Friday, January 26, 2007

The Happenings

Class last night went really really well I think. It’s nice to have a class of mostly extroverts because there’s a lot of participation and idea sharing going on. I knew all my students from last semester (8), about 4 names I remembered from introductions the previous week, and I picked up another 5 or so last night (13 more to go!). As you can imagine, the students who are quiet are the ones whose names I don’t get to practice and therefore will have a hard(er) time learning. All in all though, I think the 2.5 hours went by with relative ease, which made me happy!

When I got home around 9:15 (ugh) Jim and I finished Little Miss Sunshine. There were some funny parts, but in general you more just sit and watch rather than being fully engaged in the flick. I give it a B. This is a better rating than what we have Flying Tiger, Hidden Dragon which we finished on Tuesday (B-). That movie was really not engaging and only the cool martial arts saved it from C status.

Work’s been good in general – I have a lot of great projects going on that will make my management VERY happy with me. I really enjoy the fact that most of them I'm fully running on my own. It makes me very excited to “casually” drop off a closed big deal on my boss’s desk and walk out like it’s nothing. He gets really excited about those which makes me excited. All this leads to further justification for me to come back to work in September. The company does treat me well, the work is challenging but still within my capacity to excel, and I’ve gotten my time management down so that I'm never working more than 42 hours a week. I know, I know, wait ‘till I see that little face and then try to leave it behind to come to work. We’ll see, I'm hopeful that I’ll have a Sue experience and be able to find a good balance with the kid while still earning an income.

8 comments:

TreyJ said...

I agree - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was only good because of the special effects.

Good luck with the name remembering. I'm horrible at that.

Viki said...

Glad to hear you're still so successful at work. Is there any way you can scale back a little when the grape arrives, but still have a fulfulling career life?

I wish I watched more movies - maybe I need to get over this thing I have about not popping one in unless I have time to watch the whole thing...

Gtemp said...

My recommendation to you about learning the other kids names is to have everyone write their names on a card. When asking a question pick the names randomly. It will make the students be more prepared in case they get called on. Then when you know their names stop bringing the cards and throw in the names of people who stay quiet to force them to talk more.

My one teacher does this and it works EXTREMELY effectively. I do like the way you teach tho, I get a lot more out of classes where I'm forced to participate in.

Finlands finest said...

I'm also glad to hear that work is successful for you right now!! That's fantastic!

Greg's card idea is a good one. That would make it easier to learn the quiet ones.

Megs said...

I agree with Greg's idea. In highschool, that was the only reason I studied for some classes... because of the random name calling. I didn't want to look stupid or I couldn't afford a bad participation grade... so I studied (I wasn't a great student back then).

Anyways, I hope that you do come back in September! I think you'll be disappointed when/if you do. You'll be surprised at how much you want to go home and spend time with him/her. Hopefully I can help relieve some of the stress while you're gone.

Mamma Sarah said...

Greg's got a great idea. I love it!

Glad to hear work is going so well. Sounds like the balance of teaching and your job have evened things out for you. I have no doubt that you'll do an excellent job in balancing that and being a mommy! It's hard to leave the little one... maybe it won't be too hard if s/he is in good hands. :-)

Dale said...

Is Flying Tiger Hidden Dragon the sequel to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon?

The movie is traditional Chinese soap opera (my parents would watch them when I was growing up)... People always suffer and die, you're always trying to avenge your brother's death, and you always get in fights in restaurants and chopsticks go flying. For Chinese soap operas, the modern special effects made it AWESOME. I'm just really impressed it made it to mainstream American theaters.

Martha said...

This is the FOURTH time today I have heard of Little Miss Sunshine. Prior to today? Never heard of it. However, the other three people who mentioned it LOVED it and highly recommended it. And yet, out of four people, I still have no clue anything about it.
Glad class is going so well!!