Classroom Policies

I'm still learning how to teach; I haven't been doing it that long. However, I've been eavesdropping on teachers my entire life, and especially over the past several years I've been absorbing policies and integrating what makes sense to me and disregarding the rest, which is what you have to do: You have to figure out what makes sense for you, based on your own personality and teaching style, and that can take a number of years, based on what you teach and where (geographically and age-wise). Because my parents are teachers, I've been talking to them about their own policies, especially my mother, who teaches German and French. Not that non-humanities teachers can't incorporate similar policies, of course, but many of the topics covered are the same, and that can affect how you teach. At least, I think so.

Anyway.

Right from the start, I've incorporated a policy that disallows an acceptance of late work. That's to say, I just don't accept it. Partly it's because I don't want to have to keep track of who's handed in what, and partly because I want my students to learn discipline. They may or may not go on to careers in which deadlines are extremely important, but there's no way for either them or me to know that now, so I go on the presumption of the worst case scenario: that they may have jobs that require something very important being done at a specific time. Obviously the world isn't going to collapse if they don't hand in a paper on time; the worst that will happen is that they fail a class and have to repeat it (although I did have one student tell me, the first semester I taught, that because he failed my class he wouldn't be accepted into his desired degree program).

The caveat is that I do actually accept late work, if the student comes to me beforehand to let me know what's going on. However, even as recently as last Thursday, when a first essay was due, two students spoke to me before class to tell me what their situations were, and to ask for an extension - which I granted - while another came to me after class was already underway to ask me for an extension - which I did not grant. Timing is important, and I want to relate that to my students.

And of course I do recognize that there are times when really crummy things do happen at the worst possible moment, and to punish the student for something that he can't control isn't the right way to go.

Yesterday, a student (an older woman who has already asked questions like why I can't hold on to all their drafts) in my lower level class e-mailed me several hours after class had ended to attempt to submit an essay, which had been due that class. Her excuse was that she had a family emergency and therefore had not been in class to submit her essay. I'm conflicted about this because I have accepted late work from students who have contacted me regarding family emergencies; however, they have unilaterally been in touch before class. They're are also good students: They come to class with their work prepared; they're slightly older (my age or older, just like this other student) and have jobs, families, etc., and seem to be more serious about their studies; they're in contact more regularly - whereas the student from the lower level class whines a bit more and complains about the difficulty of the writing prompts, has the wrong edition of the textbook and has asked to use mine, etc. My instinct is towards a disinclination of accepting her late work, not because I dislike her, but because she doesn't seem like a mature student, despite her age.

I asked my mother for advice, because while I had made up my mind not to accept her late work, I'm still learning how I can tell my students that I can't accept their work without making it seem personal.

The Epic Voyage

I'm finally home; it's been a mental workout trying to arrange travel the past couple of days. Between torrential rains on the east coast, and Spring Break, it was impossible to get a flight on Sunday because of flight delays, cancellations, and overbookings. On Sunday I tried a couple flights; on Monday I tried four more, and was turned away from each of them. Finally, instead of non-revving (which normally wouldn't be a problem - at least, nothing like this), I bought a ticket - at not a bad price, although I had to change planes in Denver and Washington, D.C. The first plane (SLC --> DEN) departed SLC a bit late, and arrived in DEN a bit late, but my connecting flight was three gates down, so I made it. Flight number two (DEN --> IAD) took off more than two hours late, causing me and a slew of others to miss their connecting flights. United put us up at a really nice hotel with a shuttle to and from the airprt, though (which I would have enjoyed more had I not been so tired, and arrived and departed in darkness), gave us a voucher for food, and rebooked us on flights for today. It was this last flight that went the smoothest.

I wish I didn't have to leave; I would I could have stayed in Utah, but I was getting a bit twitchy from missing class (I had to cancel Monday's class when it became obvious I wasn't going to make it home in time) and not being able to take care of things at home.

I always wondered how the whole voucher thing worked; with all the flying I've done throughout my life (having flown to Europe, across the States, and up and down the Eastern Seaboard vI'm finally home; it's been a mental workout trying to arrange travel the past couple of days. Between torrential rains on the east coast and Spring Break, it was impossible to get a flight on Sunday because of flight delays, cancellations, and overbookings. On Sunday I tried a couple flights; on Monday I tried four more, and was turned away from each of them.

Finally, instead of non-revving, I bought a ticket, although I had to change planes in Denver and Washington, D.C. The first plane (SLC --> DEN) departed SLC a bit late, and arrived in DEN a bit late, but my connecting flight was three gates down, so I made it. Flight number two (DEN --> IAD) took off more than two hours late because of mechanical issues, causing me and a slew of others to miss their connecting flights. United put us up at a really nice hotel with a shuttle to and from the airprt, though (which I would have enjoyed more had I not been so tired, and arrived and departed in darkness), gave us a voucher for food, and rebooked us on flights for today. It was this last flight that went the smoothest. I always wondered how the whole voucher-and-standby thing worked, though. I've been flying places nearly my entire life; I've flown to Europe, across the States, and up and down the Eastern Seaboard, all a bunch of times, but I've never been put up at a hotel for such a reason. And I've never flown standby because of a missed connection. Quite an experience.

I wish I didn't have to leave; I would I could have stayed in Utah, but I was getting a bit twitchy from missing class (I had to cancel Monday's class when it became obvious I wasn't going to make it home in time) and not being able to take care of things at home.

