Double Dipping!

So I’m going to do a double-whammy here since I didn’t get a chance (or remember…) to look at the videos until about 10 minutes ago.
First, those videos are quite interesting. I have a feeling that they are supposed to have a sort of doomsday-ish feel to them ,but I am so used to the fact of all those things around me may have lessened their potential impact. With the one with the students, I did think it was crazy that they were packing 26.5 hours of stuff into one day. When I think about it, I’m probably doing the same myself. The crazy thing was that they didn’t even mention social stuff like parties or just hanging out. I suppose that may be where the multi-tasking thing comes in. With the one about the website, it is kind of mind-boggling to think that all of this information is out there and able to be moved and used in such a way. The funny thing is, I had no idea that the internet/web had even “evolved” like it had until I watched the video. I was born/grew up in the generation where computers had already been made popular and were increasingly used and owned by everyone I knew. By the time I was in like third grade or so, you were weird if you didn’t have a computer with the Internet. You were even weirder if you didn’t have a computer at all. I think growing up and being a student during this explosion of information and such has really had a way of taking realistic and worldwide things and compartmentalizing them into blurbs and blogs. The pro of something like that is that I am able to learn about the world and everything that’s going on in it, as well as talk to my sister in Holland on a regular basis—even daily if I wanted to. The con of that is also that, while it brings all the death, destruction, corruption, and craziness into my home or library, I feel less and less attachment to the world because of it. I think that, even though all of these things are reported, it still is not the same as being physically there, and that is what all this marvelous technology is helping us to forget.
The other thing that I thought was interesting about the video with the students is how many students showed that they felt more like a number or statistic than an actual individual. I don’t particularly know how this feels since most of my classes haven’t had more than 50 to 60 students in them, and nearly every one of my professors (even the ones I’ve despised) have taken an effort to learn every person in the class by name. Of course, this may also be because of the fields I’m going into, most especially my Minor (music). The thing about the music program is that you not only have to go to specific classes and learn all this jazz (no pun intended. Especially since I’ve never really learned jazz), is that you have to get to know one another and create ensembleship. Your professors work with you specifically and get to know you pretty well (especially when, as is my case every once in a while, you are having a terrible day and it reflects in your playing). Anyway, I just thought that those videos certainly served their thought-provoking purpose.
Whew! Taking a breath and switching gears.
The essay really wasn’t too bad. As nearly everyone else said in their advice to those who are going to write it, DO NOT PROCRASTINATE! I was thankful that I got all my sources one or two at a time because they were less of a big pile and were really helpful as well.
Mostly I’m just totally psyched that I got an A on mine (sorry, I don’t know if we’re allowed to brag about that or not….but oh well!)
Anyway, I think that, above all, you should pick a topic that you feel you have a lot to say about. Apart from helping you fill the number of pages you want and whatnot, you’ll also have more motivation to do the paper and research all the stuff you need to. When I was first looking for sources for my paper, I never knew all the different facets and factors that dealt with it. I spent nearly half of my paper talking about controversies that had been started by other controversies and concluded with how there was no definite conclusion to them all (of course, they were all trying to define language using language…yeah, pretty futile) but I loved everything about it. I think I have morphed into a true English major. Which is saying a lot because when I first started college I absolutely hated that there was no definite answer to anything we talked about. Seriously, I remember complaining to my older sister (who had been in college for three years by the time I started) about it and her just nodding and feeling the same way. Anyway! Tangent!
To make a long story short (too late, I know)—steal the slogan from Nike and JUST DO IT! You won’t want to, unless you’re crazy about tons of homework, but you should anyway. :D

What I wished I had known

I think I have to agree with Kyle on this one. It isn't good to know everything ahead of time. Learning is worth the stress and pain. If I had known what my family would be going through this semester, I'm not sure I would have been so happy to live through it. I might not have signed up for classes, and then I would have missed being a tutor.

Planning ahead is really the only option. For example, I picked out my bibliographic essay topic and had gathered tons of source materials ahead of time. It saved my life: I was able to get the writing done despite serious family issues. Yes, the writing experience was still difficult, but the preparation made the experience worth it.

One thing that helped me in this, my first semester as a writing tutor, was being brave enough to ask questions. There was so much to learn in the Writing Center! If I had given in to fear and pride and kept my mouth shut, I would have found myself in a lot of trouble. I felt embarrassed, even stupid at times, but asking questions was the best way to learn about this job. It was worth it. Besides, there were plenty of other things to be embarrassed about; I did not need to invent new ones.

