Current mood:	impressed
Entry tags:	teaching

Teaching Update
Ah, long overdue update. I've been so busy teaching 4 composition classes that I haven't had time to blog about it. Careerwise, I've been living life rather than writing about it, which is better than the other way around. It has been a fascinating term! No library work but my first experience teaching at a community college: 2 actually in 2 very socially distinct towns. The university town, unsurprisingly, sent me a group of students not unlike university students but slightly more inclined to skip class and not turn in work. A very good class though--one of the most motivated and proactive mixes of personalities I've ever taught.

My 3 classes in out in "rural Oregon" were a revelation. Here's a description adapted from a letter to my pen pal, S. I feel a bit cheap recycling it, but, S., I wrote you first!

This has been the most socially conservative area I've ever worked in. My classes tended to be very patriotic (though, at this point, almost no one is in favor of Bush/the war). Almost all my students were pro-life and many spoke very openly of their devout Christianity. About half wanted a more fiscally conservative economy and half a more liberal economy: these groups, unsurprisingly, fell along socioeconomic lines, with the poor students more inclined to feel there should be more social services for the needy. For many of them, birth control is not part of their culture. Their argumentation runs something like, "You shouldn't have sex as a teen because you're too young to have a baby," as if that consequence were inevitable. There were also many more smokers than I'm used to. Even though they all very politely smoked in the designated areas, my folders all smelled of cigarette smoke all term. And oddly, there seems to be an epidemic of drunk driving in this area. I'm baffled by how many of my students spoke of having loved ones killed/injured by drunk drivers or having close calls themselves. I wonder what's behind that.

I am, however, principally impressed with the sheer dedication of many of these students in pursuing their careers under extremely adverse conditions. Some are almost destitute; some are poor, single parents; some are in/recently out of abusive relationships; some never finished high school or got their GED; some had been in trouble with the law. It was inspirational to work with them (I don't say that lightly). It made me very proud of my fellow Americans. It made me angry that dominant discourses in our country show no sympathy for the day-to-day struggle so many people go through simply to keep going. It made me hope that kinder times lie ahead.