Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

The Trip Home

The Trip Home

Coming home from Kansas we tried to take it easy. My allergy came back and my face and ankles swelled. It wasn’t too bad though. We stopped in a number of antique shops and as usual I looked for good high quality porcelain that is cracked or broken. This is the only way I can really afford the quality, high-end stuff. I took a picture of my desk with all the pieces I had acquired in the past year but my camera is 16 pixels and the photos didn’t want to load. Today I will try loading them on my older laptops which have older edit software that might be more WDC friendly. I might have to use an older camera. I would like to start using more images on my blogs.

My students are starting to send in their templates. I remember in grammar school, my teacher chiding about my sentence diagraming. Templating is sort of like that. You try and figure out what component the writer is using in a given sentence. It is a basic tool a writer needs to become familiar with in learning the difference between pleasure reading and understanding the utility of the tools a writer is using. For some it is an exercise in frustration and for others provides some useful insights.

I have found that a teacher in an E-Class has to try and help each student develop to the extent possible. What this means is that for some the help you provide might be termed, basic , advanced and very advanced. You identify what you perceive to be their most obvious weaknesses and get them to do some things each week to work on these shortcomings. While there are certain things emphasized each week, the ability of the students to grasp and apply them, varies depending on their education, experience and talent. Everybody is at a different point in their professional development and I’m challenged to help each one where they most need to improve. I guess what I’m trying to say is that one size doesn’t fit all and I need to understand early on the strengths and weaknesses of each student.

I am taking an art class approach where the teacher circulates and tries to provide specific guidance relative to the projects the students are involved in. That seems to work best for a workshop class.

When we arrived home Felix was nowhere around. Today she showed up and is curled next to me on the bed. I know I am allergic to cat dander but it doesn’t seem to bother me if I don’t pet her. Felix isn’t all that touchy feely a cat and so we seem to get along OK.