May 29, 2008

• I went out to eat with a friend and we shared a bottle of chardonnay.  I only had 4 glasses, and I felt fine, but now I feel really naseous.  I know I wasn't drunk...  so to try to forget my physical woes, I'm updating my xanga.

  Just two weeks left for this term! Yay!  Teaching this term has been quite a struggle.  This is the first time I've had to teach two straight terms, and I'm just running out of steam... and ideas.  I feel like all my methods are so tired and boring.  And I feel bad for my students, but whatevers, it's almost over!  Till the summer session which begins again at 7:50am.  Boooo!

  I have been presented with a moral quandary at work.  A student requested one-on-one sessions with me through the university, but now she wants to have private lessons with me, bypassing the school altogether.  She'll pay less, and I'll be paid more, but I feel like it's not quite right, and I don't know what to do.  I'm pretty sure my contract doesn't say anything about it, but I'm not a lawyer.  And more than that, it just doesn't feel ethical.  I don't know what to do.

  This past wednesday, my level 4 class was going over "she seems annoyed" and "he looks angry" grammar stuff, and so I had a bunch of powerpoint slides of photos where my students had to come up with a "seems/looks" statement and then a story as to why.  One of my photos was this one:

  

  This class consists of 2 medical students, 2 dental students, 1 doctor, 1 medical professor, 2 public health researcher people.  None of my students were familiar with this pic, but of course, the first thing one of my students says is: "notice the swelling of her throat?  It's actually a swelling of the thyroid gland, also known as a goiter, which occurs due to a lack of iodine.  It's a sign of malnutrition.  So she seems worried, hungry, and poor."  Yeah......  I just moved on to the next slide.

  I tutor these two kids who I first taught out of obligation to family friends, but then as I got to know them, I really really like them!  The 9th grader is just this awesome girl.  I really dislike kids as a collective, but individually, they're alright.  Well, last saturday we watched an episode of the Simpsons together in order to talk about Freytag's pyramid crap thing.  When she was explaining the plot to me, she kept referring to a "bark" and a "homo" and it took me awhiles, but then I slapped my head and exclaimed, "OH! You mean BarT and HomER!" 
  One of the BEST simpsons episodes EVER

  

  I do have a question to put to literary folk, if you have the time.  I've been doing a book club with some 19 year old boys, and so far we've read "The Bluest Eye", "Things Fall Apart", "The Crucible", "The Things They Carried", "Moon Palace", and "Freakonomics" (you're supposed to underline or italicize books right?) anyway, does anyone have any other suggestions for what we can read together?  short would be best, but anything good would be better : ) they really want to read books that present a perspective that they're not familiar with. 

  oh I feel so sick.  peace out.

  • 11:39 am
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