Last Friday I was just getting going in my Reading and Writing class (using Charlotte's Web), using Webex' online website application cause my desktop version stopped working two weeks ago (my meeting participants can't see or hear me, nor I them, when I use the desktop Webex), and I was just getting into the rhythm of the introductory things for that day, and I was just going to share with the students a two minute sample of E. B. White reading the first audiobook version of his novel Charlotte's Web when suddenly a happening happened! I couldn't see in the list of the applications Webex would let me share the Chrome Amazon webpage I had open to the audiobook with the sample ready to play at the right point etc. I panicked a bit because I vaguely remembered something similar happening in the second introduction to American Culture and Literature class when I was trying to share a web page... and then... and then... I might have clicked something strange--I can't remember now exactly what i did--but anyway suddenly Webex wouldn't let me share ANYTHING. When I tried sharing my PowerPoint slides or a Word page I had open, I got a "Webex can't share anything now" message or something similar. I had to share screens for the class to continue, but couldn't.
Panic! So then asked the students to leave the meeting so I could end it and then start it so they could rejoin it, etc. They were great--and after I restarted my computer and restarted the meeting, they all joined and we continued the class and it ended up OK, I suppose. But jeeze, I sure hate Webex! I can't count on it. Otherwise, last week's classes went OK, I guess. There were great moments in the three English conversation type classes where by chance a student giving a self-introduction speech got matched with a student to ask him/her a question and there was some kind of spark of simpatico connection, like two people who had done brassband in high school or two people who like High School Musical or someone who asked a girl with a five year old little brother what she does with him so the girl could say play jump rope and dinosaurs. There were also some uncomfortable moments where I discovered that someone's mic wasn't working or someone's voice was way too loud or quiet and so on. But maybe those classes went as well as they could in an online situation where the students are supposed to turn off their mics and videos and I have to turn off my video too. I think my Seminar is going OK--the kids are sharp and good readers and so far have been able to articulate what I've been hoping they could articulate about the Native American tales we've read together ("The Dream Fast" and "The Girl Who Escaped"). The only problems really are those caused by my asking them difficult topics to prepare, like about the parts of the plot or the nature of the settings of the stories and so on... There seem to be nearly half of the first-year students who are responding well to the Introduction to American Culture and Literature class, as evidenced by about that number submitting comments and questions to our class blog. These leads to a fair amount of time and typing by me as I reply to each person, but I enjoy it cause I get the impression (delusion or reality) that about a third to a half of the students are wanting to communicate in English about our class topics (right now Native American history and songs, with Puritans coming next week). With my two graduate students who this year must write their 50+ page master's theses, I can basically only hope that they'll do their work well. I mean, they are nice and intelligent people, but after all it's up to them... Right, anyway, apart from that moment of technical trouble and panic, last week went OK. OH! I also made a stupid careless mistake for the poor Reading and Writing students: after spending a lot of time perfecting (I though) the quiz I was going to give them last Friday, I at the very last second switched an answer in a multiple choice match vocabulary word and definition question, but neglected to change the answer key on Google Forms, so 25 people about got it right but had it marked wrong, while 5 people got it wrong but had it marked right! So... I had to modify everyone's grade one way or the other, defeating the automatic purpose of Google forms and, I'm sure, giving the students more confusion... Sigh. No more mistakes or technical troubles next week!
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Jefferson Peters (JP)
Can you find me in the picture above? Archives
December 2023
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