(no subject)
It has come to my attention that:
It must be time to update my livejournal!
Tra la.
You know, I've spent so much time (quazi-)hard-coding in html recently that switching over to the user-friendly interface of LJ is a concious shift. Also - what the heck, there are 47 new options on this LJ online update form. Eh?
(Incidentally, you can view some of the fruits of my labors here. Or, you can sign up for Smile's weekly web sale e-mail list to fall victim - er, bare witness - to it on a weekly basis here.)
In other news, I am getting over a nasty cold (amazing and recent revelation: when the person you are dating gets a cold, even if you don't kiss them, you get the cold, too. Magic!). I am still finishing up student teaching, and will post an entry about those experiences (mixed, but not for non-friends level posting) soon.
I am applying to work at Eleanor Roosevelt in the fall. As it turns out, they are looking for someone to potentially teach English and theatre, a position for which I am being considered, in a fit of (wonderful, and, dare I say, dramatic) irony.
I am also (still) applying for the Peace Corps. I am in the process of going through medical; tra la.
I am also applying to work in five school districts in Maryland; y'know, for the fun of it. I'm torn about what the impact of any of these choices will be on my career at Smile.
Also, I'm (hopefully!) going to be working at the US Botanic Gardens (where I am also volunteering, if I ever get well again) this summer. And I am attending this in a few weeks, and you should, too, if you are pagan, live in the DC metro area, etc. Or if you just want to keep me company for a night.
I'm trying to teach sixteen year olds how to write short stories, and having mixed success. The honors kids generally love it, but I haven't seen any of their work yet. One of the things that's really hitting me is the extent to which (although there are definite slackers in college) high school students take their education for granted. I don't mean to sound like an old fuddy-duddy saying this, and it doesn't even really phaze me, it's just like, how many times in your life are you going to (for free) be offered a chance to read and share your creative writing with someone who studied the subject in college?
I think part of it is the whole public school, no choice involved, etc. thing. If I were a full-time teacher, I would hope to be able to build a relationship with my students where they know I will be difficult and demanding, but not dogmatic.
Hopefully this doesn't sound too arrogant. As an adult, looking back, I know what an uphill battle it can be finding decent teachers who will spend time reading your work. Even at the college level, you are lucky to get a writing teacher of any kind who invests energy into teaching you how to write and following up on it with scaffolding as he/she reads your paper. Maybe I'm just jaded from going to a research institution, I don't know. Maybe I'm just showing my relative age. And it's not as if my students are rude or even outwardly ungrateful, they're just utterly passive to the whole thing. They complain about teachers who make them do meaningless work, and yet, were I to say "please copy these definitions twenty times," they would do it, and not show me any more or less thanks, I think, than they do now. It's odd, working with teenagers: as much of a mixed bag as any other age group, just ten to twenty times more loudly so.
Elsewise, hm. I have slacked in many categories, not just updating the LJ: knitting, yoga, observing the sabbats and esbats, sleeping, keeping up with friends, gardening. I hope to catch back up with these soon. I am still reading Little, Big, and you should, too.
Oh, and I totally fell for Google's April Fool's Day Joke. You'd think that with a mom born on or near the day, I'd be above such things. Alas, no.
Much sniffly and mucus-y love to all. Mmmm.
- The days grow longer;
- The birds are singing;
- I will soon be graduating;
- And people are beginning to wonder if I am dead.
It must be time to update my livejournal!
Tra la.
You know, I've spent so much time (quazi-)hard-coding in html recently that switching over to the user-friendly interface of LJ is a concious shift. Also - what the heck, there are 47 new options on this LJ online update form. Eh?
(Incidentally, you can view some of the fruits of my labors here. Or, you can sign up for Smile's weekly web sale e-mail list to fall victim - er, bare witness - to it on a weekly basis here.)
In other news, I am getting over a nasty cold (amazing and recent revelation: when the person you are dating gets a cold, even if you don't kiss them, you get the cold, too. Magic!). I am still finishing up student teaching, and will post an entry about those experiences (mixed, but not for non-friends level posting) soon.
I am applying to work at Eleanor Roosevelt in the fall. As it turns out, they are looking for someone to potentially teach English and theatre, a position for which I am being considered, in a fit of (wonderful, and, dare I say, dramatic) irony.
I am also (still) applying for the Peace Corps. I am in the process of going through medical; tra la.
I am also applying to work in five school districts in Maryland; y'know, for the fun of it. I'm torn about what the impact of any of these choices will be on my career at Smile.
Also, I'm (hopefully!) going to be working at the US Botanic Gardens (where I am also volunteering, if I ever get well again) this summer. And I am attending this in a few weeks, and you should, too, if you are pagan, live in the DC metro area, etc. Or if you just want to keep me company for a night.
I'm trying to teach sixteen year olds how to write short stories, and having mixed success. The honors kids generally love it, but I haven't seen any of their work yet. One of the things that's really hitting me is the extent to which (although there are definite slackers in college) high school students take their education for granted. I don't mean to sound like an old fuddy-duddy saying this, and it doesn't even really phaze me, it's just like, how many times in your life are you going to (for free) be offered a chance to read and share your creative writing with someone who studied the subject in college?
I think part of it is the whole public school, no choice involved, etc. thing. If I were a full-time teacher, I would hope to be able to build a relationship with my students where they know I will be difficult and demanding, but not dogmatic.
Hopefully this doesn't sound too arrogant. As an adult, looking back, I know what an uphill battle it can be finding decent teachers who will spend time reading your work. Even at the college level, you are lucky to get a writing teacher of any kind who invests energy into teaching you how to write and following up on it with scaffolding as he/she reads your paper. Maybe I'm just jaded from going to a research institution, I don't know. Maybe I'm just showing my relative age. And it's not as if my students are rude or even outwardly ungrateful, they're just utterly passive to the whole thing. They complain about teachers who make them do meaningless work, and yet, were I to say "please copy these definitions twenty times," they would do it, and not show me any more or less thanks, I think, than they do now. It's odd, working with teenagers: as much of a mixed bag as any other age group, just ten to twenty times more loudly so.
Elsewise, hm. I have slacked in many categories, not just updating the LJ: knitting, yoga, observing the sabbats and esbats, sleeping, keeping up with friends, gardening. I hope to catch back up with these soon. I am still reading Little, Big, and you should, too.
Oh, and I totally fell for Google's April Fool's Day Joke. You'd think that with a mom born on or near the day, I'd be above such things. Alas, no.
Much sniffly and mucus-y love to all. Mmmm.