Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
3.29.2010
New Term
Well it's back to the school grindstone, except this time I am taking two courses at once. This term and next term will be my doubling terms, that way I can graduate soon after Baby G arrives. This term is Research Methods and Adult Learners. So far, things are good, but I can definitely see this getting difficult as the term progresses. I also have picked up two more classes for the remainder of the semester by substituting 2 classes on Mondays. There are only three more weeks after this course and thankfully next week is Spring Break. This term's students have been quite a bunch. They are absolutely horrible in terms of preparing for their exams and labs, and then their excuses for why this miss lab class, do horrible on their exams, and so on. My department chair has nicknamed them the "privileged" class as they feel they are entitled to whatever they want...which includes retaking their exams if they do not do well, making up their missed exams (and labs) whenever they want, and that all exams should be curved if the class does not all get 80%'s. We (the faculty) disagree. Hopefully this summer will not be too bad, but I am not feeling very positive about it, so we shall see.Well sorry for the rant, but it was definitely needed. Now back to homework and bed soon.
10.15.2009
Grad School Blues...
Today I am singing the Grad School Blues. How in one day can I go from carefree and relaxed about my upcoming class to a complete mess and overwhelmed? Oh that's right because I decided to have 7 classes of students take an exam this week and my new semester of classes started and there are a gazillion things to do in 1 week for this class. I have 3 readings (1 is mandatory, 1 is "optional but important that you skim the key details" and 1 is a case study on Calif. Finance), a 3 pg. paper/discussion to write, a Self-Test, a weekly evaluation, a discussion of introductory value. Oh and I am *supposed* to start working on my Course Project that is due at the end of the semester. Where do I start?
To top it off, my students have come up with wonderful reasons for why they did not do well on their exams...complain, complain, complain. And then while I am lecturing, they interrupt to ask meaningless questions....just another day in the life of an underpaid, unappreciated teacher. :(
To top it off, my students have come up with wonderful reasons for why they did not do well on their exams...complain, complain, complain. And then while I am lecturing, they interrupt to ask meaningless questions....just another day in the life of an underpaid, unappreciated teacher. :(
10.14.2009
Exam Day = Doom Day!
So today is a teaching day with 3 classes to teach. Fortunately for me, it's an exam week (second of four), so there is less creativity on my part, as I only have to lecture for 1.5 hours instead of 2.5 to 3 hours. But here is what is irking me today. They all knew they had an exam today...I only announced it and wrote it on the board every week for the past 2 weeks and highlighted it during last week's class and they have a course syllabus....yet I had 2 students who were completely oblivious to today's exam. Then, because I care about my student's well-being, I reviewed and reviewed and reviewed the material being covered on the exam, posted a review sheet online for them, and evenly slipped on some hints as to the types of questions that may be on their exam. Any yet, they still seem to miss the questions! Seriously? I cannot even give away points. I think I will need a large bag of chocolate to get through this grading week. :(
Sorry for the rant!
Sorry for the rant!
8.12.2009
Tuesday Rambles
I am honestly losing my mind over keeping up with this blog and keeping everything organized. We have been super busy remodeling/decorating the house. Greene has been working nonstop on the Master Bathroom and this past weekend, we finally finished it! I found everything to decorate it between my local favorite haunts and Marshall's, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Target, Ross and Home Goods over the weekend. And because of how detailed oriented (you may call it something else), we even hand-made our own reed diffuser and tray sets for each bathroom (pictures to follow if I ever find the cord to connect to the computer). My friend from back home comes to visit next week, so thankfully we finished the bathroom in the nick of time. Now the next projects are minor details like trim and then once we get through August and all our guests and visitors, we will deconstruct the guest bathroom to paint and do some minor detail tiling.
On side note, my shoulder is still messed up and I am still waiting for the Orthopedic Dr. for WC to decide what the next plan is. I am still having issues lifting anything and moving my shoulder without experiencing some pain, so who knows what is wrong at this point. I think I may need to look into WC lawyers and go to our family orthopedic doctor for a second opinion since this has lingered ALL SUMMER. Since we are already on the mention of doctors, today I have yet another lovely appointment with the OB/GYN specialist for my cysts. The recent BC medicine she gave me to help cycle me and reduce the risk of cyst ruptures does not seem to be working and I am beginning to fear the worse (why? because I always worry about everything). With the lack of cycles I was sort of hoping for the pink line, but none so far, which means it must be the PCOS rebounding against me. Even though we are not trying to get preggers at the moment (I need to finish my Master's) in case the 9 months are bad, I would rather know why my cycle is so wacky and I'm having all the pain.
