The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It's made up of letters to and from the various characters, and takes place in Guernsey (an English island between England and France) just after WWII. Check it out!

Coming Together

Now the semester is in full swing. Yesterday, I finally started my second class on L2 research methods. We'll have to write a few small papers, complete other little homework assignments (for no credit!), and design and carry out an original research project. It'll be a significant amount of work, I think; but I had the professor last semester and he's very kind and easy to work with. Now, I just have to figure out what I might want to do for the research project. I already started jotting down ideas yesterday, but I always have a hard time making the decision. I also want to see if I can somehow combine what I'll be working on in the technology class with the research methods class. Maybe I can do a bigger project and turn it in for both...something to check with the professors about.

Speaking of the technology class, I'm really enjoying it so far, and love that both the class time and the readings so far have given me lots of practical ideas for my teaching. Some will be hard to implement in my current class, but I'm keeping a list to use down the road. I have posted my first entry on that class blog now, so if you want to read more about that, I should be updating it weekly.

Besides school, I've been working on finding a roommate for the TESOL convention in March. I'll be presenting a paper, so I can apply for funding, but even if I get the maximum amount from the two available sources, it won't be quite enough. So, I've been emailing, facebooking, and talking to everyone I know, hoping someone else will sign on to split the hotel tab. After about two weeks of real searching, it looks like I've got one! It's actually a friend of a friend of a friend...another grad student from Pennsylvania. She's staying one day longer than I am, but I was able to change my reservation to make it simple for her. Maybe we'll even find a couple more girls to bring the cost down even more. It's been kind of fun to see social networking (via facebook, originally) make this happen.

Also, Mark has been practicing like crazy to prepare for his upcoming auditions and recital. And, he's been invited out for more auditions. So, he's in the process of looking at flights and hotels for those trips, which will be in February and March (I need to write the dates on my calendar, because I can't seem to remember them otherwise). This is great news, because it means that the schools liked his DVDs and are interested enough to ask him to play in person. It also gives him a chance to see the schools and check out their studios (he's been to two of the schools before, but two are new). All the travel will be pricey, but I hope that it leads to him having a choice among several schools for his next step. We're also hoping for a teaching assistantship! I'm convinced that his hard work will pay off, but we'll have to wait a few more months to find out exactly how. It's starting to become more real to me that we could be moving again this summer. I'm not really ready to think about that, but I imagine that once we know where we're going, I'll be able to start getting more prepared and excited. Time sure flies!

Some thoughts from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" yesterday. It's actually in the textbook I'm teaching with for 108, and it's going to be the basis for our class activity on Friday. (Nice timing, what with Monday's holiday, isn't it?) We're using it to practice classical Aristotelian analysis, but the content and eloquence of the letter were really striking to me. I thought I'd post a few quotes as food for thought--it's amazing to me how much of it seems to be quite relevant to our time, despite being written for such a different context. If these quotes make you interested to read the whole letter (it's a bit long, but certainly worth it), you can find it here.

"The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."

"Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application."

"Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."

"Time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively."

"We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right."

"There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days, the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society."

PhD Update

In case anyone is on the edge of your seat about my PhD plans, I thought I should post again to say that I've decided not to apply at this time. Most of my reasons are listed in the previous post, but I also had a good talk with my mom about it on Monday. One of the things she suggested was that if I were supposed to be pursuing it at this time, I would probably feel more at peace about it and be more sure that it was God's plan. She reminded me that I really have been thinking about it and praying about it for over a year and a half, and I never have felt confident that it was the best choice for me. I also think that not applying now doesn't mean I won't ever decide to go for it. Knowing it may be more complicated later for a variety of reasons, I still think that if I ever choose to pursue the PhD, one of the most important factors will be that I know that I know that it's what I want to be doing. That sure-ness is really important to me, and I definitely don't have it now. So, instead of working on that application, I can start gathering information about the kinds of jobs that might be available in the places Mark is applying, and working on my resume.

Other than that, I have now started one of my two classes for EL/L, the Internet Technology for Language Teaching class. The professor is really into this area, and I've heard lots of great things about the class from people who took it last year. I know I'll learn a lot, and I think it will be good for me. I'm not necessarily the type who readily embraces new technology, and I often have a hard time thinking about how to apply it in teaching. But, already, I'm adapting an in-class activity he did with us yesterday to use with my class on Friday. Also, he's asked us to start a blog where we are supposed to write weekly posts related to the class. If that sounds interesting to you (I'll be telling more about the in-class activity after I try it out), you can find it here.

Back to it...

