Things I have Learned

This is the end of two of my courses for this semester, I was teaching two intensive English Writing Classes. I want to take some time to write about what I've learned and what I think I need to do to improve my teaching of these classes in the future:

1. Take more time to read the short stories ahead of time. Most of the students are non-native L2 or L3 speakers and they will need quite a bit of time to go over the stories we read.

2. Revamp my own way of thinking that you don't use literature to teach writing. This was something I picked up in grad school and it has stuck with me. That made it really difficult for me. I think I spent too much time sometimes talking about literature and too little time talking about writing. I've got to find a balance and have got to work on letting students know that this class while its focus is writing, is also about how to respond to literature.

3. Design more writing prompts that help connect thinking about writing and thinking about the stories.

4. Find a way to have office hours!

5. Spend more time talking about grammar within our papers, not with worksheets.

6. Give more background on the stories we read and contextualize them for students.

7. Bring in outside articles and have students write responses.

8. Make sure students understand what the class is about before they even begin.

9. Find a way to use more technology.

***On a more personal note***

-Prep for two to three weeks, have backup assignments in case the English of the students is not exactly what was expected.
-Writing games/activites
-Grammar presentations
-Presentation on the stories by students

Don't teach two long classes back to back. You have a babe now and you are way too tired once you get home.

Pump plenty before class so your boobs don't look and feel like cantelopes.