Finally!

Alright, I have finished grading all of my papers. I didn't give any A's.. Is that bad? I think I gave one B+.. And that was my highest score. I can't believe it! I wasn't even tempted to give an A. I gave some A's on individual reviews, but none on the whole set. A stack of papers 4 inches high and not one A. I really wish I knew how to help my students "get it". It just amazes me, I really don't think that I was that bad of a writer when I came to college, but then again I had my mom proof reading everything I wrote. What do kids these days have to write in High school? Some of these kids are absolutely shocked at the idea of a 5 page paper! I had to write a 8-10 page paper in SUMMER SCHOOL! What has happened in the last 5 years? At least this beast of a grading session is over!

Grading papers

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Alright, now that I have that out of my system. I swear, what are high schools teaching kids today? It certainly isn't how to write! Most of these papers are horrible. Ok, not all are that bad, but the ones that are... Oh boy. I guess it leaves me wondering how America will survive if our schools can't even teach our students to read and write effectively. Do high school administrators expect colleges to to fix everything that they had 12 years to teach and perfect? I just am so sick of reading horrible writing that I can't stand it any more. I don't know how to help these students! I feel like I am failing them, but then again I know that I really am not the one who failed. 4 years can't fix 12 years of faulty schools.

No time to be a student

I am so overwhelmed right now. I don't even know how to explain how overwhelmed right now. I just got my review set back, and I can't it hurt. I don't remember the last time I got lower than an A- on a writing. It makes me sick. I feel like I have no time to be a student. I just can' t handle this right now. I love to write, and normally I comb through my writings with a fine toothed comb before actually submitting them, but I don't have time to do anything! I don't know what to do! I haven't got this balanced yet, and I have this huge pile of papers sitting in front of me that need to be read and graded. It makes me feel physically sick. I don't know how to be an "average student"! I really feel like I have no time to do anything right now. How do you balance this?

Mt. Rushmore

Ryan and Me at Mt. Rushmore. I like this picture. At the gift shop I found several children's' books about native American myths, and I was so excited because they were some of my favorite books when I was little. I am trying to think of a way to use them as a teaching aid, but I'm not sure. I know this is a super cheesy post, but I really wanted to post this picture some
where.

So what's next?

Alright, I am staring at over 120 papers that I am suppose to read and correct soon. I want to start on them today, but I feel pretty icky. I have been puppy sitting the last couple days, which leads to me not sleeping the last couple of days. Not to mention that in the last feel days I have been having extreme pain through out my lower legs. I think that I have developed some pretty bad stress fractures in my feet and possibly my tibia. Its interfering with my life! Yesterday I could barely walk down stairs, and walking the dog was the most painful thing I've had to do in a long time! What happens if I go to the doctor and they put me on crutches or worse-- tell me I need surgery. I have been avoiding knee surgery for 4 years. So far I haven't been told that its something I need, but I have been told that it could happen. Walking to class yesterday and round the classroom I was in pain! It was insane! I had to run to my car to get my running shoes, which helped a bit. So now I need to gather the courage and go to the doctor! Maybe they could at least give me something to help the pain. I am too young to have this much pain!

WOW!

Ok, I just got done reading through all of my students' reviews that they turned in with what they wanted to change written on the bottom of them. I can't believe the spelling errors! It is just unbelievable! I don't even know how to help them with this! I mean this is a skill that should of been learned in 3rd or 4th grade. How do I correct stuff like this? I feel so overwhelmed! I have students that wrote amazing papers, with great sentences and vocabulary. Then I have student who talk about "resent" movie releasals and "10 bottle rocket solutes" AHHHHH! How do you help this problem! I guess I just don' t know how to teach to two different levels of abilities. I would like to talk about this in TA Strategies, because this really does concern me.

AHHH!!! Is it over yet?

I can't wait to be through with this review section, and I feel like I have beat the topics to death. I have had some problems with a student in my 12:30 class, and I believe I took care of it today in class. I didn't think that I would ever react in as truthfully as I did. The student has been talking consistently in my class, and today he pushed me over the edge. We were comparing Mid-level reviews to Formal Reviews, and I asked the class to list things that they knew were different. When I asked him to write something on the board he took a Smart-ass tone with me, and said " Why can't you write it for me?" I asked him again to write his comment on the board. He reluctantly came up to the board saying " Like this is hard, all the answers are on the sheet you handed out". I told him that not all were on the sheet, and then asked him to define "complex sentence" which was difference he had brought up. He was unable, and told me that he felt it was unfair that he had to define his difference when others did not. He got very hostile with me, and I in turn expressed my dislike for his behavior and asked again if he could describe what a 'complex sentence' was and he just glared. I then opened it up to the class by asking "can anyone help Cody define 'complex sentence'?" A boy who sits behind him gave a very good explanation, afterwards the hostile student proceeded to mock the other muttering something under his breath about over eager students in high school. The first day of the semester I told the class that I would not tolerate any hostile behavior against other students, and I repeated my warning again. I was very proud of myself, because I was able to keep my cool and I thought that I handled the situation to the best of my inexperienced ability. Although, I do feel that I could of handled it better, however I am glad that I took care of it right away.