This class has been great fun. I have enjoyed the lively conversation and the changes to my perspective that have come from meeting with this group of people. I cannot imagine tutoring writers without the advice and instruction from Dr. Rogers and our wonderful Claire. Our reading assignments came at just the right times for the more challenging tutoring sessions. I use the suggestions from the authors whenever I teach, even with my little art students. (The highly emotional sessions happen more for me in the elementary setting than in the Writing Center.)

Thank you for an interesting, stress-filled, entertaining, challenging semester!

What's the point of wishing about the past?

Of course it would have been nice if i knew everything when i started tutoring. That would certainly alleviate a lot of stress in my life. It would, however, also have been very very boring. Learning is one of the most exciting parts about tutoring and going to school. Why would i want to rob future tutors and students of the most exciting part of their job/education?

Maybe some of you think I'm joking, but I really mean it. I started this semester with very little knowledge of not only tutoring, but writing in general. The process of learning may be stressful, painful, and, at times may seem completely irrelevant, but taking short cuts only leads to punctuated, perforated knowledge.

My one piece of advice for future students would be this: Plan ahead and DON'T LET IT GET TO YOU. Some of us have busy lives. So busy, in fact, that it seems ludicrous, ridiculous, absurd, and stupid. Between work(one job or three), relationships, any church responsibilities, and attending class lectures, who has time to write ten page papers? So what does one do? Resign oneself to the fact that life is absurd and focus on one thing at a time, that's what. To future students: enjoy the experience of learning; don't let deadlines and professors freak you out.

One may think: "That's all and well Mr. Kyle, but I am going to get A's in all of my classes this semester. I can't very well be so lax as you suggest." Did I ever say anything about being lax? Look back at the first part of my advice: plan ahead. Make sure you figure out what you need to do, and when you need to accomplish it. Organization will make life much much simpler. This is the key to a successful everything: work, school, what-have-you.

OK. I'm only at about 300 words. Sometimes I really wish i had more flowery speech. That's something to recommend future students develop: flowery writing (in other words, saying something that should only take five words in two or three sentences). I have been confounded so many times because i tend to write short and to-the-point paragraphs and sentences. I feel so put upon when required to take my 500 words and turn it into an 800 word essay. I have already made my point, what more is there to discuss? Assignments should be graded on content and coverage instead of length. In all fairness, professors do have to give students a general idea of what they want. But couldn't they explain what needs to be covered instead of stating how long a paper needs to be? This ties into teaching process and not product very nicely. How about we focus on content and fluency, not length and word count. Alright. I think I'm pretty much done ranting about that. Ooh, I'm at 486 words now! Huh. 486 is all one word. I was kind of hoping it would count as three. Oh well.

Tutoring Wish List

When I think about my first day as a tutor, I wish I had known that everything would eventually be alright. Instead of freaking out for weeks because I didn’t remember every writing rule, I wish that I would have taken two deep breaths and enjoyed my first days more. I wish that I would have asked the students more questions during the session, which would have made my job much easier. I wish that I could have looked at the first students that I tutored with an expression other than utter terror. I wish that I could have ended a tutoring session feeling happy and triumphant rather than immensely relieved. I can now happily say that time and experience has remedied these “wishes.” Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention above is that I never dreamed that tutoring could be so frustrating and require so much patience! One piece of advice I would share with future tutors is DON’T FREAK OUT! Being a tutor is great, and once you realize that you know more than you give yourself credit for you will start having more productive tutoring sessions. Stick with it because it is worth it. The second piece of advice I would share with new tutors is make your students feel comfortable because when they are comfortable, you are comfortable.

I think the tutoring class was really helpful at preparing us for the things we were bound to face in the writing center. Even though the writing response assignments may have seemed unhelpful at first, they really taught me a lot about everything that goes on in a writing center and what a tutor’s responsibilities are. The BIG (bibliographic essay) assignment had the same purpose just on a much bigger, broader, in depth scale. Writing this thing takes more time than I think any of us knew, but in the end I think we learned tons about our chosen writing center issue. Overall this is a great class that helps an ordinary student become a tutor.