We did, however discuss the future and try to make a time frame for when we want to have kids. Ok, I know you cannot have a schedule and expect your schedule to run fluidly with God's plan, but at least I can hope. So, I think we came to the conclusion we can start trying in a few more months, but we won't enlist any help until Summer 2010. *It is likely I will need to go back on the Met with another medicine to get my body to have normal cycles long enough to conceive, so that is what we mean by "enlisting help".* I wonder, can I still do some diving while I am pregnant? I lost this entire summer to my shoulder, not sure I want to lose another summer, prime dive season....this could be interesting.
School starts up in another 2 weeks. I am looking forward to going back to teaching in the classroom. I made my schedule so I will teach all day * night Wednesday, afternoon & evening Thursday and Friday morning for a total of 7 labs. I will work at the lab only on Mondays, Tuesdays and mornings on Thursday. I am itching to get back in the classroom since the lab has been so quiet lately, but I am also hesitant the schedule is a bit hectic and I still have all my Grad School work to keep up on.
Other than the above activities, life has been quiet and good. We've had some rough thunderstorms lately, but thankfully no H's. They may have named the first one yesterday, but it was so far away that it is not a concern at the moment. All the puppies are doing good. They are being their mischievous selves. Our gerbil passed away recently and I think Lucky took it the hardest. While we were cleaning out the cage and packing it up for storage in the shed, he kept whining and putting his nose in the tank in a search for Buddy, the gerbil. We moved the little turtles over to where Buddy's cage used to be, so occasionally he runs over to the tank and then sadly realizes it is no longer his gerbil friend.*There is no plan to get another gerbil...Buddy lived a long, wonderful 3 years and we are not planning to have a gerbil again until one of the kids ask for one* The fish tanks, turtles and dogs are more than enough to handle with school, work and home remodeling.
But it seems our house is still an animal shelter. We may (keyword: maybe, meaning if someone else does not step up) be getting another dog by default in the coming weeks. So as most of you know, we live on a pretty quiet street, with nice neighbors. Well there are a few houses for rent, one being the house next to us. So the last renters up and left one day leaving behind some things (a car, some of their kids toy's, and their puppy). We did not realize they had left the dog in the backyard, but there she sat for a week in the patio area of the house until the new renters moved in. We guess she is 6-8 months old and she is some mix of a pitbull and something else. Being that she is so young and super friendly (she loves to lick and give kisses, responds to us-she has escaped their backyard gate numerous times when they lived there, and is still a puppy and therefore trainable). She also plays well and seems infatuated with Lucky, so we will see how the next few weeks play out. The new renters do not want her, but they too do not want her sent to the pound, so who knows maybe they will fall in love with her and decide to keep her along with their other dog. The old renters have been called numerous times to come get her, but say they do not have room in their new home nor a kennel for her. The biggest issue about her, she is not house trained at all, :( but Greene thinks he can easily crate and house train her if we should adopt her in. Being that she is female and super affectionate and has run around in the backyard with our 3, I am not concerned with her pitbull genes being a problem...but if we adopt her, we will probably take her to a local vet to get her checked out and determine what her breed mix is.
I think that about sums it up. I have a few more things to catch up on, but I need to get back to work. Hope everyone is having a good week!
On side note, my shoulder is still messed up and I am still waiting for the Orthopedic Dr. for WC to decide what the next plan is. I am still having issues lifting anything and moving my shoulder without experiencing some pain, so who knows what is wrong at this point. I think I may need to look into WC lawyers and go to our family orthopedic doctor for a second opinion since this has lingered ALL SUMMER. Since we are already on the mention of doctors, today I have yet another lovely appointment with the OB/GYN specialist for my cysts. The recent BC medicine she gave me to help cycle me and reduce the risk of cyst ruptures does not seem to be working and I am beginning to fear the worse (why? because I always worry about everything). With the lack of cycles I was sort of hoping for the pink line, but none so far, which means it must be the PCOS rebounding against me. Even though we are not trying to get preggers at the moment (I need to finish my Master's) in case the 9 months are bad, I would rather know why my cycle is so wacky and I'm having all the pain.