Hmmm Teaching... Not as easy as it looks

Alright I will admit that I was one of those students who really didn't put to much thought into how much went on behind the scenes of teaching. I mean I watched my mother as a kindergarten teacher, but that was a lot of coloring. I guess I am just feeling over whelmed right now, and haven't found a balance yet. I may be reading more into things and stressing over little things (which I tend to do), but either way I am stressing. I had a dream about trying to teach writing a formal review! I think my classes are going ok, even though the teacher feels clueless... Which is good. I've come to believe that teaching is like parenting ( or what I have heard about it because I don't have any children) in that you are bound to think that everything you do is wrong, but in the end it works out ok. I felt stressed like this when I first started teaching swimming lessons, but pretty soon I got my groove and I was pretty good. In my opinion, of course. I am kind of concerned right now with creating lesson plans for the 2nd unit since we haven't really started looking at it and its been a long time since I have written in these styles. I hope that we can maybe go over some memoirs and Rhetorical analysis in class. I'm not worried about writing them myself, because I feel comfortable with my own writing ability, but I am worried about teaching them. I can't explain how I write and my processes, so I am worried about not being able to relate to my students in a understandable manner.

Our words

Ah, now you will be graced with a feeble attempt at poetry. I do not claim to be any good at this, but I really liked this piece so I thought I would share. Some may not understand, so I will explain its meaning. I am 1/16 Lakota, specifically my tribe was the Hunkpapa, and I am proud to be a part of the Souix Nation. I am distressed by the loss of my culture, and happy about the attempts to save it. That's sort of where this came from. So..um yeah, here it is.

Our words

Our words
They were lost
Strangers didn't understand
Our words
They were stolen
Broken and hidden
Our words
Were ripped away
But found again
Our words
Give us strength
Their power overwhelms
Our words
We have embraced
Our culture they contain

For the Sioux Nation and my Lakota Heritage

Mom Jeans

Hello.. Here I sit listening to those god awful frog calls, and I find myself thinking about odd things ( I blame the frog calls) but ANYWAY.... On with my deepest weirdest thoughts. Tonight I am pondering the seemingly pointless production of "mom jeans". I mean seriously what designer or clothing company really thinks that any woman looks sexy in these pants. They truly should be outlawed. And how do moms actually get into these jeans? I mean, like any normal woman most have hips and thighs! How do they manage to pull that tiny waist over their legs? I have two hypothesizes on this 1) they do the "dance" and every girl out there knows what I am talking about.. The little hoppy, wiggle that allows us to get into even the tightest spaces.. Which also results in us looking as though our lower halfs have been attached by demin colored paint. Upon further observation of these jeans I decided that this may not be the whole scenario.. Has anyone else noticed the INSANELY long zipper on "mom jeans"?! I mean WOW! Maybe the hoppy dance-thing really isn't even needed! Maybe clothing companies just created a zipper that opens the waist of these pants up so far that even an elephant could crawl in! Which also leads me to briefly venture from my topic and ask junior and young lady fashion designers to TAKE THE HINT!!! Woman have hips and thighs! I don't know about the rest of you but I am sick and tired of trying to find a pair of jeans in the young adult department that aren't made of a really tall 12 year old! I feel that a woman's body should be embraced for the beautiful creation it is! God made us with curves and we shouldn't be ashamed of them! Now back on topic.. "Mom Jeans" . Now these jeans are not only amazing in how they can even be put on, but in how absolutely horrible they can make a woman's behind appear! With pockets half way up the back of a woman, it makes it look as though her tush goes on forever! Women, Ladies, and a few men ( lets just face it) Your butt should not appear to be 2 feet long! This is just ridiculous! There is no way that you can honestly look in the mirror and think that you butt looks good. Now there has to be a decision made across this great country.. "Mom Jeans" MUST GO! That's right ladies it is time to shop for more fashionable jeans, ones that flatter your behind not increase it. So lets take those horrible butt elongators out to the garbage and leave them there! The rats at the city dump will appreciate the extra bedding I promise.

Ah yes, the cyber world is about to be blessed by another one of my musings. Such a lucky place it is. Well I wonder how other TA's are feeling, but I really feel like I completely screw up my first class, and my second class gets the "New and improved" me after TA strategies. I am beginning to think that is really isn't fair to my first class. I am hoping that I will get my groove together pretty soon. Other than that I really don't have too much to complain about, except that it has rain for more than 24 hour straight and I fear that I will soon be living on beach front property.

Well I have to admit I feel rather stupid after getting my feedback on my reviews... I make so many dumb mistakes! I even proof read my mid-level review pretty well I thought, but apparently I was still reading it with an idealizing eye. I guess that I am just going to have to learn how to write more carefully and proof read with more accuracy.