ENERGY!

I just had a fantastic class! Some days I feel that I'm scarcely teaching, that I ought to be doing more, somehow, but today I felt such good energy spilling into the classroom. I began by reading some Wendell Berry poetry (thank you, Jacob, for illuminating me with the knowledge of more Mad Farmer poems!)--"The Mad Farmer's Love Song" & "The Contrariness of the Mad Farmer"--perhaps it's show-offy of me, but I really enjoy reading aloud to my students. I have to have some fun as a teacher, after all. And they seem to enjoy it.

Then we talked about revision modes and methods, and one of my students asked me to define "show not tell," which is rather difficult to do--really, it is a skill that must be practiced, must be shown, not told, not defined. But I did my best, and my students seemed to be following what I was saying or trying to say. At the end of class, one of my students asked, "So what showing is, is presenting the details to the readers and letting them come up with their own conclusion?" And I looked at him and thought, Wow, you just said in one sentence what I've been trying to say for the past 20 minutes. Aloud I said: "Yes, Gary, that's it exactly. Don't tell us what to think--give us the evidence and let us make our own conclusions." I looked around at my students, and I could see by their expressions that they got it, that they understood, and it was beautiful because it was one of the students who said so clearly what I was getting at--and once he'd said it, there was nothing more for me to say, so I ended the class.

Is this why it's so wonderful to be a teacher--simply being able to watch your students come to the point of understanding new ideas, to see the knowledge illuminating their faces? To be the catalyst to their learning?

O beautiful day.

A bit of procrastination . . .

Not too many exciting things are happening at the moment, but requests have been made for me to update my blog. So here goes.

I decided this weekend that I'm going to drop the extra class I added. Saving a couple thousand dollars, frugal and economic though it would be, is not worth sanity, rest, and peace of mind. Or so I'm telling myself. After making that decision, though, I felt as though a weight had lifted: a good sign.

I'm enjoying my teaching so much this semester! I feel as though I know so much more. I don't, not really, but at least I have a semester's worth of experience behind me. I find I am able to field my students' questions much more coherently now. I had a good class today; nothing deeply profound occurred, but I felt as though my students were taking in what I was saying, and I was encouraged.

My sister is coming this week! She flies in late Wednesday night, and I'm overjoyed that she's coming. Hee hee. It will be so wonderful to show her around Missoula and UM, and have her meet all of my people here . . . oh joy. What a lovely event to look forward to!

I need to do some writing tonight. And then I need to print it out and run it over to school. You'd think that I could easily get the work done on time for a once-a-week class, but alas. I got most of my other work done in the meantime, though! And the apartment's looking much cleaner, and I'm suddenly inspired to do some baking tonight . . . in preparation for Andrea's visit, of course. Um. Strangely enough, I'm finding it far easier to write about subjects that have nothing to do with my essay. I am running into a mountainous mental block when I try to work on this essay, and I think I've figured it out: I want it to be perfect, and what's coming out of my mind and onto the screen is not perfect, and therefore I'm not getting anything written. I talk myself blue in the face telling my students that they need to give themselves the freedom to "write badly and silence their internal critics," but I can't give that same freedom to myself. Plah. Wish me luck.

This past weekend held a Big Labowsky party--imagine 40 grad students crammed into a medium-size living room, dressed as Big Labowsky characters, drinking White Russians, and watching the movie projected onto the wall. Just imagine. Afterwards, we all went out bowling (I bowled an 81! Woohoo! Or was it an 86?), and then Teresa and Jeff and Catherine and I went out to Oxford's Cafe for burgers at midnight, and Catherine and I played Keno--we put in 25 cents and got back 55 cents, so we more than doubled our bet! And people say they lose money gambling . . . I just don't understand it. Although I have this sneaking suspicion that if we'd gambled $250, we wouldn't have won $550, but who knows?

A New Semester

So apparently it's just been way too darned long since I last posted.

Today was the first day of spring semester 2006. I taught a brand-new group of students this morning, and learned all their names in the first class, which impressed them all greatly. Now if only I can remember the names on Wednesday . . .

I'm teaching in Janette Rankin Hall (home of the EVST department), so I don't even have to leave the building. And I have a high-ceilinged corner room with lots of windows, and it's nice and large and has a good aura, no doubt due to the many wonderful EVST classes that have been held within its walls. I'm excited to get to know new students--there's something so delightful about watching them open up and become three-dimensional characters.

