Beginning-o-the-quarter Reflections: Part One

Our quarter started January 2, so we've been in class exactly two weeks. Some reflections:

1. I'm teaching a 5-day-a-week class for the first time ever. Two sections of a 5-day-a-week class, in fact. I'm second-to-the-lowest in seniority on the full-time totem pole in my department, so my teaching schedule is never ideal. My colleagues have been making sad little clucking noises when I tell them my schedule this quarter.

But so far (and of course it's very, very early), the everyday gig ain't so bad. Most of the students said they chose this schedule because they felt 50-minute classes would work better for their attention spans. And they thought daily homework would help them stay on track more effectively. So their motivation is good. Plus, we've definitely bonded already: every morning when I walk in, they're jab-jab-jabbering away.

I love that.

2. The 5-day-a-week class is also new for me because it's the first real developmental course I've ever taught. I'm using a custom-published textbook that my colleagues initially put together four years ago (before my time here). Some of the material they wrote themselves. And I'm really liking the book: it's got challenging readings that promote discussion about race, class, gender, etc.; an engaging voice; references to our community and our specific students. I feel like I'm learning a lot about developmental comp pedagogy from my colleagues.

I like that.

(The only thing I'd add for the next edition, if I'm asked: much, much more about technology and writing.)

3. Those developmental comp students are incredibly interesting and smart. I did the "I am From" poem thing with them, and some of their poems were just fabulous. I'm collecting them all into a "book" for the students, and I hope to share a couple of them here soon.

4. For the first time in seven or eight years, I'm NOT teaching my writing courses in computer-equipped classrooms. This is not my choice (it's another effect of being the low person on the totem pole for scheduling purposes).

I'm at the point where technology is pretty much essential to my conception of teaching and learning. Not central, perhaps, but still important, necessary. Emailing, discussion-boarding, accessing course materials on Blackboard, connecting to library databases, word-processing, looking up a cultural reference on google, examining (and, more recently, creating) blogs: I have a hard time imagining being in a writing class and not being able to do those things.

Until now, I'd been able to get computer sections of writing courses. No such luck this quarter. But it doesn't suck quite as much as I thought it would. It helps that I've got the developmental comp class--a completely new prep for me anyway. And I'm still putting materials on Blackboard and reserving spaces in our big computer commons area for some class periods. So I guess I'm making it work. Still, I can't help feeling hampered in some way--like I don't have all the tools I need to do my job.

I have more reflections on these opening weeks, but I have to get to another class. So Part Two to come later!