Meeting Students // Week 1, Spring 2018

Prep week went by quickly, and week 1 is gone too. I’m team teaching a new class (for me) this semester, and that has been the biggest challenge. I have little feel for what level the students are at with their reading and writing, and this is the first time I’ve taught with my co-teacher L, so I’m trying to feel out her style also. So far, it’s been interesting.
I have a student in my English 101 class who is a parent of a student I had last semester. The son, who took the class last semester, told his mom that she had to take me as a teacher. In my book, that’s one of the best compliments I could receive.
So far the class is going pretty smoothly. I’ve been able to prep further ahead than usual and that is a huge relief.
The class that has been most exciting for me so far this semester is my pre-college class. I have a group of 3 students, 4 if the last one shows up, and they are fun so far. On day 1, we created our weekly schedules so that students can start to imagine what the semester will look like in terms of their time. We talked a bit about how they can find time for homework and for their social lives.
Day 2 we started pre-writing for a journal they’ll write next week. Plus, we started learning about the first of 4 steps in Marshall Rosenberg’s book Non-Violent Communication. We talked about the differences between observation and judgement and as a class, completed a quick activity on it. I can’t say the students were extremely excited about it, but they were engaged. By the end of the semester, I hope they are able to see the value of it and how it can improve their relationships.
Oh, while creating his weekly schedule, one of the students wrote down the TV shows he needs to watch. One show is Dragula, watch the trailer here, by the Boulet Brothers on the YouTube channel Hey Qween. Let me tell you, it is one interesting show.  Part of the premise is that drag is becoming more accepted and popularized, but with that there are lots of stereotypes about what drag should be. One purpose of the show, then, is to expose people to different genres of drag–this one being punk-rock-meets-horror drag. It’s not for everyone, but I’m through season one and on episode 1 of season 2.
I’d say it was an all-around good week.
~Jaye