bits from the classroom

Okay faithful reader(s),
It is that time in the semester again. Ah yes, another round of student papers. I am only on my second of 23 (one student has elected to offer a list of cobbled together excuses as to why he has not turned one in instead of actually writing one), but I am reasonably certain that nothing will top paper #2. nothing, nothing, nothing.

Gem #1: " I believe the painting shows an individual taking a hit on the crack pipe." In my comments, my goal is to gently guide the student to an understanding of why you cannot just drop sentences like this into the middle of a paragraph with zero warning and zero analysis. Wish me luck.

Gem #2 (Really, this one is a treasure trove): "The painting definitely suggests that crack is wack."
As I was grading, I instinctively put brackets around the sentence, but I honestly have no clue what to do with this sentence. I'm hoping that inspiration will strike later.

On an up note, I am really starting to enjoy the students in the class and class has been going well. Yesterday there was almost a fist fight* because one student said that all middle easterners filled him with hate and terror, and another student "mildly objected" to this statement, but hey, that's what the classroom is for.

*verbal, not literal. Thank goodness.

an observation

You know you married someone from Clemson when....









you could do an entire load of laundry for orange items.

fall merriment

Here is a picture of Thomas from Halloween two years ago. Notice the wide grin and FIRE. We are hosting a Halloween party this year (my how things change in a short amount of time!), and Thomas' first contribution to party planning was "Well it's a good thing that we have a nice wide street in front of the house. And lots of lighters. That way, we can easily light everyone's pumpkin on fire in the street!"
This is how I understand it: pumpkins=fun.
anything+ fire= lots and lots of fun

I'll be happy to let him handle that part...I will just enjoy playing with the goopy pumpkin stuff and probably do mature things like pretending it's alive, eating my hands, etc.




On a completely unrelated note, I just finished chewing 7 pieces of gum. In one hour. And each piece was divided in half. (you do the math).
Yikes. I think this is why I usually don't buy gum. My jaw would probably go on strike if I did (can't you just see all the muscles and tendons holding tiny picket signs?)

Big Fish

This picture of my handsome man is from several months ago when he went on a manly fishing trip.
I'm just glad that he had washed his hands by the time I saw him.

Consider your audience...

I am by no means a "feminist" in the culturally connoted sense of this word, but there are times when people still shock me.
I am in the midst of grading my students' first big paper assignment, an arduous process with occasional glimmers of good writing, thoughtful analysis, or downright hilarity.
For instance, I just finished a paper that includes the following sentences:
"Education is a major reason this country has as much power as does. (not as IT does, just as does)
It takes smart men to get us this far in the world and it will take more smart men to take us even further."
SERIOUSLY? To a female instructor? C'mon buddy, consider that two people in the entire world will read this paper and one of them is the girl WHO WILL GIVE YOU YOUR GRADE.
Don't worry, I am not going to give him a low grade for this sentence. Rather, he has earned a low grade based on the other three pages of the paper that are filled with gems like "Teach this, teach that, learn this, learn that, it could go on forever."

Jack!

This is Jack. Thomas brought home craft supplies tonight in an effort to fulfill the desires of my occasionally craft-ing heart.
We are going to display him for a while and then (shhh) we are going to make him into pumpkin pie.