Teaching

I teach Public Speaking from 8am - 9:14am on Tuesdays & Thursdays. Today at 9:10am I paused in my wrap-up to point out that it was 9:10, 11/12/13. I had been waiting all! class! for that moment. I'm a dork that way.

I teach Media and Pop Culture from 12:30pm - 1:45pm on Tuesdays & Thursdays. I start every class with a song or video. Today we listened to "Cecilia" by Simon & Garfunkel. If you don't know this song, you live a sad life. Listen to it here. Today's lecture, I got to talk about how TV shows have changed over the decades, with a special focus on why reality TV and crime shows became so popular after 9-11. Fascinating stuff.

I teach Listening from 5pm - 7:45pm on Tuesdays. I'm usually exhausted by 4pm and can't imagine teaching a 3 hour class. But 4:30-5pm is the bewitching half-hour and I magically transform into someone who has energy! and enthusiasm! for what she teaches. This is usually due to the energy drink I downed at 4pm. Tonight, we talked about critical listening and watched a half-dozen commercials, analyzing logos, ethos and pathos. Then I convinced half the class to come live on my island, Jim Jones style, and proved they ought to work on improving their critical listening or they would end up drinking wonky koolaid.

In between classes, I coach and have some time to grade. I bribe myself while grading. For example, today I was grading listening journals. For every 10 I graded, I got to watch a youtube video. I became obsessed with this video, which illustrates exactly how I feel after hours of grading. During another break, I laughed my fool head off at this one.

I am finally home, drinking a cup of decaf coffee, and listening to "Cecilia" one more time. It was a good day.