Thursday, August 30, 2012

To Begin the Fall 2012 Term

It has been a while since I last posted to this blog, it seems, and with good reason.  I did not teach over the summer, after all, taking some time off for the first time in some years.  But I am back now, and I will be teaching at TCI this fall.  As such, I offer the following comments:

First, I have my teaching schedule.  In the Fall 2012 term at TCI, I will be teaching three sections of ENG 099, one section of ENG 101, one section of ENG 202, and two sections of HUM 110.  This is a bit different a distribution than has been true for me in the past, and some of the courses are changing.  Updates to the relevant pages on my teaching website are therefore still forthcoming.  I will likely post announcements about them as they happen.

Second, I will be performing more in the way of collegiate service during the term.  Some of the specifics are not up for public discussion.  At least one set of them is, however; I am chairing a special session at the 2012 South Central Modern Language Association conference in San Antonio, Texas.  I look forward to it, and while I will be away from TCI to do my work at the conference, I will leave materials behind me for my students to do.  So, dear students who read this, do not feel as though I am neglecting you.  Even did I not leave stuff behind me for you to practice those skills we discuss in classes, I learn much from conferences, and so I come back from them with more to teach you.

Third, I look forward to working with my new sets of students.  I do hope that some of the changes and some of the things I am trying out in my teaching this term will help students to learn better--and me, too.