Midterm

So we have officially reached the midpoint of the semester, and everything is chugging along. I gave out midterm grade reports at the end of last week, and was pretty surprised when all the failing students accepted their grades gracefully. I usually have at least one freak-out, so it was nice to not have to deal with that. The freaking out actually came from the A students, many of whom wanted to know why they had a 96 instead of 100. "Teacher, WHY?" Perfectionists.

So after that, I needed a vacation. Enter spring break! Perfectly timed to come after midterms. Cary and I had a house blessing and housewarming party the first Saturday of the break, which went really well, but had me cleaning like I have never cleaned before all week. I dusted furniture crevices that will never be seen by anyone. My mom was really proud when she got here the day of the party to help set up. The clean gene is totally dominant in her, but not in me at all. I am just like my dad - where I drop something when I come in the door is generally where it belongs. I've gotten tidier since I got married, because Cary is very organized and clutter stresses him out, but this degree of cleaning was a real stretch for me. And in the end, the house looked beautiful and the party was a success. Who knows? It's taken me almost 25 years to get this organized, so maybe by the time I'm 50, I'll have some semblance of organization on a day-to-day basis.

After the party, I headed down to my hometown to help Suzanne do wedding stuff for the first half of the week. Really, she didn't need much help, as she is totally full-steam-ahead with the wedding planning, but I enjoyed giving it anyway. I went dress-shopping with her and Mama, and she found a really beautiful dress. She looked great in everything, but the dress she found was truly stunning on her. I wish I could post a picture, but sadly, I can't. I can post a picture of my bridesmaid's dress, though. I am thrilled that it's not super bridesmaid-y.

See? Very glamorous, and not something that I will cringe at when I look at pictures 10 years from now. I also got to help taste-test wedding cake - obviously a crucial job for the matron of honor. Other than that, I had a restful half-week at my parents' house, while Suzanne and Mike and my mom ran around meeting photographers, videographers, etc. How nice it is now to help with wedding stuff and not be the bride!

I came back home on Wednesday and have been relaxing ever since. I had lunch with Cary at work yesterday, and checked out five books from the library, which I've read two of already. Tomorrow Cary and I are having a date day, which I'm really looking forward to. So overall, a lovely spring break! I love my job, but sometimes I wish I were independently wealthy so I could just do fun stuff all the time. But I imagine it would get old.

Debriefing

So now I'm at the end of the first week of classes, and I have some time to catch my breath. The first week went pretty well. Points of interest:

1. My reading/writing class is really low. Like, I'm having to define words like "process" and "war" for them. Their listening and speaking abilities are really low too. I have to talk... like... this. After class today, I went back to my office and started explaining to my office mate about the space heater I brought in... and I talked... super... slow... until I realized he spoke English.

2. My reading/writing textbook is organized weirdly. Instead of focus on one reading strategy at a time, it focuses on like, six. I'm not sure I like this.

3. Holy level-changing students, Batman! We sometimes have to move students around after class starts, if it's apparent that they would be better suited to a higher or lower level class. I usually have one or two. But this semester, I had two move up out of my class, one move up into my class, and two move down into my class. Combine that with the fact that half the class can't seem to make it to school at 8:30, and I have a class I feel like I barely know.

4. My advanced academic spoken English class is all men. Six guys, four from the Middle East. I always wonder with Middle Eastern men think about being taught by a woman - I know in many countries, men and women go to separate schools. I was a little intimidated at first, but they all seem laid-back and ready to learn. It's a little strange being the only girl in the room though - even my language assistant is a guy. But on the other hand, I always have the women's room to myself.

5. We had a bunch of students register late, so I get to add another class starting next week, which brings me up to... full-time hours!

So all in all, things are pretty good. Tomorrow morning I'm interviewing for a full-time lecturer position at the ELI. I know whatever is supposed to work out will work out, but I'm still a little nervous - I didn't really have to have a formal interview for the job I have now - I got a teaching assistantship and then stayed on after graduation. So that said, I need to go practice my presentation. Good stuff.

Back-to-school

This week was the first week of classes for the spring, which is always interesting and challenging in an up-in-the-air kind of way. In the department in which I work, we teach only international students, and there is a lot of turnover from semester to semester. Every semester we have a lot of returning students, but also a lot of students who are brand new to the US. Because we can't be sure of whose visa will get approved, who will actually come up with the money to travel, etc., we can't be sure of who's going to be here until they're here the first week of class. That means that it's impossible to know how many classes are needed or who will teach what until all the students have been processed and placement-tested. We spend the first part of the first week of class doing that, and then we start classes a few days after the rest of the university. It's really the only way this can be done, but is a little stressful for me as a teacher because I don't find out what I'm teaching, or how much, until the day before.

This semester there was some added stress because I quit at the community college, for various reasons. Partly it's because I'm hoping to get a full-time position (with benefits) at the university starting in the second half of the semester, so I couldn't commit to a full term at the community college in case I had to leave in the middle. But even if I don't get the full-time position, I've been wanting to have full-time hours at the university - teaching international students is really my passion, and I can do that better at the university. Without the guarantee of half my income coming from the community college, however, things got a little stressful for me this week while I waited to see if I would have full-time work this semester or not. Yesterday I thought I was only going to have half-time work, which led to some fun panicky emails to check on potential tutoring jobs, but today everything worked out because I was asked to help develop and concurrently teach a spoken English class in a related department to my department. This adds a quarter time to my teaching appointment, and I will try to add another class in Spring B to bring me up to full-time again. I'm really excited about the course-development thing. It will definitely be a challenge, but I think it will be fun. The class will be small, and I know at least one of the students. I'll be in the department where I first fell in love with ESL instruction, and I think I might have an undergraduate assistant. All in all, it's going to be fantastic. I love the way God works things out.