Videos

Maybe it is just the natural progression of things, but is anyone else the least bit freaked by how much we depend on technology? In this ever-changing, constantly evolving world we have become so reliant upon technology that life as we know it would not be possible without technological advances. Every single day the world is becoming more and more complex. The second video uses the internet as an example of this increasing complexity. The explosion of information that we refer to as the internet had a much more humble beginning. Now the internet, and the computer for that matter, is used in ways that just a few years ago would have been unheard of. It is a rare occurrence when a computer is used solely for word processing tasks in this day and age. Instead, computers have become our link to the entire world. Computers are our backstage pass to encountering countless forms of learning. Beyond the mundane tasks, computers allow users to watch videos, send e-mail, reference maps, locate information, hold “face-to-face” conversations, post blogs, listen to music and so much more. We could not function as a people or a society if we were suddenly forced to forgo all computer use. Perhaps it is as the video stated, “the machine is us.”

I think the first video was an accurate portrayal of college life for the university students of today. Practically every activity the students said that they participated in on a daily basis was directly connected to technology. Whether theses students were texting, watching TV, surfing the web, or watching video clips they were very much involved with technology. The video started off in a lecture hall, not so different from our very own Lind Lecture Hall. The students gave an approximate break-down of their lives and the time they spend doing various activities. If these are the activities that constitute technology for university students, what will our future look like? If students are the leaders of tomorrow, yet they are content to fritter their class time away instead of engaging in learning what will this mean to the future of our world? If students are supposed to be bettering themselves in the university classroom in order to meet the challenges of the future with the upper-hand, they cannot afford to waste their time and money. The distraction of the classroom is technology.

At Weber State we are lucky to have small class sizes. However, the problem of other universities may not be their large class sizes. Their problem may be that technology is allowed to get in the way of learning. In my anatomy class there are only five students, but it is the teacher’s policy to prohibit the use of laptops because of the distraction they cause. For these reasons anatomy is a very enjoyable, interactive class. This result would not be possible if technology were allowed in the classroom. This is the old-fashioned way of doing things, but like the video stated “if we learn by what we do... what are we doing sitting here?”

The End Complete

There’s nothing I love more than looking back on the past and taking the time to reminisce. Actually, there probably are things that I enjoy more than that. But, nonetheless, it is an activity that I find embiggening; indeed, it embiggens even the smallest of us.

One of the things that I wish I had known three months ago is how to schedule English into my schedule. I always had to put it on the back burner for other assignments in other classes. I wish I had taken more time to thoroughly read the readings and take the time to consider what was being said by the authors. This also would have assisted in the class discussions. I never felt that I had anything very important to say and that is probably because I hadn’t considered the subjects to intently prior to entering into the classroom.

The second thing that I wish knew/did is to have chosen my topic for the bib earlier. I should have thought about what interests me in regards to tutoring a little more. That would have made writing it a lot easier. Yes, I did just use the term “a lot.” I figure this is a blog and I should allow my voice to come out more than I do in my papers. Anywho, if I could have found a more interesting topic I wouldn’t have had such a hard time getting down to business. When you have to read through all those sources, it can be a very tiring expedition. I also underestimated how much reading I would have to do. You would think that ten sources wouldn’t involve too much reading. Boy oh boy was I wrong. I read through way more than ten sources. I would read one and think that it would work, but upon reading other sources I would discover that I would have to throw out some of my sources and find more. I definitely should have got on to the bib train earlier than I did.

Also, as I look back through my mind’s eye, I realize that it would have been neat to sit in a different spot every once in a while, just to shake things up. I did that once and was privileged to enjoy the company of one Eric Stanford. What a good guy, let me tell you. His company was a rather pleasant experience. Also, he lives right by some of my other good mates. Anyway, back to the subject at hand, it’s always fun to shake things up.

Oh! I really wish that I had been able to convince Dr. Rogers and Claire to let us go get tacos at the street vendors down on Washington. If you haven’t been there, you simply must go! Rico’s is the best, believe you me. If there isn’t a Rico’s taco stand in heaven, I don’t know if I want to go! That would have been such a morale booster for the team. Just think of all the smiles that would be present if tacos were had. And don’t forget that on Wednesdays they are 2 for $1. Anywho, I’ll sign off for now. This is the last blog, and I hope that these words of remembrance are beneficial to those future tutors who will grace the class blog with their words. Goodbye for now….

Those Videos were rather nice...

Well, as I watched the videos today, it occurred to me that I have no recollection about the topics that we discussed in class that led to the posting of these videos, so right now I am racking my brain trying to figure out what the discussions were on and how that links to the videos I just watched. The first thing that intrigued me during the videos was the music. I quite enjoyed listening to it. I should probably figure out who the artist was so that I can listen to those groovy tunes on a daily basis.

