I am now teaching two classes at NOVA and one class at Mason. Monday through Thursday I teach for 6 hours a day (2.5 every morning at Mason and 3.5 hours every afternoon at NOVA). It is, in a word, exhausting. I do love teaching, I just wish I wasn’t doing so much of it. I am continuously amazed at friends who teach (or have taught) K-12 and teach for 6-7 hours a day, Monday-Friday for an entire school year.
Some thoughts on teaching:
(1) I have members from the men's and women's basketball teams in my class at GMU. I'm excited to watch them all play next school year!
(2) Office Hours: why doesn’t anyone ever use them??
(3) Teaching is really difficult, but it’s also really rewarding when students say nice things (e.g. “this class is really fun!” “I’m learning a lot!” etc.). I never realized how nice it is for teachers to hear things like that every once in awhile. It can really change your day around.
(4) I have this innate maternal instinct over all my students (at least half of them, I should add, are older than me). I feel so proud of them when they do well or when they're improving, and I'm always worried that my basketball players will be injured during practice.
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The Annual Peterson Summer Book Club is well under way with weekly meetings on Sunday night. So far this summer we have read March by Geraldine Brooks (picked by Rich) and Jane Eyre (picked by me), and we are just finishing I, Claudius by Robert Graves (picked by Richard). I am in charge of picking our next book... any suggestions?
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We’ve run a couple of races, including the Lawyers Have Heart 10k in Georgetown, and the Rebel Race run in Frederick, Maryland. We crawled through mud, swam through a pond, climbed over wooden fences, jumped over fire and crawled through some more mud. Richard was interested in the race for the challenge and adventure. I, on the other hand, was more interested in the undoubtedly great pictures we would be able to take after the race was over!
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My quilting class is over, even though I’m still trying to finish the binding and machine quilting part of it. Here’s where I’m at now... I’m running into some difficulties. I think I may enlist the help of Richard’s mom (who is a quilter extraordinaire) when we go to Utah next month!
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Some other notable June/July outings include: several farewell dinners for friends and co-workers that are leaving us (tear), DC United game with the Holtkamps, summer movies, Settlers of Catan marathons, co-hosting a baby shower, birthday parties, two weddings, parades and fireworks! Summer is so much fun - I don’t want it to end!
5 comments:
I love the picture after the Rebel Race. Richard has the best expression on his face.
Are you reading one book a week? Or just meeting every week? I just read (listened to) "Undaunted Courage", I thought it was very good.
I love your quilt! Great job! Sounds like you are enjoying teaching! Good!
Wow, you guys are keeping busy! Looks like a fun fun summer!
Emily, I loved reading your post. Your thoughts on teaching were great! I can just see you feeling maternal over a giant basketball player. I'm glad you are finding some rewarding moments in teaching. You're right; sometimes we don't realize the power of even a small positive comment. Wow, your quilt looks great!
love the race pics! and way to go with all that teaching!!
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