Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Jan. 7th, 2014 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bearshortyToday is a really cold day all across the US but at least in New York it wasn't as bad as many other places. We had 7F (-14C) in the morning and maybe 15F (-9C) in the afternoon. Not that I had to go outside but we did get ice on the windows inside the bedroom. And Bear had to go to work and I was trying to get him to dress warmer - but he didn't want to sweat in the car.
I still have my two weeks before the semester starts on January 21 so I get to be home. I did work a lot on my syllabi today, mostly figuring out the reading breakdowns and types of lectures for history classes. I'm teaching 4 classes next semester:
a. Two writing classes (Expository Writing) at University where out of 44 students I will have, 17 were my Basic Comp students from last semester (which is a great number to carry over. All students at this Uni have to pass Expos and Basic Comp is for those who need extra prep to get to Expos, based on text scores.) I don't know which six articles I'd be assigning yet - I need to see if there will be a new edition of the textbook which has new essays. But I know I'm going to start with Beth Loffreda's "Selections from Losing Matthew Shepherd: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder." My students were mostly born in 1995, so most of them don't know it. I think they should.
b. Two history classes at Local College: "Global History: 1500-present" and "Sex, Power and Identity in Europe before 1800". I've taught both before two years ago, so I have most prep done, but at least this time I can do the gender class properly - two times a week, not a three hour seminar. Today I worked on syllabi for the gender class mostly (I'm adding a new book and changing it up a little), but I also worked a bit on the readings for Global. Another professor who is teaching a section of his course likes a textbook focused on colonialism and imperialism so I'm going to use that too. I needed to figure out what chapters from it I would assign.
On a non-working time today, I spent time after breakfast watching a new episode of "Teen Wolf." That show is such a silly crack. And nice views of shirtless boys. I did like the dreams and creepiness of the episode. Also I've been reading my mystery book more. It is coming along nicely. And January 11th for get together is back on, since Yeva changed her mind and can make it. So Friday and Saturday I will actually be social.
I still have my two weeks before the semester starts on January 21 so I get to be home. I did work a lot on my syllabi today, mostly figuring out the reading breakdowns and types of lectures for history classes. I'm teaching 4 classes next semester:
a. Two writing classes (Expository Writing) at University where out of 44 students I will have, 17 were my Basic Comp students from last semester (which is a great number to carry over. All students at this Uni have to pass Expos and Basic Comp is for those who need extra prep to get to Expos, based on text scores.) I don't know which six articles I'd be assigning yet - I need to see if there will be a new edition of the textbook which has new essays. But I know I'm going to start with Beth Loffreda's "Selections from Losing Matthew Shepherd: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder." My students were mostly born in 1995, so most of them don't know it. I think they should.
b. Two history classes at Local College: "Global History: 1500-present" and "Sex, Power and Identity in Europe before 1800". I've taught both before two years ago, so I have most prep done, but at least this time I can do the gender class properly - two times a week, not a three hour seminar. Today I worked on syllabi for the gender class mostly (I'm adding a new book and changing it up a little), but I also worked a bit on the readings for Global. Another professor who is teaching a section of his course likes a textbook focused on colonialism and imperialism so I'm going to use that too. I needed to figure out what chapters from it I would assign.
On a non-working time today, I spent time after breakfast watching a new episode of "Teen Wolf." That show is such a silly crack. And nice views of shirtless boys. I did like the dreams and creepiness of the episode. Also I've been reading my mystery book more. It is coming along nicely. And January 11th for get together is back on, since Yeva changed her mind and can make it. So Friday and Saturday I will actually be social.