Edubabble and other Blither

You can please some of the people some of the time...

The people in my class are great-- interesting and enthusiastic, some younger, some older. Not a bad week at all, really.

The problem, it seems, resides somewhere between theory and practice, corporate and the rest of us. I receive feedback every day, and that's good. What's hard is making everyone happy. Yeah, I know. Newsflash. Uh-huh.

Some feedback:

Lots of great examples today. I get it now!

Too many examples today. It's redundant.

Some of us were hoping to be 90% done by the end of class on Thursday. We're disappointed.

I DID cut some of the examples-- each group did one and shared it rather than do them all. What more can I do?

Here's the deal-- every year we have a corporate meeting where we're told things like: "Teach the course as written. We can't let class out early. This jeopardizes our accreditation." Right, sure. Unfortunately, I'm discovering that some of those same people who are telling us that are doing that very thing.

I, therefore, am at a loss, or at least in a somewhat precarious situation. If I do things the "right" way, no one takes my courses, and I make no money. If I do things the way some do, I risk my position. Drat.

Teachers are notoriously bad students in many ways. We act the exact same way that irritates us when it comes from kids: being late, talking when the instructor is talking (but our conversation is important and relevant....).

Tonight I'm not feeling very pithy. This morning was a little rough, but actually better than was to be expected. I did get to chat with Insurance Girl again at the bar. We weren't alone. There was this English guy, now a citizen, with really bad hair and really bad conversation skills. I told Insurance Girl he looked like my Mod Ken doll from the 70's. She agreed. He was one of those men who really want to talk to the girls at the bar, yet give them no chance to say anything. You might call him a blowhard, you might. One thing he said interested me, though. He used to teach in England years ago but got out because he couldn't make any money. "If you and your husband were both teachers, you could make six digits a year, but outside of education one person can do that." I asked him if he might do a seminar for my local taxpayers.


Tomorrow the Senora is coming up to see me. We're seeing, appropriately enough, West Side Story. Tripper told the Senora that it just wouldn't be his cup of tea. Like he'd ever drink tea. "We've moved on to movies," Tripper said on the phone tonight. "It's like sleeping in a tent. Why do it if you don't have to?"

I'm looking forward to it, and to going home, where we'll soon be having more company. Our former DINK friends are coming for a day or so with their K. Maybe that makes them DIOKs now. It'll be fun. Hopefully I'll finish the dining room painting so my decor is no longer neo-tenement.