First Day!

The first day of class is over! I had two classes today: both are ENGL 1102s, but one is at the Higher Ed Center and one is on campus. Both classes seemed filled with eager students; I'm looking forward to reading their first journal entries to see what they thought of Monica Ware's "Mislaid Plans" and Linda Pastan's "Jump Cabling."

There were many very positive reactions to The Kite Runner as an alternative to Tess of the d'Urbervilles. I worry that the reading is too light, but the discussions may be more productive as a result.

My online students are already busy--some have taken the first two quizzes (one on the syllabus, one for practice) and posted their introduction. When they mail me their diagnostic essay, they will have pretty much completed Unit 1!

Tomorrow I get to meet my ENGL1101 class, but I have to wait until January 31st to meet the other ENGL 1101 class (blended/accelerated class).

Summary of the week

The first week of classes is complete. I've met over 60 new students in person and over 20 via email/internet posts. The week started with ENGL 1101 at the Higher Ed Center. It is, overall, a lively group! Unlike my other classes, this group was asked to answer questions like "what is in your CD player right now, what are 2 goals you have (barring money, family, skills and other restrictions), and a fear. Then I asked them to tell me what they thought were traits of an effective teacher and they came up with quite an impressive list including honesty, understanding, effective communicator, funny, laid back, etc.

My next class was ENGL 0050 at 10 am Wednesday. It was a much quieter group, but I saw several smiling faces. In ENGL 0050 at 11 am, it was even quieter! This group isn't as talkative as the others...yet. In both these classes on Friday, we had an ice-breaker activity based on 20 questions the students answered on Wednesday. Students were asked to find a person in the class who matched a description such as "owns a motorcycle" or "has lived outside the U.S." Only in the 11 am class did a few students break out of the group and ask the instructor which description was applicable to her :) While not required or expected, it was fun to see.

The hybrid, or accelerated, class has started with mixed results; several students report not having seen the note in the class schedule that we don't meet until September 12th. Others were unaware it was an accelerated course. These are bugs that will be worked on as the hybrid course offerings are expanded. This is our first semester with these courses, so we're learning as we go! This class if working on basic tasks that aim to get them familiar with D2L and the course policies and structure.

The online 1102 course has started without a hitch! They too are working on basic introductory tasks.

In three of the five classes, blogs are being used in lieu of journals, so that will be a new twist to each class. I can't wait to see how they turn out!

All in all, it was a productive week! Next week, we start diving into content for all three classes!