Adjunct Riot

Fall Quarter 2012 by the numbers... 17 of the original 24 students stuck it out for the whole quarter, 3 of whom failed to pass with a D, 3 of whom squeaked by with a C, 10 of whom landed solid B's, and 1 lone student who conquered with an A. 17 final papers on The Alchemist revealed my student's innate logic and only 4 fragmented sentences. 15 portfolio reflections showed their growth and critical thinking (or lack thereof in the 2 who ignored the deadline.) 2 hour final exam which was rocked by all who read the directions . 2 late students, One by 3 minutes and the other by 90. Grades entered 4 days early, and 0 emails to complain about said grades. 30 days of break before 2 classes of Basic Writing begin to be taught by 1 happy adjunct.

Wouldn't it be just my luck that the last Book Discussion Friday of the term would be the best Book Discussion Friday of the term? After SEVEN Fridays, I finally found the formula that worked! We watched a clip of Paulo Coehlo talking about the meaning of life , and debated about 1) if Santiago found the meaning of his life, and 2) what that meaning was. There was serious conversation happening in the groups this morning. We didn't have a formal questionnaire, didn't have to write out our ideas. We just had open, creative time to talk and think together. All four discussion groups had different answers to the questions and, better yet, had evidence to back up their decisions. It gives a whole new meaning to, "Give 'em an inch..." Also, one of my students suggested today that "the guy from Prince of Persia " would be perfect to play Santiago in a film version of The Alchemist . "That guy" just happens to be...Jake Gyllenhaal. Le sigh.  ...

Ah, yes. "Lady in Red," brought to you by forgetful students who neglected to bring their own set of lyrics into class for the day's grammar activity. I gave them fair warning: "If you forget your own lyrics, I will be happy to provide you with some , and you will not like it ." (But of course--I secretly love this song!)

Letter to Dead People, Edward Said

My brilliant plan for next term? Blogs instead of journals. That sounds great, right? Students could interact with each other's work, respond to audio, videos, photographs, search the web for content, TYPE ON THE COMPUTER, as I've been led to believe is the center of their lives. Wrong. For their journals this week, I asked my students to consider their personal pros and cons of writing in a journal or switching to blogging. Here are a few considerations they had, summed up wonderfully in one student's entry: "I would prefer to write in a notebook and not a blog for a few reasons. First, I don't even know what a blog is, but it is on the computer, which means I could be distracted by other things by working on it. Plus, if I had spell check, I would just be editing my words and not learning to spell them correctly. Also I would not be as open and honest in a blog because it is more open for people that I do not want to read it. Overall, I would prefer to ...

" Does she need a dose of love?" -Baseball and Company, on a Homonyms and Similar Words Worksheet. 

" The vision that Santiago sees is a good omen for hum because it gives him a chance to make more friends." -My student whose nickname used to be Baseball...

GPOY, as the colloquial expression goes.

"Is he going to die? He can't die there is still too much book to be reading were my thoughts." -A Wise Student in his Alchemist Reading Response

Fridays are the best days ever. Energy levels are way up. Reading discussion on Fridays work like a charm. Visual art connections keep the students engaged. They can't wait to share their ideas with the class. I wish every day was a Reading Discussion Friday.

Okay, so we didn't write that kind of classification in class today. (Congrats, Memory, for, ah, remembering all of those science-y words.) Halloween is LITERALLY my favorite time of year. So today I gave my students a great 8:00 AM start to their crisp 31 October--we wrote a journal exercise about horror films. (And ate Halloween candy. I couldn't resist!) Horror films just beg to be used to learn about classification essays! Film nerd that I am, I think I gave my students a pretty comprehensive viewing experience. Take a load off for a few minutes and enjoy that tingling sensation crawling up your spine! (Clips from Nosferatu (1922), Psycho (1960), The Shining (1980), Scream (1996))  

I think we can chalk this one up as a success. My students turned in their mini-essays in which they explored and evaluated The Alchemist's Santiago's most important character traits. The students then used the identified traits to decide what Santiago's theme song was. (Some of the song choices, I'll admit, were a bit puzzling.) Click the link to find their playlist! The Alchemist Theme Songs  "Chasing Pavements," Adele "Gonna Fly Now (Theme From Rocky )" "Send Me On My Way," Rusted Root "Life is a Highway," Tom Cochrane "Eye of the Tiger," Survivor "Simple Man," Shinedown "If You're Going Through Hell," Rodney Atkins

"The story is really starting to get interesting." -Dear-Sweet-Student-O'-Mine (at least he underlined it!)

