August 15, 2007

• I vaguely remember when it DAWNED
  on me how HTML worked.
  I’m sure Kevin was thrilled
  (as thrilled as Canadians get)
  that I had figured it out and would then
  stop complaining about creating a hypertext for class.
  I think that was back in 1998!
  Who knew that that knowledge,
  gained in an Advanced Writing Workshop class,
  would’ve stayed with me just as the papers
  I wrote for that course
  have.
  There was the one about our literacy narrative.
  The one about home that had someone in the class
  coin the terms
  “sybilistic” and “sybilism.”
  And the hypertext projects.

  I remember many of his classes,
  being frustrated by Ong in Electronic Communications, but also
  giving birth in that class to my future with BLOGS.
  I remember Steve Ward’s World Literature class,
  when he talked about duality.
  And his Poetry class
  where we had “fun” quizzes, and I met Freya Manfred.
  I remember Betsy’s course,
  and falling in love with Alternative Discourses while checking out
  Kendra’s sexy pedicures.
  I remember talking about practice and theory (and that balance)
  in Composition Theory, and inching towards Expressivism.
  I remember Amy’s class,
  and the creation of Blog Partners,
  a cousin to her Writing Partners program we already had;
  Dayna and KT didn’t like to blog.
  I remember doing my first analysis of two blogs
  for Dr. Salting’s class on Linguistics;
  he was why I still lean to that “side” more than the Literature.

  There are certain classes that are a blur, of course.
  But I latch onto those that inspired me, when I remember.
  Like Dr. Kathy Cummings’ courses as an undergrad…
  All three (one about the History of Teaching, one about Educational Psychology,
  and one about Understanding Racism) were and are
  the backbone to my teaching methods.
  I remember how she told us of teaching at Las Vegas high,
  and getting the students to write raps about Shakespeare.

  I have learned many things.
  And there is so much more out there yet to get wet in, too.

  • 5:51 pm
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