Current/Recent Reading List

24 January 2007

Ambivalence and The New Semester

The new semester has started, and I'm not sure how I feel, besides slightly unmotivated. I have a class of 28 sophomores, a class of 20 sophomores, and a much improved yearbook class of only 14. I've managed to piss off a couple more of my former students because I wouldn't let them back into yearbook class; this after they did virtually nothing the whole first semester. Oh, well - seems to be a theme for me lately.

Anyhow, I can't seem to get a good read on the new classes yet. Frankly, the size of my first period class, along with the reputations of some of the kids in there, scares me to death - secretly I picture some kind of full-scale revolt, or brawl, or something awful. However, they have been good so far, and a couple of the thuggish types in there have behaved better this year, so I hear. Perhaps there is hope, but I definitely won't share with them that they worry me; that would be a huge mistake.

The second period class will probably be more fun, but there is a huge "Bubba" factor in there. These guys are of the "smarty-pants, huntin' and fishin', always making thinly veiled sex and alcohol jokes and snickering at themselves" variety. I have a lot of experience with such, so I'm not too worried about them, though no doubt they will irritate the snot out of me most days.

Somehow I didn't have any failures last semester, but I doubt that will be the case this time around. Oh, and can anyone give me tips on how to teach non-English speakers to write? in English?

1 comment:

CL said...

I always enjoyed the soft sounds of medical names of body parts flowing from my lips when my students made those kind of jokes.

"PENIS. Is that what you were trying to say? You were saying...uh, how does it go?...that you'd like to 'Tag that ass.' You mean HAVE SEX WITH that woman, commit FORNICATION with that woman. I wasn't sure if that's what you were saying or not cause I'm so old that I don't understand when someone uses a euphemism for SEX. Oh, I forgot, you don't know what 'euphemism' means...how sad..."

Another time I had a student as why I had 'dunlep' disease. I fell, hook, line and sinker. "What's dunlep disease?" "It's when your belly dunlep over your belt!" The class roared. I felt like I was in 8th grade, and I acknowledged defeat for the day.

Win some, lose some...