Two Feet In | Writing and the Institution

Overwhelmed with the reading for my three courses already. Monday's seminar on composition was itself dense, and the assigned reading of 200 pages of history of composition is very dense and of course boring. But boring shouldn't be an issue for professional studies, I know. It would be nice to have reading that isn't boring, but that's not going to be the case. Wood's seminar on myth Tuesday was nearly completely uninteresting or useful. The student presenter rambled for nearly 30 minutes without adding anything useful to the understanding of narrative. Perhaps I'm the only one who has read about myth (thank FARMS and Nibley for that, I suppose), but the level of discussion I felt was undergraduate, not graduate caliber. Rothman's seminar on newspapers and journalists from the 18th century was at least interesting, if not slow. I would prefer that he make his seminar more interactive with more assigned discussions, but he, like so many of the profs here...

Dr. Barry Wood is an older man, teaching for at least 40 years, with a breadth of research and scholarship. He doesn't seem too friendly with technology, and in fact encouraged us not to use e-mail to communicate with him, but has an understanding of ideas that would seem to include the advent of technology, and certainly the ideas that bring about technological changes. I know four of the folks in the seminar: Mandy and another woman who were in Folklore last semester; Chris Webb who was in Bibliography, and another woman who might have been in Bibliography as well (quiet, one of those who rarely say anything ... like me, I suppose). I sat near a guy who is Post-Bac, Alan, and we struck up a conversation. I was disappointed that Wood didn't have everyone introduce themselves or call out a roll, since I was prepared to mark everyone's name down in my page of "Who are the People in my Neighborhood" in my journal. Only 11 of 13 registered students in all. I cont...

Two early sections of ENGL 1301 at LSC. About 20 showed in each section, which means I'll have one show on Thursday who is behind and expects special attention. I noticed within an hour that I was losing my voice, having not used my teaching voice in nearly a month. Nothing changes from semester to semester, so I wonder how long I can handle this monotone of instruction. I can only hope the students bring something new each semester. The online course began this morning too. Always nervous about these, as so many students drop out. I'm going to have to spend more time with audio and video podcasting, since that seems to help them out. But most students who take online courses -- most undergrads at least -- and certainly those who take ENGL 1301 or 1302 -- -- are unprepared for online courses; they think it will be like playing on Facebook and are surprised that reading is required and writing is extensive. Still, I feel guilty that so many fail or drop out. Tomorrow first d...