We did, however discuss the future and try to make a time frame for when we want to have kids. Ok, I know you cannot have a schedule and expect your schedule to run fluidly with God's plan, but at least I can hope. So, I think we came to the conclusion we can start trying in a few more months, but we won't enlist any help until Summer 2010. *It is likely I will need to go back on the Met with another medicine to get my body to have normal cycles long enough to conceive, so that is what we mean by "enlisting help".* I wonder, can I still do some diving while I am pregnant? I lost this entire summer to my shoulder, not sure I want to lose another summer, prime dive season....this could be interesting.
School starts up in another 2 weeks. I am looking forward to going back to teaching in the classroom. I made my schedule so I will teach all day * night Wednesday, afternoon & evening Thursday and Friday morning for a total of 7 labs. I will work at the lab only on Mondays, Tuesdays and mornings on Thursday. I am itching to get back in the classroom since the lab has been so quiet lately, but I am also hesitant the schedule is a bit hectic and I still have all my Grad School work to keep up on.
Other than the above activities, life has been quiet and good. We've had some rough thunderstorms lately, but thankfully no H's. They may have named the first one yesterday, but it was so far away that it is not a concern at the moment. All the puppies are doing good. They are being their mischievous selves. Our gerbil passed away recently and I think Lucky took it the hardest. While we were cleaning out the cage and packing it up for storage in the shed, he kept whining and putting his nose in the tank in a search for Buddy, the gerbil. We moved the little turtles over to where Buddy's cage used to be, so occasionally he runs over to the tank and then sadly realizes it is no longer his gerbil friend.*There is no plan to get another gerbil...Buddy lived a long, wonderful 3 years and we are not planning to have a gerbil again until one of the kids ask for one* The fish tanks, turtles and dogs are more than enough to handle with school, work and home remodeling.
But it seems our house is still an animal shelter. We may (keyword: maybe, meaning if someone else does not step up) be getting another dog by default in the coming weeks. So as most of you know, we live on a pretty quiet street, with nice neighbors. Well there are a few houses for rent, one being the house next to us. So the last renters up and left one day leaving behind some things (a car, some of their kids toy's, and their puppy). We did not realize they had left the dog in the backyard, but there she sat for a week in the patio area of the house until the new renters moved in. We guess she is 6-8 months old and she is some mix of a pitbull and something else. Being that she is so young and super friendly (she loves to lick and give kisses, responds to us-she has escaped their backyard gate numerous times when they lived there, and is still a puppy and therefore trainable). She also plays well and seems infatuated with Lucky, so we will see how the next few weeks play out. The new renters do not want her, but they too do not want her sent to the pound, so who knows maybe they will fall in love with her and decide to keep her along with their other dog. The old renters have been called numerous times to come get her, but say they do not have room in their new home nor a kennel for her. The biggest issue about her, she is not house trained at all, :( but Greene thinks he can easily crate and house train her if we should adopt her in. Being that she is female and super affectionate and has run around in the backyard with our 3, I am not concerned with her pitbull genes being a problem...but if we adopt her, we will probably take her to a local vet to get her checked out and determine what her breed mix is.
I think that about sums it up. I have a few more things to catch up on, but I need to get back to work. Hope everyone is having a good week!
4.09.2009
What have I done?
I still can't believe I have not blogged in over 2.5 months. I have completely neglected this thing, but then again I have barely had time to breathe. So here's a recap.
In February, I decided to go back for my Master's finally. Because of the time constraints of working and not being able to find an adequate program at a local college, I am trying an online program through Kaplan. I am pursuing a Master's in Higher Education with emphasis on teaching and instruction. Each "class" runs for 10 weeks, so it's like taking 2 classes a semester at a normal college. So far, things have been going well. It is a lot of writing and reading (big surprise!) but I am learning a lot and am enjoying the connections with the other students and faculty. I am still teaching at Indian River. I now have 5 classes a week that I teach and then this summer it will be 3 classes (meeting 2x a week...so really 6 classes). It is hectic, hence why I have dropped off the face of the Earth. Greene has kept himself busy with work, joined a softball league and bowling throughout the week when I am teaching night classes.
