Visitors

I have been working on my syllabus for this fall. I am not getting very far. See, the thing is, I have to read everything I am going to make my students read -- so, basically, I end up having to read their whole text book so that I can pick out the pieces around which I will design my course.

Nadine came out to visit last night and to help me with my syllabus. Her English 101 teacher at UIC did a course similar to the one I'm planning. Alex (her teacher) has been a big help. Nadine's help is greatly appreciated here as they used the same text that I am using. I am doing things a bit differently as A) I have to include the electronic portfolio; B) I am having an additional reading of an American novel that represents the American Dream; and C) I am including a required Blog component. I am really hoping this works out well. If it doesn't, well, fuck 'em. I'm the teacher and I can do what I want ;)

Nah, I'm a little more flexible than that. I do want my students to succeed. I'll cut the blog if it's not working out, but I really think it's going to be an easier place for my students to write their required reflections, to keep a journal of their progress on the novel, etc. Webboard is great, but it lacks the essential "community" feel. The private conferences are nice, the broadcasted assignments and notices are good, but I want the students to be able to see each other's writings sometimes. If it needs to be private, then I'll use the private conferences. If it needs to be public -- the blog.

Interesting note for the day -- the "Em-Dash" -- this fancy, shmancy, long dash (or a double hyphen which, in Word, becomes a long dash) -- is really, truly a viable and recognized piece of punctuation! Ha-ha! I feel smart today.