Blog Break

It's been a while since I posted...about two weeks. Here's the update: I made turkey noodle soup and then threw out the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers (not counting the turkey in the freezer). I had written the recipe down wrong, and I couldn't find the soup base Mom uses, so I had to experiment. My roommate, Todd, flipped out about how good it was: "This is almost better than the turkey was on Thanksgiving Day." Of course, he's never tasted Mom's, so he doesn't know what he's missing.

Since I wrote last, I have graded the first drafts of two papers and the final drafts of three papers for all my students and had conferences. On top of that, I had some major projects due in the classes I'm taking and the head of the composition department came in to observe a lesson. The observation thing freaked me out, because of my experiences at I.S. 318. I'd feel like I'd done a good job during an observation. Then half of the time my bosses would say I was great and half of the time they'd say it was awful. The thing was, I could never tell from how the class went which one they were going to say! It was all arbitrary and made me a nervous wreck. Oh, I'm so glad I quit that job...so very, very glad.

Last night, ODU's orchestra held a sing-along of the Messiah. It was so much fun to sing, especially the classic Hallelujah Chorus. I was, as usual, one of the few altos, so I kind of had to carry the line. As I explained to Todd, it's like I entered a track meet after not having run for a year. By the end, my throat was tired! It was worth it, however, and as a bonus I won a $40 round-trip bus ticket to New York for just $10 in the silent auction they were holding. SCORE!

Today was my last day of class with my first class of college students. I let them have a mini-holiday party with snacks. One student brought mini-muffins and I brought Jello Jigglers, or as we in the Midwest like to call them, Knox Blocks. One funny student was shook his head in dismay.

"What's the matter, Mitchell?" I asked.
"Isn't it a little early for Jello?" he replied.
"Oh, come on! There's always room for Jello."
"Yeah, when I'm 65 and you're hiding my pill." (I love that 65 is ancient to an 18-year-old.)
"Oh, no. Then I'd go with regular, soft Jello. Easier to chew."
"Come on, they make some surprisingly good denture adhesives these days," he quipped.
"The truth is, I wanted something easy to make, light, non-messy, easy to eat and relatively healthy. This sugar-free Jello has about 5 calories per quarter-cup." (Some of the diet-conscious girls in the class perked up at this news.)
"Actually," another student interjected, "These are pretty awesome."
So Mitchell tried one and shook his head. "I'm going to have to go out and buy some Jello, now."
Hee! That kid is just so funny, and the kids in my class were great. I'm going to miss them.

Then I went for my post-observation with my boss. It was a rave! "In terms of this lesson, nothing could be improved upon." Seriously? SERIOUSLY! Take that, crappy old school! I'm not good enough to get a good rating at your school (even though my students' scores were better than any other students' scores), but I am good enough to get an awesome rating at a state university! Ha-ha! I am redeemed. I love teaching college! I'm so lucky to have a job I enjoy.