Long Weekend

It's kind of strange to have a day off after the first week of school, but I sure am thankful for the long weekend. We don't have any big plans, but I'm hoping to get ahead on classwork and lesson plans (I've been feeling a little behind, and I don't like that at all). As far as school goes, my 101 classes continue to get better, although there's still room from improvement. It's been interesting to see how different the two sections are. So far, one has been much more willing to discuss the texts than the other. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised on Wednesday by the quiet class. Our reading for the weekend was really different from the others so far, and maybe they just needed something different to get their attention. I've just finished grading the first set of homework journals (400 word responses to the readings or a question from me). They were great! I can tell some students have weaknesses with editing or organization, but the ideas are coming across, and they've been very honest with me. It's interesting that some feel very confident about the class while others are worried. It'll be very interesting to see how they all do on the first essay, which is a major part of their final grade. In fact, I'm looking forward to getting through that first unit, too, just to have one under my belt!

As far as the classes I'm taking go, the decision in the Linguistics/Preceptorship conflict has fallen to the 3 of us affected. We've got two choices: enroll in Ling 201, an undergrad class that uses the same book and covers similar material; or stay enrolled in Ling 500, miss all the Thursday classes, and be responsible on our own to stay caught up. It's a big decision that we're all struggling with. On one hand, we have an option that's easier, but may not prepare us as well for the rest of our program, and won't be as interesting or challenging. On the other hand, we have the class we're supposed to be taking, with a great professor, but a lot of independent responsibility since we will miss half of the classes. I don't know if it's wise to jump into that in my first semester of grad school. So, the two others dealing with this issue and I have decided that whatever we do, we will all do. At least then we have each other's support. We're going to talk it over today and decide. Whatever we choose, we're stuck with; hopefully we'll make the best choice.

Mark and I also visited another church this morning. It's our favorite so far! We went to the college service at First Southern Baptist. This college service had more people in it than half the churches we've visited. The worship was great, the teaching was pretty good, and we liked the feel of the crowd. There seemed to be several married couples there, and they have a married student small group that we plan to try out. They have a lot of activities going on outside of the service, too. We haven't decided what to do next week yet, but I think we'll go back to this church before we settle on anything.

Quick Update

It seems we're in the middle of another monsoon storm, so I'll have to make this quick (don't want the computer plugged in if the power goes out again). Thankfully, the first week of school is almost over. The good news is that the classes I taught on Wednesday went SO much better than Monday. I felt better prepared and more confident, probably because I knew what to expect. It was also good to start getting to know the students better and find out about their ideas about the course. I had a couple talk to me after class, and expect things to keep getting better as we get to know each other and I get some more experience. On Wednesday I had them write and talk about their relationship with reading and writing. Several guys in one group, while I was observing them, said "I hate writing" but one said, very quickly, after that, "but I like you." So he was probably just trying to make sure he didn't get in trouble for being honest, but it was still nice.

I'm still waiting on a solution to the issues with my linguistics class, but my other graduate class, Methods of TESOL, was fantastic. I'm really going to be learning a lot, plus having many opportunities to get involved at CESL, which I'm looking forward to. It's really good to have something besides Eng 101 to focus my attention on.

The thunder is still going, so I'm going to have to wrap it up here...

Busy Days

Over the weekend, we went to a party for each of our departments. Saturday night, we went to the EL/L party at the program director's house. It was nice to meet some second year EL/L students and to introduce Mark to the other GATs he's been hearing about. On Sunday night, we went to Mark's percussion professor's house for the studio party. It was my turn to meet the people he's been talking about. It's nice to have faces to go with names, and since I plan to be on campus a lot more than I ever was during undergrad, I think it's likely that I'll get to know Mark's friends more, too. His professor's house was pretty incredible, so it was cool to see it. (And encouraging--if he can afford it, and Mark wants a job like his...) We also tried another church on Sunday. It's really close to us, which is great, and we loved the worship time but weren't sure about the teaching. So, our search will continue next weekend.