In March, we went on our vacation for our anniversary to Key West. We stayed at a quaint hotel called Banana Bay not too far from downtown. We did some scuba diving (I kept extremely sea sick, first time for everything I guess). The weather was awesome, so we got to explore Duval St. and ate at some nice restaurants. Our next vacation is to Pcola for his sister's graduation and Mother's Day. I definitely need a break and thankfully this trip falls when I am between semesters and classes.
Other than the big events, things have been pretty quiet. The doctor's visits have lessened (thankfully!), but still having a lot of issues. Now I am back on some BC that hopefully will return my cycle (but what I don't understand is they suspect my previous BC was the reason I am no longer cyclic, arg!). Still nothing on the food allergies front, excpet I have been super selective where I eat and what I eat and what not. No body wants to mess with this until the PCOS is under control, so for now it's a russian roulette on foods. When time allows, we have been working on the house...planted a garden in the front 3 weeks ago. The master bathroom is the next project on the list. We found some cute shower tiles and trim, and now we need to decide if we are going to look for new floor tiles or stick with the same tiles we have in the other bathroom...decisions I am not willing to make since my brain is fried.
I'm going to try to keep this thing going by putting aside a few minutes each day for it. We'll see how it goes.
In February, I decided to go back for my Master's finally. Because of the time constraints of working and not being able to find an adequate program at a local college, I am trying an online program through Kaplan. I am pursuing a Master's in Higher Education with emphasis on teaching and instruction. Each "class" runs for 10 weeks, so it's like taking 2 classes a semester at a normal college. So far, things have been going well. It is a lot of writing and reading (big surprise!) but I am learning a lot and am enjoying the connections with the other students and faculty. I am still teaching at Indian River. I now have 5 classes a week that I teach and then this summer it will be 3 classes (meeting 2x a week...so really 6 classes). It is hectic, hence why I have dropped off the face of the Earth. Greene has kept himself busy with work, joined a softball league and bowling throughout the week when I am teaching night classes.
In March, we went on our vacation for our anniversary to Key West. We stayed at a quaint hotel called Banana Bay not too far from downtown. We did some scuba diving (I kept extremely sea sick, first time for everything I guess). The weather was awesome, so we got to explore Duval St. and ate at some nice restaurants. Our next vacation is to Pcola for his sister's graduation and Mother's Day. I definitely need a break and thankfully this trip falls when I am between semesters and classes.
Other than the big events, things have been pretty quiet. The doctor's visits have lessened (thankfully!), but still having a lot of issues. Now I am back on some BC that hopefully will return my cycle (but what I don't understand is they suspect my previous BC was the reason I am no longer cyclic, arg!). Still nothing on the food allergies front, excpet I have been super selective where I eat and what I eat and what not. No body wants to mess with this until the PCOS is under control, so for now it's a russian roulette on foods. When time allows, we have been working on the house...planted a garden in the front 3 weeks ago. The master bathroom is the next project on the list. We found some cute shower tiles and trim, and now we need to decide if we are going to look for new floor tiles or stick with the same tiles we have in the other bathroom...decisions I am not willing to make since my brain is fried.
I'm going to try to keep this thing going by putting aside a few minutes each day for it. We'll see how it goes.