Anywho, at the end of the first video I think that I recalled enough information from our class discussion that the videos started making sense. The end of the first one brought up that with technology we need rethink governance, authorship, ownership, and all that jazz. It is quite amazing where we have come in the last few years. In school we still follow the same rules that we’ve been following for ages. The problem is that the game has changed. You can’t use the same rules in new game. The rules have to be reinvented and redefined. With the internet and the sharing that goes on in our society, the rules of citing, ownership, etc. have to be rethought. We’re moving towards a time when the rising generations have a drastically different view of what is right and what is wrong. They’re growing up in a time when everything is for free and can be obtained with a few clicks of a mouse.

The second video was quite an enjoyable spectacle as well. Is the old system still what we need? The mindset of education is ever changing. Online universities are creeping up all over the place and are becoming more and more popular. They serve an ever changing student population and work better for many people. Are we just going to shun this style of learning and state that the only way to do something is the way it has always been done? Too many casualties could be claimed if we have this mindset. I’m not saying that the current system is wrong and that it has to be changed. I quite enjoy the way I am receiving my education. But, if we don’t experiment and try new things, how will we ever now if there is a better way of doing things? How many missed opportunities for growth there could be if we refuse to try something new.
Looking back on history, one can see how many great things were accomplished be breaking the mould. By trying something new. As new ideas emerge we need to make sure that our first impressions don’t overrule logic. An open mind can be a great thing. We’ll never know what could have been unless we take every opportunity to experiment. Sure, we may find things out the hard way and fail. But so what. We can take courage in the words of Maury from Zoolander: if we fall off the horse, we can back on…even if we’re not gymnasts.

What do I wish I'd known?

That's easy. Listen closely:

THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY IS NOTHING MORE THAN A GLORIFIED RESEARCH PAPER!!!!!!

Yup. That's pretty much it.

Seriously, though, don't stress about this paper. If you're anything like me, you heard the title "Bibliographic essay" and began to hyperventilate. But just because you don't have to stress doesn't mean that you can put the paper off for months. Please do start on it early...and by early, I mean start thinking about it around week 9-10. Pick a topic no later than week 11, so that you have time to get your sources. The actual "writing" of the paper is fairly easy. It's the compiling and sources that take a long time.

I really enjoyed this class. I can say immediately that it was my favorite. It's not easy, but it's not ridiculously hard. Blogging's fun, too. It's been interesting listening to everyone's opinions. In class, the same people comment, and there are several quiet people. Online, everyone had to post something :-) I heard a lot of viewpoints that normally would never have been shared.

Anyway...

I think this class has helped me become a much better tutor. We actually used the textbook (so, yes, you have to buy it. It's not a waste of your money) and the essays contained therein were relevant and applicable. They addressed everything from tutoring sessions where the tutee has disengaged (come on, we've all had those sessions, right? Right?) or sessions where the tutee is having an emotional breakdown because of an outside situation or because they're frustrated with school/teachers/classes. I liked that we could share our own situations and discuss how we possibly could have handled it. For example, I had a tutee who would come in and talk about her childhood abuse in papers. Every session, no matter what I tried, would degenerate into therapy. Yup. Believe me, I loved that.

It's not that I didn't want to help her! But I'm not qualified to do that. NOT AT ALL. I mean, in English I'm very qualified. I don't worry about that. But I grew up in a cookie cutter Mormon family and extended family. The most scandal/drama we've had was when a distant cousin got pregnant before marriage *gasp!*. And guess what? She married him, and they've lived happily ever after (that was several years ago). They have 3 kids now, and they're now the perfect Mormon family. My point (which I somehow digressed from) is that I'm not qualified to help people with their problems, since my life is so pain-free. Nevertheless, I can listen really, really well, so people mistake my politeness for sympathy, and...

Anyway....Good luck in this class. It's awesome.

Vids, eh? Sure, why not.

I certainly enjoyed the ideas introduced in the first video. As a nontraditional student, my mother seems to be suffering under some delusion that most college students want to go to class, want to do their homework, and want go above and beyond what the teachers ask. I think that's baloney. I tutor a math lab for Math955 students. They get a grade for attendance; we started with 15 students in each lab, and we've ended with approximately 7. That's half! It's absurd to think that students would destroy their grade simply by not attending, but I see firsthand that half of this developmental class failed their math lab.

