July 12, 2024

Plus ça change

Eevery semester is the same. For some reason, now that we’re a university, I have even less say in my teaching schedule. Make that 0%. Teaching used to be flexible, but now with EduCorp™ in charge, we all must appear as good little corporate cogs and be there everyday—as if the only time we’re working is when we’re in our offices or in front of a class. Oh, you just were awarded a month-long fellowship for research and you want to write a book? Too bad, here’s your 4/4-load of overloaded service courses. Good luck finding time to write. You think we care about literary research? What does that do for our bottom line?

So, this is the new reality, I guess. How do I make face-to-face sections of ENGL 1101 easier on me? I had a colleague in grad school who used to run his courses like tutorials, meeting with students one-on-one to discuss their writing. To me, this seems like more work, but I think it’s better for the students. Maybe I could make use of the Writing Center to help? If students must write four essays, one of them as a final exam (or is it four and a fine?), that’s only three during the semester. (Nope, it’s four essays and a final.) Could I make it where each must meet with me at least once with a rough draft for each essay? Those who have a grasp can just submit the final draft while those who need more assistance can meet with me again or go to the WC. Still, if both classes are full, that’s 48 students. That’s a lot of meetings.

The last time I taught 1101 F2F, I had them keep written journals. And, yes, that was a disaster. Many of them struggled to follow simple directions for how the journal operated. Truly, many would just rather take an F than just take the time and do it right. I’m not doing these again.

I don’t know. I’m going to have to figure it out.

                    

I’m still feeling the COVID, and I still can’t really smell anything. All I want to do is sleep, and my brain is a bit foggy. Max has also had COVID, so I have been home with him all week. Autumn is almost over hers. And here it is 09:10 in the morning, and I’m already spent.