Today was our first day of class. Mark had a meeting in the morning and one class in the afternoon. I taught my two sections of English 101. I felt like it went okay, although it could have been better (it also could have been worse). The students seem fine so far, but I was definitely nervous going in and I'm afraid they could tell--especially in the first class. I also thought I had plenty planned, but went through it much faster than I expected and ended up letting them go pretty early. Of course, no one complained about that, but I certainly can't make a habit of it. I expect Wednesday to go better--I should be over the worst of my nerves; and they have homework, so I feel like I can expect more from them. (I sure do hope they do their homework!) I guess it'll just take some time to get a feel for how long things take and how manage the class time. I know I rushed through a few things--I kept thinking "go slower!" I need to learn to be comfortable with some silence after asking questions, to give people a chance to respond. Well, I think I should try not to over-analyze it. I probably need to tweak my lesson plans for Wednesday, and otherwise just keep at it till the class goes the way I'd like it to.

Tomorrow I get to go to my first class. (Actually two, because they are still trying to work out a solution to the Linguistics/Preceptorship conflict.) I'm looking forward to putting some focus back on my primary reason for being here and having something to think about besides English 101!

A Glossary

I've realized that everywhere you go there is a new vocabulary. (I know this is how my replacement at Hoffmantown felt, too...) It seems like during the last two weeks, I have learned a ton of new abbreviations and acronyms. But, even writing this blog, it's clear why people use so many--it's too much work to type it out every time! So, to assist my faithful readers, I have decided to compile a short glossary. This will allow me to use the terminology at will; and hopefully, you'll still know what I'm talking about. Here goes:

CCIT--The name of the building where my 'office' is.
CESL--Center for English as a Second Language. UA's on-campus Intensive English Program (IEP). I hope to work as a tutor here to gain extra ESL experience. I can also do an internship at CESL during my last semester.
COH--College of Humanities. The English Department is part of this College.
D2L--Desire to Learn. UAs online course management system. (Like WebCT at UNM.) As an instructor, I can set up a grade book in D2L which will do all of my calculations. I'm looking forward to using that feature!
EL/L--English Language/Linguistics program. One of four programs within the English Department. My degree is a part of this program.
GAT--Graduate Assistant in Teaching. My official title at UA.
TEAD--I can't remember (or find) what the letters stand for. Faculty advisors for GATs in the Writing Program. My advisor is D.R.
MAESL--Masters of Arts in English as a Second Language. The name of my degree.
ML--Modern Languages. Short for the Modern Languages Building, where, happily, my two English 101 classes meet. Also the home of the English Department, the Writing Program, and my GAT mailbox.
SLAT--Second Language Acquisition and Teaching. The name of the PhD program I would enter if we stay in Tucson.
TESOL--Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. A widespread name for my discipline. Also the name of the professional organization (in that case, T stands for Teachers).
UA or U of A--the University of Arizona.
WIRe--Writing Instructors' Resources. A great website with helpful sample assignments, articles, and general instructions for GATs.

Other news:
I gave Mark a haircut for the first time yesterday. His mom always did it before, but obviously, I had to take over now. It made me a little nervous, but I think it looks okay. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it, though, since he likes to keep his hair short.

Some thoughts on academia

Before we moved to Tucson, I began to realize that I had been living quite a sheltered life, especially for the last year while I was working full time at Hoffmantown. Of course, I couldn't have asked for better co-workers. And I did enjoy being around people who shared the majority of my convictions. Even while I was at UNM, my job (and of course my family) still provided a haven. Well, it's become very clear that I was right about my new environment. Don't get me wrong, everyone I've met so far has been very nice. I've really enjoyed getting to know my fellow GATs and the faculty. It's great to have some new friends already, and since we are in the same discipline, we do have a lot in common. There are lots of things to talk about and so on. But, I'm definitely in the middle of a liberal department where my worldview will be uncommon and frequently challenged. And, I realize that it's good for me--I anticipate having lots of opportunities to discuss my beliefs and convictions. Also lots of opportunities to take another look at what I believe so I can explain/defend it better. I don't know if that really makes sense...but academia is definitely a different environment. (And also one that I enjoy--I have been looking forward to going back to school for a while.)

