Spring Break Catch up

How quickly any given break feels as it slips away. I'm technically only on the second day of break and already I feel behind.

Teaching with Peanut Butter

Last week I created a lasting teaching memory. A story I will tell for many years.

This semester I teach three classes back to back in the same building of my office. Between classes I drop off papers, collect books for the next class, and check my email. On this particular day I also stuck a fork into a large almost empty jar of peanut butter and crammed a forkful into my mouth.

Some ended up on my nose. And I went to teach my next class.

I taught for the full 50 minutes when at the end of the class, the student who will now be assured an A, told me that I had something on my nose.

Before the class left, I scolded them and one student said that because it was Ash Wednesday, he didn't want to mention it since I could be part of some sort of strange denomination that marks the nose with something brown instead of the forehead with ash.

I do so like this class.

But it's important to create the type of class environment where students aren't afraid to tell the teacher she is ridiculous.

Letting them surprise you.

One of the keys to successful teaching, and especially to the teaching of writing, is to allow your students to surprise you. Those who you expect good things from, and moreover, those who have disappointed you in the past. It reminds me that students, and people, can turn things around in a moment, in a class, in a day, or during a semester.