Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Some thoughts

I have been meaning to post about several things.....but haven't....here is my attempt at remembering everything.

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Thursday night: My co-worker and partner in crime, Darrell, who in a former life used to be a chef, made Indian for all my students. It was amazing. But on my left, I heard these words come from my husband's mouth: "Its not that I don't like Indian, I just don't like curry." My first thought was - that is just like my Dad. When I was recovering from back surgery, I took the spices that make up curry and tried to figure out which one dad didn't like so that I could make indian food just without that particular spice. Dad doesn't like Turmeric - the spice that gives curry the color it is known for. I feel bad that I don't have time to do with Jim. As I was retelling this story though, my mom thought it sounded like another comment - "The Chinese can keep their cabbage." This made me laugh all day long. Inside joke from Colorado!

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Last Saturday: I was excited about walking a 5K, then forgetting my bus pass, and needed to walk another 5K home - all by 11am on a Saturday.

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In the last week or two: I assign blogging to my students (16 this year). It helps me understand where they are processing and helps keep them in touch with others as they leave for Sweden, England, Brazil and Paraguay. However, when setting them up, I promised a reply to each post...wow, that takes a lot of time!

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Thursday night: The debate was better than I expected; not as much for Tina Fey to pull from this week.

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In the last couple weeks: My students went to Trinity UCC a couple weeks ago. In reflection time, I realized the difference from other students. These are the first people who know about Trinity from the news. Their reflections showed the bias of the news coverage. The media has robbed Trinity of some of its power, its hospitality, its beautiful spirit - since no one is left in the country probably who hasn't come up with an opinion about it. It used to be a place where students were shocked and yet open. Now, my students were ready to see where it fit what the media said. The question becomes "How do I frame it? How do I help people understand the importance of a prophetic church like Trinity? Or does it just become that crazy church that Obama used to go to....

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Today: Appartently, I have forgotten how to travel. As I carried my bags up the escalator- one got caught at the bottom and I had to go to the bottom to get it as my other bag was riding to the top. Silly scene, I laughed the whole time. I start with my traveling again since my students have left for their destinations!

2 comments:

Gail said...

Haha, that's funny that your mom brought up the cabbage. Makes me laugh too. Enjoy your time in Denver. :)

Gail

Alyzarin said...

I used to make sure that ALL of my online students got at least one response from me to their discussion board posts each week. You're right-- It's a LOT of work. Now I only leave individual comments if I see a need to intervene in what's being said, but I post weekly or biweekly announcements about trends I see on the discussion board. Sometimes I quote individual posts if they help illustrate a point. This shows I'm paying attention, allows me to give students something new to think about, and is a lot less work for me. It seems as if they open up a bit more too-- commenting too often can get in the way. I don't know if doing something similar would help you with the blogs, but it's something you might want to consider.