Utah: The Sequel

Being that Spring Break officially ended on Friday, I thought it would be a good idea to go home yesterday, since, you know, I have classes to teach and whatnot. Rita, the kooky goddess of airline travel, thought differently, though. Yesterday morning, Ed and I traipsed (albeit somewhat groggily) to the airport, and attempted to get me on two or three flights, each of which was either cancelled or overbooked to the point in which Delta Airlines attempted to buy people off because they were so full. Apparently on Saturday there was so much rain on the East Coast, there were a number of cancellations, causing a lovely domino effect, even into today: We tried to get me on four separate flights, three of which were again overbooked to the point that Delta was buying people off. Theoretically I could have attempted an afternoon or evening flight, but my arrival would have caused me to sit in an airport overnight, without any means of getting back to Allentown. We tried flights that were going to JFK, Newark, and Philadelphia - no luck.

When we got home today, it was decided that there was now no more time to play around; I already had to cancel my class because even under the best of circumstances I wasn't going to make it home in time, so a an actual ticket was acquired, and although I have to change planes twice and I'll get in at 11:36 p.m., I'll be arriving at the local airport, instead of Philadelphia or JFK.

Aside from the airport runs, it's been a good trip. Unlike my last visit, we spent more time being around (dare I say it) boring: running errands (the Utah Licensure brouhaha), doing whatever shopping needed to be done, cooking, watching movies, going out for dinner a few times. We went to another rehearsal of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and an organ recital, and attempted a scenic drive that caused us both to realize that we neither of us have a sense of direction and ultimately rendered us temporarily lost.

The Utah State Licensure Process

I've been hanging out in Utah for the past week because it's spring break, and where else would you go for spring break except a city that's known for Mormons, a lack of public drunkeness and debauchery, and still-wintry weather? Miami be damned.

I've been slowly getting things in order for the likelihood of moving to Utah within the next several months. This means, at least partly, that I need to transfer my New York State-teacher certification to Utah, which is, at best, a hassle. 

I submitted to another background check last Friday, and which came back as "cleared" this morning. I've had them done many times before, and within the past 3 or so years in both NY and PA. Now I've been researched in three states! Cost to have this done: $69.

Yesterday I was fingerprinted again. I've been fingerprinted in New York - twice - as part of the initial teacher certification procedures, and again in Pennsylvania since I've moved back because I had applied for a job working with children. You'd think they'd look at the database and see that I've been fingerprinted, but I guess that's how these things work. Cost to be fingerprinted again: $20

I registered for the English Language, Literature, and Composition: Content Knowledge Praxis exam (a state certification exam not used in New York, which uses different exams, but used in a number of other states, including Utah and Pennsylvania). The test is  tomorrow morning at about 7:30 a.m. at the University of Utah and is 120 questions long; test takers are given two hours. Each state has a different score for "passing" (I need a score of 168 to "pass" in Utah; in Pennsylvania, that score is 160). Cost to take this exam: $130 ($80 test fee; $50 online registration fee).

Once all the results trickle in and I pass the various background checks and exam, I'll have to officially apply for Utah State Licensure. Cost of the application: $80.

These things all cost money, and if I want a job here this is my best chance of finding one. Fortunately, one can do this in stages, as I've been doing, and not necessarily all at once. Things do take a long time, though: The background check took a week; the results of the fingerprinting will take 4-6 weeks, as will getting the results of the Praxis exam.

A New Exclusion Act

This morning, I read this article, which explains that the Archdiocese of Denver "defend[ed] its decision not to re-enroll two children in a Catholic school in Boulder next year because their parents are lesbians."

A few things come to mind. First of all, I understand, as a lifelong Catholic, how the Church defines marriage. I think that this definition needs to be expanded to gay and lesbian couples, whom, by the way, I believe should be given the option of legal marriage, and the ability and right to have children, and/or adopt. I do not think that children of gay or lesbian couples turn out "worse" than children of straight couples. And when it comes right down to it, I'd almost rather see children live in a household where there are two parents who are not divorced/remarried (yes, I realize there are reasons to be granted divorce); they should all be so lucky to grow up with parents who remain happily married to each other for the duration. Children can be - and are - taught morals and ethics by a variety of people, most of whom are not going to necessarily subscribe to a specific religious dogma.

Yet what really angered me when I read this article was that it is less the parents who are being punished than the children. While it's true that these children could get a comparably good education elsewhere (or better, since I don't know the specifics of how good this particular Catholic school is, nor do I know anything about Denver schools in general), they're being taught that because of the actions of their parents, they are being discriminated against. And because I'm a teacher, I become outright incensed at the idea of anyone being denied an education for any reason.

I really do think that it is actions like these that give the Catholic Church negative publicity, cause people to leave the Church, and develop negative opinions about Christians in general and, in this case, Catholics specifically. I do not want people thinking that I agree with the Archdiocese's decision, simply because I'm Catholic.

Teaching Fun

I'm really enjoying the two classes I'm teaching, but for different reasons. I was thinking about this tonight as I was listening (eavesdropping) on my students as they were working in small groups, discussing a journal article I'd assigned.

In Monday's ENG 100 class (this is a class in which we do a lot of grammar work in the form of worksheets, which I'm not too crazy about myself, but I need to start somewhere), we had our first break-out discussion. I'd assigned the third take-home essay of the semester; the writing prompt is: "Do we have a responsibility to provide financial security to the elderly? Why or why not?" And while not everyone had an opinion, it was the first time a discussion spontaneously happened. The class is a different animal than the ENG 105 class I teach, where I focus primarily on discussion and group work; in ENG 100 there's much more grunt work that needs to be addressed.

The students in ENG 105 are much more likely to have opinions, although not all of them are comfortable talking in front of others. I do, however, have a number of older, non-traditional students who are in their 30s or older, or otherwise married, have children, full-time jobs, etc. They're much more joke-y with each other, and just generally more relaxed. I also have them work together more, peer reviewing each other's drafts, discussing readings, etc., which helps break the ice; there's not the same number of opportunities in ENG 100. I like listening to my students talk to each other and tease each other, express different opinions and really analyze why they think the way they do.