Another thing I thought I would miss about my old job was all the free food. Actually, my eating habits went down the drain the last month in ABQ because everyone was taking us out and I was eating a lot of going-away desserts, so I thought it would probably be good to have less food temptation. As it turns out, though, I got free lunch yesterday after the graduate college orientation, and another free lunch today during the writing program orientation. I'm assuming I shouldn't get used to it, though.

Also, Mark had some 'diagnostic exams' earlier this week to determine what music history and theory classes he'd need to take. He spent a lot of time preparing for the tests, and got the results this morning when he met with his adviser. He only has to take one music history class, which will count toward his degree, and one undergrad theory class, which he expects to be very easy. The tests were pretty hard, and some of his classmates have to take two undergrad classes, so he's pretty happy with the results. He now has a little more information about what his schedule will look like, but he's still got an audition on Saturday for the large ensembles. Hopefully by tomorrow (I've been saying that for days now), I'll know what my schedule will look like, if they can resolve the conflict with the linguistics class. I guess we'll see.

Getting Organized

It feels like I'm getting settled into a routine. Of course, come Monday, when classes start, it will change again. For now, though, the first part of my day is spent in training and workshopping sessions, then I work independently on my syllabus and other school and home to-do's. When we get home, I cook dinner, then we watch the Olympics. It's good to have a routine again. And, I feel like I'm starting to feel ready to start teaching. I think my syllabus is in pretty good shape; it's due on Thursday morning. Thankfully, we just have to plan out the details of our first unit--about 5 weeks. I've already decided on topics for the final two units and chosen some of the readings, but it does seem wise to wait on putting the details together until I've had some actual classroom experience. It's hard to know if I'm assigning too much or too little homework or if I've prepared enough activities for the class...So the first unit will be a trial run in a lot of ways, but I hope the students won't know that. The way it is set up, though, with the advisor and small group to work with for support throughout the semester, will be really helpful. It's also nice to have already made friends. And I'll be seeing these people in the classes I'm taking as well as working with them as fellow English 101 teachers. I got my teaching assignments yesterday--I'll be teaching on MWF from 1-3pm (two 50 minute classes). That seems like a pretty good schedule, especially since my classes are in the same room, which is in the Modern Languages building, so that's about as convenient as it gets. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for a resolution to a scheduling conflict between the Preceptorship (mandatory weekly meeting for new GAT's) and a class required for my program. Once they figure that out, my schedule will be set. It's a lot more fluid than any schedule I've ever had, so I'm hoping to be able to take advantage of that. Anyway, I think things are coming together...Hopefully next week will go smoothly.

A Taste of Home

Yesterday I finally found the grocery store for us. We've shopped so far at Fry's (like Smith's) and Albertson's, but yesterday, I went to the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. Not only were the prices MUCH better (in fact, several things were exactly the same as in ABQ), but they sell frozen Albuquerque Tortilla Company green chile. So far, we had only been able to find canned, which is okay, but we're pretty excited that we've found the real thing now. I didn't see any red, but we use green a lot more anyway, so that's fine. Also, they match other store prices, so if I can figure out how to get the weekly ads at home, we'll be all set.

In other news, we tried another church this morning: Crossroads Community Baptist Church. It was another very small church, so everyone knew we were visitors, and they were very friendly. But, it didn't feel like the place for us, so the search continues. We've noticed a couple of other churches nearby, but it's hard to know where to go next. We're hopeful that getting involved in a Christian group on campus will help in two ways: we'll start to meet other Christians, and they may recommend churches in town. I just hope we are able to find a place we are excited about before long--I would hate to spend all semester going from one church to another.

Mark is busy today studying for his entrance exams--he takes one on music history tomorrow and one on music theory on Tuesday. After those tests, he'll be able to meet with the graduate music adviser and finalize his schedule. He's also got auditions for the large ensembles at UA on Saturday, so he'll be very busy this week. I'm going to spend some more time working on my syllabus this afternoon, and getting ready for 4 more days of training before school starts.