I'm feeling very unmotivated to complete my PhD applications today. I often find myself in the strange limbo space of action and inaction when it comes to my applications. The only thing that seems more oppressive than pouring out my soul to admissions officers, who are likely to flit through my application without spending any real time on it (and consideration of how much time I spent agonizing over the words I chose to use in each statement of purpose, teaching philosophy, or writing sample), is pouring out my thoughts to students on their papers -- mainly because they will treat my comments much like the admissions officers will (students rarely if ever read comments on papers)

To be brief...the motivation department closed early today and is likely to be on holiday until the end of the week!

~ Reporting from the Trenches...

Liked what you read? Of course you did! Then hit the little follow button It would make me so happy to see your face there. OR, just leave me a comment!

My Fellow Americans,

I don't mean to sound slutty, but please feel free to use me any time you want!

Sincerely,
Grammar


~ Reporting from the Trenches...


Liked what you read? Of course you did! Then hit the little follow button It would make me so happy to see your face there. OR, just leave me a comment!

Why Do I Bother...

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother...

How can we have such a great class one day, and, then no one turns in their homework or does what we spent a whole class working on?! I just don't get it. Where is the disconnect? Why do so many of the students seem clueless, lost and bewildered? I can't begin to figure it out...


Liked what you read? Of course you did! Then hit the little follow button It would make me so happy to see your face there. OR, just leave me a comment! Reporting from the Trenches...

Today, this is how I feel, except, I have a Master's Degree. 

MASTER's DEGREE? Yes,  Master's. 

I know what you are thinking: "You should be rolling in the dough"... But alas that is not the case.

While we are all told that education is "valuable," my meager paycheck says otherwise... Clearly education is an elaborate ruse to line someone's pockets, but the sure aren't mine!

However, my love for teaching draws me back each semester despite my frustrations...like a fly to honey

I guess MJ was right when he said: 

"You can win child, You can't break even, And you CAN'T Get out of the Game!"

Liked what you read? Of course you did! Then hit the little follow button It would make me so happy to see your face there. OR, just leave me a comment! Reporting from the Trenches...

So THIS is What Our Future Looks Like . . .

Whitney Houston once said (pre-crack): "I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way. . . "

OH, WHITNEY! Whitney, Whitney, Whitney. . .

SHE HAD NO CLUE WHAT TEACHERS/PROFESSORS DEAL WITH ON A DAILY BASIS, OR SHE MIGHT HAVE SAID IT DIFFERENTLY.

Children are our future - YES; But let them lead the way?  I think not! That is actually an erie thought.

My students scare me sometimes with the things that surface out of the SEA OF STUPID (a phrase I am officially borrowing from another SNARKY friend of mine) that is their minds.
They hardly want to learn, and that definitely disqualifies them from being leaders....(shudders at idea)

After a thrilling weekend of grading such underwhelming work and preparing for the week of classes ahead,  I can't help but wonder what our future holds if we produce such shining minds as this:

from iwastesomuchtime.com

This child (according to Whitney Houston) should be our leader. . . As an educator, this makes me laugh aaaannd think it might be time to relocate.  What do you think?


Liked what you read?  Of course you did!  Then hit the little follow button  It would make me so happy to see your face there. OR, just leave me a comment!
Reporting from the Trenches...

NEW CLASS . . . NEW GROOVE!

So this new batch of students seems to really get my teaching style. One student even asked me if he could turn my name in for the "Best Teacher Ever" award. While this could have been a mixture of honest elation for my stellar teaching abilities or brown nosing at its best . . . . I prefer to believe this student truly meant the former.

There really is no other way to show how my students this session come across to me than to simply leave you with this image from "IWASTESOMUCHTIME.COM":

This is a piece entitled: "I FREAKING LOVE SCHOOL"

TRUST ME STUDENTS, EVEN FOR PROFESSORS, ENTHUSIASM NEVER GETS OLD.


Reporting from the Trenches...

The Fruits of My Labor...

The end of the semester always seems to reveal to me the "FRUITS OF MY LABOR" or rather the lack of fruit . . .

It's always a mixed bag of much improved young writers - like shiny apple trees, slightly changed and detached students who scraped by - like wilting corn stalks begging to be shucked so they don't have to suffer in the heat of academia, and those handful of "crab apples" that plagiarize with no regard for the time and effort I put into teaching them how to cite correctly or my discussions with the class about the seriousness of the Final Research paper and the work that it requires.

I still get a bit insulted by the students who believe that I am just too stupid to recognize their plagiarism and do it with such flagrant disregard for how hard it is to create original work. (They don't seem to see anything wrong with stealing the creative, intellectual property, which makes me wonder about the citizens we are producing in society)

Needless to say, my first summer session was not a good harvesting season! But who knows . . . seasons change and the next harvest might be better?! Here's hoping . . .

Reporting from the Trenches . . .