On Wednesdays my Introduction to American Culture and Literature class (for mostly first year English majors) ends at 2:30, and I have ten minutes to get from Building 8 on the first floor to Building A on the 8th floor for the next class. It's not easy. To be able to do it, I must start gathering all the materials spread over the lectern and OHC machine area as I'm wrapping up the class, which is distracting for me and probably the students, hope there are no students who want to ask questions after class (luckily in this case in Japan such students are very rare), hustle across campus to Building A, take the escalators up to the fourth floor and then the stair ways up to the eighth (the elevators are always too crowded to take). The first week of classes, I barely made it through the classroom door as the final start period 4 chime ended, but last week I made it somehow with about five minutes to spare!
Hmmm... Maybe it's less impossible than I thought!?!? ANYWAY. Last week, for the American Culture and Literature class and for my American Culture class, I had my TAs take photos of the classes so I could put them at the tops of our class websites' blog pages. You can see the photo of the American Culture and Literature class at the top of this page! It's nice that most students are trying to be seen and to take happy pics, while some are trying to hide. . . Anyway, in Japan the picture taker usually says, "Cheese," while the subjects do not, so I tried to make a point of making them do it the American way, where the picture taker says "Say 'Cheese'" and the subjects say "Cheese" so they will smile, with the result that I'm grinning like a fool... but most of the kids are smiling, so that's OK! I have a wealth of TAs this year, because I have a wealth of graduate school students: three (3!) for the American Culture and Literature class (my two Chinese first-year Master's students and my Japanese second-year Master's student) and two for the American Culture class (my two Chinese first-year Master's students). This is the first time I have had more than one TA in any class, so I have to figure out how best to utilize their helpfulness. They are all very earnest in wanting to be helpful! Usually, though, I only need them to change the images on my iPad so I can stand by the screen and point things out on it without having to run back and forth from the iPad at the OHC machine place to the screen. But then how do I get them to do an equal amount of that?!? Maybe henceforth I should have one do it one day and another the next day and so on?! Hmmm... Anyway, it is nice to have them in class, and I do feel lucky to have them. In conclusion, last week, the second week of the new school year, went OK.
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Jefferson Peters (JP)
Can you find me in the picture above? Archives
May 2024
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