I also signed up for another class today--I'm excited about the class (The Literature of Nature Writing), but a bit apprehensive about the work load of the semester. However, I know that I am capable of being diligent, efficient, and motivated, and if I can somehow be all of those things this semester perhaps I can avoid the stress of last year. We shall see!

I'm going to post a few pics from Christmas break. I had a wonderful time, and saw a lot of you who read my blog--I did have a marvelous, friend-and-family-filled few weeks, and faithful Ishta took me from Missoula to Sioux Center to Grand Rapids to Toronto to Minneapolis and back again . . . so here are a few pictures for ya'll to enjoy.



I stopped in the Badlands on the drive home, right at sunset. Gorgeous!



Andrea and I embarking on our trip to Toronto, in a typical Iowa snowstorm.



Benjamin, Tricia, and I drinking tea and playing Euchre. Ah, vacation.

Continuations

Teaching has been going well! I had a very good class session on Friday. I'm finding my students to be talkative and thoughtful, and we've had some good discussions. I'm excited about their willingness to open up in class. There are a few who are very quiet and don't offer answers, but most of them will talk if I ask them a direct question. I need to figure out ways to help them feel comfortable in the class setting so that they are able to contribute to the discussions.



They'll be starting their personal essays soon. I'm having them write about what they believe, and about events in their lives that have brought them to the place they are today. I very much look forward to reading those essays.



We read "The Jabberwocky" in class on Monday, and then I (evilly) asked them to write some poetry of their own, focusing more on the sounds of the words than their meaning. Not all of them were thrilled about it, but they all wrote at least a few lines, and some of them did an excellent job, coming up with funny, crazy words and ideas. We've also been reading some David James Duncan and Wendell Berry. I love having the excuse to discuss authors I most enjoy! Hee, hee.



The weather's turned quite fallish here. It's been raining quite a bit, especially on the weekends. I don't mind this, as I'm more inclined to stay inside and do homework. Not that I've done enough yet this weekend . . . Last night I went with some friends to hear Kelly Joe Phelps play. I've heard more live music these past few months in Missoula than in my entire previous existence, and it's all been wonderful! I'm looking forward to seeing (and hearing) much more of what Missoula has to offer.



Now on to those 110 pages of philosophy reading that I've been putting off . . .

FIRST DAY!

Well, my friends, I survived my first 50 minutes of teaching. (You can replace "teaching" with "standing in front of a warm classroom, handing out notecards with shaking hands, writing messily on the chalkboard--yes, CHALKBOARD!--and babbling rapidly about syllabus stuff to my roomful of students who were probably more nervous than I was.")

But it was fun! I admit that it was more than a little strange to have this roomful of young people waiting on ME to make all the moves, waiting for ME to tell them what to do (what right do I have to tell them? I lucked out on getting an English TA, but does that qualify me to be a TEACHER??), and asking ME questions that I'm somehow expected to answer intelligibly.

They were very quiet, and I talked too much, perhaps, and too fast, certainly. Yet that just lets me know what to work on for next time; each mistake is an opportunity to learn and to change. So by Wednesday's class I'm sure I'll have everything figured out. :P

I asked them to write down what their favorite genres/books/authors are, and also to tell me what they like to write (or if they don't like to write, why), and their best writing experience. I just finished reading through these preliminary essays, and now I'm so eager to get back to the classroom and interact with my students again. Many of them love to journal. Some enjoy writing research papers (should I be looking out for brown-nosers here?), or poetry, or personal essays. A few like to read J.R.R. Tolkien and Jane Austen! I'm amazed at how much more rounded out my students become as I read their few short paragraphs.

The adventure continues! Well, I've stepped off the cliff, and there are sure to be moments of free fall, with nothing below me but the rapidly approaching earth, but I think that much of the experience will be floating along, stretching out on the firm yet fluid wind beneath me, reveling in the wildness of these new experiences.

I also had my first Environmental Writing class today: 15 students, interested in a broad range of subjects; a class atmosphere that will encourage writing; already an excitement and inspiration to begin putting thoughts on paper!

The adventure continues!