1.15.2009
Week Sum-up
So this week has been sort of interesting, especially since we are experiencing winter right now. It has been pretty chilly for FL weather, but I am sort of enjoying it. Last week I found out I showed up to class to only find out I didn't need to teach, so this week ended up being my first week. My week started off on a rather sour foot. I woke up Monday not feeling well at all and decided between needing to be rested up for teaching the rest of the week and having a doctor's appointment at 4, I would just stay home. Glad I did since I just got worse throughout the day. Greene came home early to go to the doctor with me and with all the traffic we made it to my appointment with a minute to spare (if you know me well, I absolutely hate being late and late people). I guess the doc was having a bad day or it was just real hectic for her, but she was totally confused on what we wanted. It seems the Metaformin is working well (I have had regular cycling and the gap between them is beginning to lessen, so we decided to keep me on that (even if it is reacting to my body and food since I have had less side effects lately...I think my body just needed to adjust). But then she was about to write a script for Clomid and with all the research I have been doing I realized she was heading us down the wrong track. For some reason she had it in her head, we were trying to have a baby like immediately. We quickly changed that and told her we weren't in any rush, when it happens...it happens. I am still holding out on getting pregnant in another year, but whenever we are graced with that joy is fine with us too. It's not that we aren't ready or financially stable...I just want to get my masters first. The rest of the night was pretty plain jane...burritos with the group, one of my coworkers (exchange PhD student from Brazil) stayed overnight by us to fly out the next morning to visit another university, so of course the pups were happy. Tuesday started my classes. I had a Biology II lab in the morning followed by a Biology I lab in the afternoon. Both went pretty smoothly...my Biology I class is all girls except for 1 boy (boy is he lucky!). Wednesdays classes are pretty quiet/ timid. I hope for my own sanity they liven up a bit as I think they may drive me insane if they stay so quiet. I have one more class tonight to teach, so hopefully they will be a lively bunch seeing that late classes make me tired. The only problem I am having so far with my classes is the lack of respect some of them give me when they first meet me. I mean I know I am young (and look it too!), but I am a pretty great teacher and will work with anyone to get them to understand the material and succeed in my class. I had students in my Wednesday night saying how they hate "new" teachers (technically am not new as I taught last semester, but it is my first year) and they always get screwed by new teachers...yada, yada, yada. What made me feel better is that I have 2 students from the classes I subbed for a few last semester taking it with me and excited to have me as a teacher since they felt more comfortable with my teaching style and such. I hope the other ones calm down and work with me so this semester is fun.
Now that I am working/ teaching until 9pm 2 nights a week, Greene is really getting motivated to do house projects while I am away. Last night I came home to an organized garage, he repainted and repaired the dryer so it looks brand new (the old machine works great, just needed a little paint job) and set things up so he can continue to do the crown molding. I hope this streak continues for him and he also uses the time to spend with his friends or bowl with the money league he seems to want to.
Hope everyone has a good remainder of the week and weekend!
Now that I am working/ teaching until 9pm 2 nights a week, Greene is really getting motivated to do house projects while I am away. Last night I came home to an organized garage, he repainted and repaired the dryer so it looks brand new (the old machine works great, just needed a little paint job) and set things up so he can continue to do the crown molding. I hope this streak continues for him and he also uses the time to spend with his friends or bowl with the money league he seems to want to.
Hope everyone has a good remainder of the week and weekend!
1.05.2009
Holiday Break
So after a wonderful holiday break, it is now time to go back to the humdrum of my typical work week. I start teaching again on Wednesday (so instead of 5 classes normally; this week I only have 3 to teach....Tuesdays start a week behind). Looking forward to a new group of students, not so sure I'm ready to hear all the excuses and complaints but we shall see.
Break was good. Christmas was nice and low-key at our house with my mom and New Year's was simple and low-key up in Pcola. We were able to conquer some projects but I still have a bunch of needlework to work on (and will keep me busy all this year). We painted all but the back of the house the new chocolate color and did the blue trim everywhere in the front. We ended up running out of paint for the stucco so we will probably be running out next weekend to finish it. The blue trim looks really sharp against the brown and it makes the house look more open and inviting.
Not too much planned for the week between working, teaching and catchup of errands from being away. Eventually we need to work on taking down and putting away all the Christmas decor, but right now I am loving it too much. The big game is on Thursday evening (hopefully class doesn't run too far over), so I am looking forward to watching the Gators chomp the Sooners.
Guess that is all for now. Hope everyone has a good week.
Break was good. Christmas was nice and low-key at our house with my mom and New Year's was simple and low-key up in Pcola. We were able to conquer some projects but I still have a bunch of needlework to work on (and will keep me busy all this year). We painted all but the back of the house the new chocolate color and did the blue trim everywhere in the front. We ended up running out of paint for the stucco so we will probably be running out next weekend to finish it. The blue trim looks really sharp against the brown and it makes the house look more open and inviting.
Not too much planned for the week between working, teaching and catchup of errands from being away. Eventually we need to work on taking down and putting away all the Christmas decor, but right now I am loving it too much. The big game is on Thursday evening (hopefully class doesn't run too far over), so I am looking forward to watching the Gators chomp the Sooners.
Guess that is all for now. Hope everyone has a good week.
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