One of my female students found a typo in today's discussion questions. Ever graceful in defeat, I gave her an extra credit point. "It's like an early Christmas gift!" she exclaimed. Her friend told me that she (the friend) would look the other way on any future typos if I ignored the run-ons in today's paper. Extortionist. Today did in fact feel a little like the holidays. Half the class was late or missing (and on the class meeting before my evaluation, too!), but the ones who were there seemed light-hearted. I was light-hearted. I gave out an essay assignment for the weekend due on Monday (I must have said that ten times--the little Dickenses from the top of the post wrote it on their assignment sheets twice, for my benefit): The class has to write a character study of Santiago from The Alchemist , ultimately arguing what his theme song is. That got their attention. Faces lit up . I'm going to have some fun grading to do next week. Yes, yes, I promise-...

How quickly one can become deflated. As you know, I work as a Writing Tutor as well as teaching a class. (My twin sister also works in the Writing Lab.) In the Writing Lab, we can't make every paper an "A" paper. Frankly, that's not our job. Our job is to answer specific questions asked by the students. If the students asks me to look at commas and fragments, I'm not going to do a dang thing about their content. That, I'm afraid, is up to them to fix. Bathroom gossip is the worst, isn't it? Not only do I find it kindasorta disgusting when people talk through the stalls to each other, often what they say isn't nice at all. And they can't see who's listening. Long story short, one woman told another that if she was to go into the Writing Lab, don't bother "if you get the short haired twin." (That's me, by the way.) A professor marked her down on a paper, and, of course, her grade is directly my fault. I'm a sensitive...

That was relatively painless. I did have three men from my class follow me like ducklings down into the Writing Lab, clutching their tests and thankful for the extra time I have allowed to finish the midterm. They're so studious and adorable (I say naively, yet to begin grading said midterm tests). By the numbers: 18 students taking this midterm, 2 of whom were early-bird test-takers and 2 of whom arrived to the test tardy by at least 15 minutes. 5 sections testing everything from subjects and verbs to pronouns; 3 prompts to choose from for the Alchemist essay question. 18 Personal Essays due (in folders), 4 of which were turned in naked. 1 caring student who offered her extra folder to clothe the needy.   Bless you, my children. Bless you.

Rather than line-editing their students' final work, she reviews early drafts and responds to the larger ideas. Peer reviews supplement students' efforts to reshape their papers along the way. The approach is less time-consuming for her and ultimately has a more profound impact on students, says Ms. Reynolds [of Duke University]. -"An Old-School Notion: Writing Required"    Shall we all give three cheers?

Midterm, noun. The middle of the school term, a time of tests and essay writing and textbook requisitions, signaling the coming close of autumn. Momentary panic is bound to set in. How can six students in my class of nineteen be failing? What book do I teach next term? Will I be given another class to teach? More importantly, how did my hands get so chapped? I am constantly asking myself these questions, and yet, the panic hasn't closed in. In fact, I ain't even nervous. This time last year, man, was I a wreck. At risk of sounding too much like "The Yellow Wallpaper," I have a "nervous condition." I'm a worry-wort; stress affects me badly. But this midterm, I feel much like the boy from The Alchemist (our class book)--I feel like all the omens are pointing me down the path to my Personal Legend. (Look it up--it's on Sparknotes .) Everything has its time: a time to write midterm tests, a time to grade essays (stifle your groans), a time to ...

There is a satisfying hush as I step off the curb; A silence on the street that means, even for just one moment, That I stopped the world.