Classes started yesterday, and since I'm now teaching at 8am, Mark and I were up bright and early (actually...it was still dark, but I'm hoping that will change as the semester goes on!). It was a long day, but I think things generally went well. Mark is certainly feeling stressed about auditions and his upcoming recital, but he is working hard and practicing a lot. I'm sure he'll do great. My classes went pretty well--it was the least anxious first day I've ever had, so I think that's good. I have only 20 students enrolled in my 8am class, and 23 in the 9am (they cap the ESL sections at 23 instead of 25). I'm hoping the early one won't fill up, because the smaller class size is definitely good for me (and also for the students). I did have lots of familiar faces in both classes, but I also seem to have a more diverse group in terms of their home countries. I hope that will make for an interesting class. In addition to many Chinese and Taiwanese students, I have two from France, one from Guatemala, one from Colombia, one from Africa (he didn't say which country, but I will find out), one from Saudi Arabia, some Koreans... I was also able to learn quite a few names--it helps to already know some of them, of course. We didn't do much besides introductions and going over the syllabus, but I did have them fill out a little questionnaire as a first in-class writing exercise. I read over those this morning, and it was pretty interesting to see how they answered the questions. (I asked what they learned in 107, what their goals are for this semester, what specific grammar areas they want to work on, and about their reading and writing strategies/processes). I hope to use that info not just to help them, but also to help me with a "brown bag" presentation I'm participating in later this semester and possibly with a research project for one of my classes.

I haven't started as a student yet, because I only have classes on Monday and Tuesday. I did get an email from the professor teaching the Tuesday class (about Internet technology in L2 instruction). He's asked us to create a google account and start a blog, so I created a new blog for the class. I'm interested to see what he'll want us to do with that. He also sent readings for the first day, so I guess I will have homework this weekend after all! My other class won't start next week either, because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so I'll be waiting for a while to see what it'll be like.

In the meantime, I've been working on planning ahead for my class (trying to develop as many of the materials and plans as I can), applying for funding for TESOL, and looking into applying for the SLAT PhD program. Unfortunately, both the funding and the application are due by Feb. 1, which means I have quite a bit to do. Since starting to think seriously again about the PhD, though, I'm wondering if I really do even need to apply. For a long time, I've said I could apply, and postpone my decision longer, thinking there wasn't anything to lose doing it that way. But, the application costs $75, which seems like a lot for something I'm not even sure I want. I can keep mulling it over for a few more days, but I do need to decide quickly so I can ask for the recommendation letters. I guess my thoughts at the moment are leaning towards not applying. Here's why:

• most people in the program are interested in becoming researchers (or college professors). I'm interested in neither.
• while I still feel like there is so much more to learn about this field, many of the areas I'm interested in are not emphasized in the coursework available at UA (for example, adult education, family literacy, civics/citizenship teaching...)
• the PhD also requires a dissertation, and I still have no idea what kind of research I'd want to do. I'm sure I could come up with something, but it seems like to invest that kind of time and energy, I should have a clearer picture of what I might like to do.
• there are other (less stressful) ways to continue to learn--attending conferences, reading journals (which I don't have time/energy to do now), auditing classes or taking them as a non-degree student
• since I know (more or less) what I want to do--teach adults--and my MA will qualify me to do it, it seems strange to put it off longer just to have another degree (which won't really help me in the job market for the kinds of positions I'm interested in)
• it also seems like there are some things that are only learned hands-on. My teaching now is certainly providing some of that experience, but I'd like more. Also, when I really think about it, I enjoy teaching more than the majority of my coursework, so doesn't it make sense to go ahead and teach full-time?

I think there are two main reasons that I find it difficult to make the final decision. One, the SLAT program at UA is a great deal for people coming from EL/L--our coursework transfers, and we keep our GAT position. So, the degree would be completed in less time (I think it could be done in 3 years if I worked myself really hard), and funding is provided (assuming the University doesn't go totally broke). Two, several people have been very outspoken in encouraging me to do it--including Dr. Troike (the EL/L program director), and Pop-Pop. But, I feel like neither of those things is really a defining reason to make this kind of commitment. And, Mark has mentioned that he's really hoping to do his doctorate at a different school, so in that case I'm not even considering continuing on to a PhD. Well, those are my thoughts at the moment. Anyone with advise or other things to consider can post comments, if you'd like...

Pizza Update

Here it is--the best homemade pizza yet! I forgot about taking a picture until after I cut it and Mark got his, but you can still tell how good it looks! I used pizza stone (thanks Diana (and Damon)), and mostly followed the technique (including the dough) from this website, which has become one of my favorite places to look for new recipes. I used the sauce from another blog. (I tried both sauces in earlier attempts, and like the second one better. I double it, so it makes a big batch which I freeze in 1 cup portions and can use whenever--it goes well with crazy bread when we pick up a Little Caesar's pizza). We will definitely be baking another homemade pizza soon; I'll tweak a few things, but this was a success!