Me, I would say that I fall somewhere between your average student and your ideal student. I would say that the biggest problem is that students are human. This is a computer-and cellphone-addicted generation. On Monday, I decided to track how much time I spent on the computer for a week, just for the hell of it. Well, it's late Wednesday night, and I've spent a whopping 19.25 hours on the computer already. There are 72 hours in 3 days, right? Well, let's see. I've spent 15 hours working, leaving 57 hours. I've attended school for 12 hours, which brings my total down to 45 hours. I've slept 20 hours, leaving 25 hours. Of that total, I spent a whopping 19.25 hours (or 77% for those of you who are mathematically inclined) of my time on my computer. That's also 26.7 percent of 72 hours. A bit much? Probably. Still, in my defense, I don't spend any time on my phone or watching TV. I get all of my media through my computer. Besides, it's a really nice computer! So you see, even though I acknowledge that 19.25 hours is too long, I don't do anything about it. I don't even want to do anything about it.

I'm lucky that I'm attending Weber State. The small class sizes were one of the biggest reasons I chose to stick around. I got several good scholarships to go elsewhere, but I prefer to be taught by professors who know me by name, not a glorified grad student. Forgive me for wanting to have certified educators teach me! I feel appreciate by my teachers (Dr. Rogers, if I'm delusional, please don't disillusion me), and I know that I can approach my teachers for help.

It makes me curious. What would 200 Weber State students say if they had to complete a survey that asked them the questions that the first video answered? Would the statistics be as shocking? I mean, I accept that they're true, because I know people who are just like that. But is that truly the average?

Worse, I can't even say that this isn't acceptable, because I'm just like them. So, I'm putting the question to you. Is that acceptable?

What I Wish I'd Known

Ah, the end of another semester. It is my favorite time of the school year, dead week. All my classes are finished up, except for a take home final in my contemporary American literature class, which should be a breeze. I turned in the bibliographic essay, and now life is easy again. A month off to snowboard everyday, and then I will be back at it again.

So, I made through my first semester tutoring at the Writing Center. Does that make me a veteran? I at least think I should get a t-shirt saying I survived. The question of what I whished I knew when I began. A lot more is what I would answer to that question. Let us see, I am sure that most everyone in the class, excluding Joel who started his paper a month before it was due, will agree that starting of the bibliographic essay much earlier would have been very beneficial. I would have had a much less stressful Thanksgiving weekend if I had started a month ago. It was not the actual writing of the paper that was the most stressful; it was just the fact that I had to write it. It was in the back of my mind all break. Wherever I went that bib essay followed me around. Once I got that paper done I could breath again.

Another thing I whished I had known at the beginning of the semester is how work intensive the class was. I am not complaining about the workload. I finished everything, and I am glad there was so much writing in the class. I have become a much better writer because of the class. I just whished I had known how much of my time the class would take so I could schedule ahead. I was always last minute writing a reading response.

The thing I most wish I had known at the begging of the semester is to have a perfect knowledge of English. I wish my grammar had been perfect then. I wish I could go back and get my hands on every style and grammar book out there and read like a mad man to perfect my grammar. I would study those grammar and style books so hard they would refer to me as the grammar king. Just kidding! The real thing that I wish I had known is that I do not have to have perfect grammar. My grammar is still far from perfect, and no one will ever find me furiously reading a manual. I learned a lot of principles in class and just by tutoring. Another reason to not worry about an absolute perfection of grammar is because there are lots of other tutors in the room to answer grammatical questions, and if none of the tutors can figure it out there is a book in here somewhere with the answer. If all else fails, Google it. Basically, do not worry about not knowing the answer to a tutee’s question. It is ok to ask for help.

I’m out. Peace!

Killer Robots Have Taken Over the World

Ok, those two videos where a little nuts. They would have taken a lot of time and effort to make. I do not know if I really understood them though. One of them showed that technology is cool and will change the way we write. It will also change the way universities are run. The other video, the one with the signs, seemed like they were saying technology is a waste of time. Maybe that is the point. A balance of good and evil. Opposition in all things. Technology can be used to make life better and easier, and it can also be a distraction.