"My poetry was born between the hill and the river, it took its voice from the rain, and like the timber, it steeped itself in the forests." --Pablo Neruda

Is it possible to see people grow right before your eyes? I have to celebrate the little victories I have seen in my class's writing and behavior. They can't get away now--I've seen what they can do, and I'm going to expect it of them. They definitely deserve more credit than they are getting from life. This week in their journals, I had them write descriptions of a place on campus that they frequent, and then a description of a stranger or friend that they find there. My students have no idea just how elegantly their minds work--They blew me away, and left me cackling and gasping for breath right in the middle of the Writing Lab. A few of my favorites: For laughs... "...I am sitting across from a young man who is working on his lap top. He looks like he is in his early twenties and has not shaved for a couple days. My first impression of him is that he seems focused. He barely looks up from his computer, and when he does, it is to look at his book. He has ...

"There are a lot of young women in my office. It seems as if everyone has had a baby recently. All the baby presents cost me a fortune." John Langan, English Brushup , Chapter 3: Subject-Verb Agreement

Nothing gets your mojo going like that handsome devil Johannes Brahms, Hungarian Dance No. 5 .

"Live the question." -Rilke   A mentor is a pretty cool thing to have. I have one that likes to complain about his student's inability to understand prepositions ("They have the preposition sheet right in front of them! What do they mean 'Slow down'?!?!?!?") and one that, well, that's always been good for a thought-shock quote like the one above. Professor M. taught me how to write poetry when I went to school here at the community college. "You made the first cardinal mistake," he said when I came to work the first day. "You came back." Mea culpa, Phil, mea culpa. I proceeded to ask him the ever-so enlightened question, "How do I teach them, Phil?" Though they are "reprobate little bastards," they aren't idiots. Don't let them know you like the novel they're reading for class, because then they will hate it on principle. During class discussions, don't give them the choice. Th...

Four months ago, they were highschoolers. That's why they come off as...a little bit dumb. I wonder, because of the above fact, if I'll just be spending a very lonely semester pouring my intellectual wine into old wineskins, only to have them break and so on and so forth. Well, they'll break alright, and I'll be the one doing the breaking. These bad habits they have of not taking responsibility for their education outside of our fifty minute classes are not going to fly. They just aren't, gosh darnit. I won't let them, even if it means failing every last sorry one of them. (And they will fail this next assignment if they don't get their tushies logged on to their email accounts.) I have this dream that involves, as we read The Alchemist,  introducing them to the joys of Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights triptych of which I am so fond. After all, a little exploration into alchemy and art history didn't hurt this English/Visual Studies major. In ...

"There are some days when I think I'm going to die from an overdose of satisfaction." --Salvador Dali

Now don't start expecting daily posts, because that will most certainly not be the case...Most of the time. Today I started my second job, that of Tutor in the Writing Lab. Which means, at least for the first week, I am virtually getting paid to blog in an empty room, though (and my heart swells with pride at this) one of my students is sitting in the corner diligently working on his grammar homework. Bless his heart and his slow typing fingers. What I wanted to write about today had something to do with the glories of sitting barefoot in the quad, catching rays while a cool breeze blew over the fountain. But what I've really gotten stuck on is what must be the cross of every young adjunct (this one being an almost-twenty-two year old), being mistaken for a student. I find this humorous, and find myself yearning just a wee bit for the old college days when I got to be the one absorbing wisdom rather than trying to come up with it. Though I will stress that I dress con...

My name is Kelsea Jones, and I'm a first year English adjunct. (Hi Kelsea.) If you willingly voiced the above parenthetical in the traditional AA meeting voice, good on you, because that's more interaction that I got from my students today. Granted, I do teach College Prep Composition. If that sounds condescending, I'll say this in my defense: I tried to give them more credit that this. I actively tried. I was a little worried at 7:55 when no one was coming in to take their seats. I went out into the hall to check on them. There they were! Waiting for someone to unlock the door...which wasn't locked. Mental note: Sheep need more careful shepherding, apparently. Once I got them in the room and in their seats, things went smoothly, more or less. We wrote 2-3 sentences about ourselves (and only had two students refuse to do it), introduced ourselves, and read through the syllabus. Here I think I lost them (my fault). Syllabi proved to be a departure from high sc...