Fishbowls and ampitheatres

Learning Community:
We had a "fishbowl" yesterday. Half of the students sat in an inner circle and discussed an assigned reading while the other half sat outside and observed the brouhaha (I love that word; melee could've worked too). We did one at 8 a.m. and then the students swapped places for another one at 10:00. Dianna came to observe the 8 a.m. one (and mentioned it in her blog, cool!). It went really, really well. The 10:00 one was a little rougher because it was about a short story, but still Denise and I were really pleased with what the students discussed. The general concept of seminars takes some warming up to, so it was good to see the students so willing to jump right in and give it a try. Our true seminars begin tomorrow.

It's so funny. All of the Learning Community teachers keep bumping into each other in the halls and it's like we're all in on some secret the way we look at each other and raise our eyebrows-- like, "How's it going? Have you seminared yet?" We feel like the cool teachers because we're having fun with our classes. Ok, I'm struggling a bit with the term "cool teachers" because it doesn't imply what I want it to, but any explanation I would give here would come off like trying to explain why a joke is funny, and it just wouldn't work.

102 on-line
Well, the 102 on-line class is off and running. I have the worst trouble with the first two weeks of the on-line courses. Students who are not used to WebCT need some time to process how to use it and just plain ole get signed into the course. Then, I asked them to get started using blogs too and start getting to know one another for groups and gave them their first assignment sheet for the Google Project #1. It's alot to deal with all at once. I think we have success though: I have not been bombarded with questions, but the questions that have been asked have been thoughtful. This means they are not overwhelmed with confusion by how I have things set up and are not afraid to ask questions when they have them. This really truly is the mark of a successful first week for an on-line course.

102 traditional
I like the group of students in the 102 class at 2:00. I think I just enjoy 2:00 classes period. (With the exception of the ADHD "wish I had duct tape" 2:00 class from Fall 2006. If any of you are reading this post, you know what I'm talking about!) Anyway, I'm teaching in two different classrooms for this class. On Tuesdays, we're in the computer lab-- I'm used to it. The summer 102 class was in the exact same room. On Thursdays though, we're in 1200. This room is usually used for music classes. It's a mini-ampitheatre, so the students are all in those chairs that have the flip-up tiny desks and they all look down to me. There's also a huge projection screen behind me. I knew all of this when I signed up for the class. What I didn't know was that the music people use Macs! I've never used a Mac before. I didn't even know where to start. There's nothing on the screen initially. Apparently, there's a secret navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. Luckily, I am not averse to asking my students for help with technology. Unfortunately, this Mac in particular only has Safari (never heard of it) which is not up and running with Google Documents yet, so my failsafe Plan B mode of getting to important documents is not failsafe after all...but wait, the lovely Helpdesk people have installed Mozilla Firefox now, so life is good.

The funniest thing about the ampitheatre room, though, is it has a piano in it. This is really childish and immature of me, but I can't help but think of a scene from a movie I really haven't even seen: The Fabulous Baker Boys. Anyway, all I remember is Michelle Pfeiffer singing from atop the piano. I didn't do that. (A. I don't look like Michelle Pfeiffer, B. I do not sing in public. Ever.) I did, however, play chopsticks-- the students dared me to. This just returns to what I was saying about 2:00 students. 2:00 students offer me licorice and dare me to play chopsticks. 8:00 students don't do that. 8:00 students are rule followers because they are still waking up or are type A students.