25 things

I saw this on a friend's blog, and since it's Christmas break and I'm just hanging out, I thought I'd put it on mine. Just 25 random things about myself. I'm supposed to tag 25 people, but I can't think of anyone who deserves to be annoyed that much, so I'm skipping that part.

1. I read all four Twilight books, plus the unfinished draft of Midnight Sun, and still can't figure out why I liked them. I mean, I did, I just don't know why.

2. I named my cat after Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, because he is the most awesome literary character ever.

3. Kitty Atticus is not much like Book Atticus, though.

4. One of the things I love about my husband is that when I say, "It's possible," he adds, "Pig," and we both know that he's not insulting me, but rather paying homage to one of the greatest movies of all time.

5. My niece and nephew call me Aunt Emily, and I'm just waiting for the day when they watch The Wizard of Oz and start calling me Auntie Em. And by waiting, I mean not looking forward to.

6. The first movie I ever just totally lost it in was Titanic. Full-out hysterics for the entire last hour of the movie.

7. That was definitely not the last movie I ever lost it in, though. Steel Magnolias gave Titanic a run for its money.

8. When my friend Debra and I worked at summer camp together, we told our campers that we were twin sisters. And they bought it, even though we look nothing alike.

9. Sometimes when I grade essays, it's all I can do to not write "WTF?" next to some of their grammar/punctuation/spelling mistakes. Like the paper that claimed that John McCain supported "tickle-down" economics.

10. I take it a little personally when my students skip class. I wonder if my professors ever felt the same way.

11. I could eat at Leonardo's Pizza three times a week and never get tired of it. My body might rebel, though.

12. Sometimes I do eat at Leonardo's Pizza three times a week, and more often than not, I run into my sister there, because she also eats there three times a week. Usually these meetings aren't planned at all - we just have a serious addiction to Leonardo's.

13. I wore a tiara on my wedding day, because seriously, what other day could I get away with that?

14. I also kept my veil on through the whole reception, because when else would I get to wear a veil? That's right, never.

15. My favorite TV show is The Office. I have a mini-crush on Jim. Not John Krasinski. Jim.

16. When I went back to England this summer, six years after my first trip there, one of my top priorities was to eat a scone with clotted cream. That stuff is freaking amazing.

17. I got a huge kick out of English place names while I was there. You know, names like Lower Piddle. And I'm pretty sure I actually saw a town called Lower Piddle.

18. One of my aunts gave another aunt a book called "The Shoes of Salvation" for Christmas. I think I might believe in the Shoes of Salvation.

19. My mom also got a book called "Feng Shoe." I think my family might have an addiction.

20. I do not like Wal-Mart. Not just because of corporate greed run amok, but really because I can't stand the way the aisles feel like they're closing in on me, and the way people bring their two-year-olds there at 11:00 at night so the rest of us have to listen to them screaming.

21. I really can't handle scary movies. I have a hard time with The Others on Lost. Suspense is not really for me.

22. I love Florida football, and I always feel a little star-struck when I see Tim Tebow on campus.

23. Red polish on my toenails always makes me feel good.

24. My freshman year in college, I took a salsa-dancing class.

25. I love the beach.

End of the semester checklist

Teaching-related things I did this week:

1. Gave two final exams at the community college.
2. Graded 40+ final exam essays from the community college students.
3. Averaged 40+ community college final grades and posted them online.
4. Gave a two-day final exam in reading/writing class at the ELI.
5. Graded said exam and dealt with an uncomfortable identical-answer situation.
6. Averaged grades for reading/writing class and posted them online.
7. Filled out student evaluations for reading/writing class.
8. Gave a final exam for grammar class at the ELI.
9. Graded said exam.
10. Averaged grades for grammar class and posted them online.
11. Filled out student evaluations for grammar class.
12. Filled out textbook evaluations for reading/writing and grammar classes.
13. Evaluated listening/speaking exit presentations as impartial judge.
14. Proctored exit exam for 92 ELI students. Dealt with mass exodus to bathroom halfway through.
15. Attended ELI commencement. Happiness at students accomplishing something great, frustration at students talking through the whole ceremony and never listening to their classmates making speeches. Irritation that they do this every semester.
16. Attended ELI faculty holiday luncheon at Hillel Center cafe. Ate kosher turkey sub, got Secret Santa gift card to Barnes and Noble.

Non-teaching-related things I did this week:

1. Took Secret Santa gift card to Barnes and Noble, bought sequel to Twilight, and read it in one day. Annoyed by Bella's overall angst and Edward's broodingness, and can't understand why every mythical creature from here to Greece is in love with such an angsty girl, but still totally sucked in.
2. Celebrated Suzanne and Mike's engagement with champagne, and later with bridal magazines.
3. Tried to train Atticus not to scratch and bite while playing. Not successful. Atticus grounded in bathroom.
4. Went to church ladies' tea party/white elephant gift swap. Squealed along with everyone admiring Suzanne's engagement ring. Got rid of ugly windchime, ended up with grill master's tool belt, complete with holder for beer. Do not own grill.
5. Started blog in attempt to not grade papers.