Digital Sea

Another Post Bites the Dust

Two consecutive days of good ol' bloggin', eh.

Well most of my night last night (and all of tonight, too) was spent working on the Writing Fellows brochure that I'm making.  Oddly enough, I managed to give myself "designer's block." 

It must be because I was away from my DEAR computer for so long.  Oh, well.  I let it soak in over night, and I was able to at least send out a first draft of something that I'm not ashamed to claim. 

It's a pretty simple three-fold brochure.  I decided to keep everything very straight-forward on the front and relatively straight-forward on the inside.  I did take the liberty to make the inside much more "open" (I'm not sure if that's even the right word).

My drafts usually end up incredibly different than my final draft, so I'm looking forward to the feedback that I'll get and the end result.  I'm usually pleased with how they turn out, so I'm not That worried.

It's starting to feel like student teaching is thisclose from becoming a reality.  Hopefully I'll be able to prepare myself enough (well, at least enough so that I'll be psychologically ready--which, in my case, is probably going to result in being over-prepared).  I'm re-reading To Kill A Mockingbird.  I'm teaching it at my second placement.  Still as good as the first time...

I'm still at my regular summer job, at Wolfe Plumbing.  I'm really running the whole warehouse this summer, though.  It's a lot more work, but I really do enjoy it.  Mr. Wolfe seems to be pleased with the way I'm doing things, so he may even be willing to outsource some work to me while I'm away.  That's pretty apropriate, isn't it.

I could never have done anything like that ten years ago...

Alright, well, another post bites the dust.  Have a good night, folks.

Sit Down, Stand Up

Oh, man... it's been a while.  I missed my TypePad blog.  I started experimenting with a Vox blog (for financial reasons, but it's just not the same.  Then during my hiatus from TypePad (and after, for that matter) I had some connectivity problems.

This summer has been absolutely stressful for me.  It just proves how much of a computer nerd I am.

Anyway, this post may be something only for me, but I figure I'll publish it anyway.

I'm really struggling with my preparation for my first student-teaching placement.  Mr. Cafararo has pretty much given me the reigns and let me lose on these 9th-graders.  The thing is... I think I'd much rather him have given me something... anything to use as a foundation.

I've given a lot of thought to doing a media literacy unit with the students, but I got the feeling that Mr. Caf was not "feeling that" so much.  I could still do it, and I may, but I really have to do some meticulous research.

I was looking through the huge textbook that he gave me, and save from two or three things, I don't really foresee myself using a lot of it. 

I really want to have a positive student-teaching experience...
I really want to have a positive student-teaching experience...
I really want to have a positive student-teaching experience...
I really want to have a positive student-teaching experience...
I really want to have a positive student-teaching experience...
I really want to have a positive student-teaching experience...

I need to get-a move on and start really writing things down.  I feel like I've literally spend three weeks brainstorming.

Next step is to just start writing.  I need to start something, anything.  If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work, and I'll move on.

Time isn't going to stand still.

My second placement has been easier.  I actually have more done for that; this is mostly because I have much less freedom.  This isn't a bad thing, trust me.  But, who knows...

Anyway, I don't like writing long posts (I wouldn't want to read it all either), but I do have one more "good" thing to write about:

One of the students from one of my Comic Life Workshops sent me an email.  He basically confessed that Comic Life makes him happy and that he cannot wait until the next one.  I get the impression that he's working on "something big."

That made my day.