I like technology. It is fun. I am listening to my iPod right now, why not? If the why not in the last sentence does not make sense, you need to catch up on Futurama. Dr. Zoidberg often ends his statements with why not. That is another technological thing I love, TV. I do not know what I would do with out TV. Futurama often makes literary references. It quotes Shakespeare on a regular basis. Another show that quotes Bill often is Family Guy. Stewie gives the opening monologue from Richard III on more than one occasion. Family Guy makes many literary references, sometimes I do not get them there are so many. Aqua Teen Hunger Force is also a show that makes references to literature. My favorite literary reference by ATHF was when Master Shake said, “They’re the albacores around my neck, like the Rime of the Ancient Marinade.” Shake is an idiot. There should totally be a cartoon class. That would be really neat. I would take it in a heartbeat. I still regret not taking the TV class.

Technology in the classroom is beneficial in many ways. Power Points, while they can be boring, often make it much easier to follow along with the professor’s lecture. Movies are fun and informative. E-mail is a very effective tool to communicate with instructors. Technology can also be a hindrance in class. Those kids in class that are supposedly taking notes, but are really on some sort of quest on WOW trying level up their mage, really bother me. First of all, why did they pay all that money just to sit in class and run around collecting gold? Stay home and do that. The other reason it bugs me is because I sit there and watch them, and get distracted from the lecture. Quit distracting me! Facebook is not an appropriate use of class time. I do not know why these students think it is? Sorry world, but I do not have a Bookface. All my friends do though, and I see how much time they waste on that site. The site is supposed to be a way to keep in touch with friends, right? Then why are all my friends always checking their Facebooks, even when we are hanging out? I am right here, keep in contact with me by talking to my face.

Anyways back to the importance of the cartoon class. There are many other shows that could be incorporated. While The Simpsons is not one of my favorites, it often makes literary references. Their version of The Lord of the Flies is a good episode. My favorite rendition is when they do Macbeth. Thy produce the play, and Homer plays Macbeth and Marge plays Lady Macbeth. When the other cast members start getting better reviews than Marge she has Homer kill them off one by one, ironically in the order that their characters are killed in the play. So yes, I agree, we should definitely have a cartoon class. Anyone with further suggestions, feel free to add.

Oh, and that part were the video said I am the internet really creeped me out.

Why Plagiarize?

I don’t have much experience with plagiarism, well, with the intentional kind. Accidents happen. Intentional plagiarism is something that I cannot relate to.
People who steal other people’s work – why would they do it? Maybe they are afraid they can’t do a good job on their own. Wouldn’t that be evidence of low self-respect? Maybe they waited too long to do an assignment, and now they have to come up with SOMETHING or admit blowing it. Wouldn’t it be easier to just ask for more time?

Some people have suggested that people plagiarize for the thrill. That I can’t understand.

I never liked breaking the rules. I preferred doing my own work. I enjoyed it, and I liked knowing that I did it myself, and didn’t need to lean on someone else for help. Besides, I needed the peace. I’m the oldest of nine kids, and peace of conscience was the only kind of peace I could get.

I know that is not a popular attitude. I don’t care. I’m older, and I’m opinionated. Actually, I’ve seen what thrill-seeking ends up doing to people, and I don’t want it. There are many things I don’t want.

I don’t want to waste time. There are too many fun things to do to waste time on stupid things like plagiarism. Why would I spend hundreds of dollars to take a class, and a couple more to buy the textbook, then waste it all by “borrowing” a term paper? I’d rather spend the time it takes to do it right, and then move on.

I don’t want to repeat the mistakes of one of my parents. One of them has tried to be a thrill seeker, and has lost everything of value in that person’s life. I don’t want to let that mistake spill over into my children’s lives, and into future generations. It has gone on long enough. It stops here.

There are also many things I do want. I want to continue spending time with my family. No, they aren’t perfect people. My family is not “normal,” but it functions well. My husband is kind and supportive and GORGEOUS! My children are learning and growing and generally happy. Yes, many of my children are autistic and obsessed with Pokémon, and strangely unaware of personal hygiene, but they are becoming amazing people.

I want to write. I enjoy creating something new with the pen or the computer, something that expresses a feeling or an idea. I love finding ways to express those things in my own style. I love writing poetry and short stories and love notes and silly birthday cards. I want to teach that love of writing to others.

I want to continue to study and learn new things. I love going to school! The fatigue, the stress, the crazed scramble at finals week to get that last assignment in, they are all worth it. That feeling that comes when I say, “I did it!” is something that cannot be duplicated. It’s my kind of thrill-seeking.

Last Post

First, don't forget to respond to the videos I posted a while back.

Second, the last prompt: What do you know now that you wish you'd known then? About tutoring? About the class? About the assignments? We'll use this to help out students in the next iteration of this course.