Convergence

Random Thoughts on a Saturday Morning

I made it through the first week of school and the last week of the teen program at Harvest Rain. Glad the teen workshop is over. Glad school is starting back up. I missed my students. I actually had good classes all week, but 2 bad faculty meetings. Why must people always make it a point to complain and be upset about EVERYTHING??? I'm so over it.

I'm sad because it seems like me and Jon don't get to hang out as much as we used to. Not sure if it's because I moved or because of our schedules or what, but it makes me sad. :-(

Today is one of those days where I have nothing planned. I love days like this. My sister might come over a little later and Jon might come over later too. But he'll probably leave to go to Dad's Garage at some point. So that's it. I'm getting ready to make some breakfast, turn up my music and just chill for the day.

I can't really go anywhere 'cuz I'm so broke it ain't no joke...I still haven't gotten my security deposit from Briarcliff Pines. I thought that would've come by now. I did get a raise at work but it was pretty sorry. Aw well, dem's the breaks.

The Key to Effective Teaching

I think I've discovered the key to teaching my students -- Stop Talking.

This quarter I decided to have my students do presentations each week and have them do the research to present the information rather than making them listen to me lecture. It's turned out to be great! We had four presentations today in my History of International Cinema class. The students did an AMAZING job. They brought in slide shows and clips. One student brought in actual German DVDs while another student actually made a short film demonstrating some of the techniques of German expressionism and film noir. How creative. Hopefully they'll retain this information much better now hearing it from their peers. I guess we'll see next week when it's time for the Midterm...

Idol Frustration

Whose idea was it for this season's American Idol contestants to sing Beatles songs???? This sucks! I guess The Beatles are cool and all but the people that are on this season have no connection to the Beatles whatsoever and you can tell in how they're delivering these wack songs. (And for all you die hard Beatles fans out there I'm not saying that the Beatles are wack, I'm saying that these kids' version of the songs are wack). I hope the producers wise up next week and let them sing some other stuff...

All I know is David Archuleta, Carlie Smithson and David Cook better not get voted off anytime soon....

Blog Nugget #1

I know I go through moments when I want to pull my hair out. But I love my students. I think they're the only reason why I've lasted at this job as long as I have. I have my rough days but so do they. There are some hard-headed ones, but for the most part they're trying...