Teaching is such a capricious thing. It is definitely one of the professions that is mood-dependent. It has good days, great days, and absolutely the worst days. What works one time will not go well the next. What you considered as a boring activity is suddenly a hit among students. And what you have worked … Continue reading Teaching, Mood Swings, and Literary Miracles
Tag: students
Online Fall
The trees have stared changing their bright-green color, and a new semester has slowly crawled up to us. Here we are – September, 2020 – the year of Covid-19, quarantine, and online studying for everyone involved in the education. In Canada, most schools resumed in-person classes while the universities opted for online education for the … Continue reading Online Fall
zoom, zoom, zoom
My last class. My last zoom meeting with the students this semester. I turn off the camera, mute the microphone, relax my face, lean back on the chair, and finally put my feet on the desk - something I could never do in front of my students on zoom. It is such a liberating feeling … Continue reading zoom, zoom, zoom
one student, many thoughts
I have one student in my class who comes to talk to me after each seminar. Literally, after each class. And what does he say? During the semester, we are discussing different literary texts, dealing with quite difficult topics: the Holocaust, racism, discrimination, AIDS, homosexuality, religion, segregation, colonialism, imperialism ... the list goes on. We … Continue reading one student, many thoughts
Stay humble
The semester is over. Exams are marked, and lecture rooms are empty. I am sitting inside the cafeteria and looking at my student's card. She gave me it as a thank you for a wonderful semester. The card says one sentence: "I find you to be very humble and for that I thank you!" I … Continue reading Stay humble
30 pairs of eyes
30 pairs of focused eyes. They are all concentrated on the task I gave them for the whole class. 30 students, 30 different lives. I see them 3 times a week, yet I do not know much about their lives outside academia. What do they love to read? What will they have for dinner tonight? … Continue reading 30 pairs of eyes
When people surprise you
Do you agree that it is one of the best feelings in the world when someone surpasses your expectations and does much more than expected? Recently, I have been teaching my students the poetry unit. Usually, the students take my Junior English course because they are required to do so, not really because they are … Continue reading When people surprise you
