Gooey

I've taught university for two years, but now that I'm in a new program for my PhD work I can't sleep on nights before I teach at all. I just replay my lecture over and over in my head and suddenly it's time to wake up. I think part of it has to do with my wife working overnight as a nurse, so we barely see each other. The other part is I find myself in a much more rigid program with specific assignments and calendars of what we are to teach, most of which I disagree with. Any advice?

Transferred to a voicemail at both Purdue and VT...oh, the anxiety! :/

So I've been accepted to some programs, but Purdue was my top choice. Still have not heard from them or VT. I really want to at least know one way or another before accepting my other offers. Should I call and pester these two programs and let them know my situtation or just chalk it up to karma and accept one of my other offers? No clue what to do and I'm feeling LOTS of stress!

Hello all, I'm having the hardest time finding a PhD program (other than 1 or 2) that emphasize ESL Composition without being a linguistics program. I'm interested in connections between second language writing/aquisition and writing center theory. Any suggestions? Thanks!

It seems that nearly every seminar I attend these days, all we discuss is how african americans and asians are unable to read and write. It's labeled as "race-conscious" discussions, but I actually find most of it just flat out racist. Anyone share these frustrations? What can we do to change this type of culture and make our writing classes about writing rather than race-based oppression?

I'll be teaching an ESL composition course next semester for the very first time, and we are required to have a textbook and a book. The book should do the core academic moves (use sources, summarize, etc.) yet still be an interesting read. We are given no guidance other than that. Any thoughts on what might make a good read for ESL students?

I recently found out I was accepted to a conference in Anchorage, AK. The problem is my department is only funding me a small portion of the travel expenses. In short, I'd have to shell out over $1,000 to attend this thing. Is this worth it? How important are conferences on our CVs and how much have/would you spend to attend just one? Thanks

I am trying to research the different overall grades of students who are taught by TAs versus professors. Does anyone know how to obtain this information from the college or if its even possible? Thanks!

I'm currently getting ready to embark on a writing assessment project based on the premise of "Professors vs. TAs" in the English 101 classroom. Which students are coming out with higher grades? What are the rubrics being used and how do they vary, etc. I'd really appreciate the help if someone could point me to some good research articles debating this issue. Thanks in advance!!!

Hello all, For one of my seminars this semester we are being asked to identify an assessment project, which we will carry out and write up as a conference presentation. The project can relate to ideas of program evaluation, evidence of student learning, etc. Anyone with any thoughts/ideas on this as to what would be a good direction to start in?

I'll be starting to tutor a group of about 5 students next week. This is after ONE brief 30 minute session on what the course is (entry level comp) and that's about it. So, what are some good techniques/ideas? I'm talking anything from first day icebreakers to complete outlines and ideas for class sessions. This is my first time in front of a "class" of any size so I'm a bit nervous and could use the help/advice. Basically the tutoring session is that students each bring in a paper, and then we discuss.

Everything is going as planned. Got in to every school I applied for, got the TAship, and now I'm one week away from orientation and I'm worried that all the other students entering the MA in rhetoric and comp have research ideas and I won't. Mind you, there is no dissertation in my MA program, but the requirements are classwork (obviously), teaching, presenting a 15-20 minute paper, having a publishable seminar paper, an annotated bibliography, and a statement of intent. There is a large examination at the end of the 2 years based on what I choose to put in my annotated bibliography. I'm a bit lost if I need to have a narrow field of research down here since most of my seminar papers will obviously be centered around the topics of classes and not off the wall stuff like Samurai death poems and the like. So, in short should I be worried about research ideas or not? I have trouble narrowing things down and right now my interests are very wide. Thanks, Gooey