August 2011

Here’s my Stuff I’ve Been Reading post for August.

1. Object of Beauty by Steve Martin.  Martin’s new novel is about Lacey Yeager, a rising star in the New York art world.  As selfish and cunning as she is fascinating, Lacey makes a character study as intricate as a piece of art herself.  Unfortunately, I didn’t like this protagonist as much as I did the one in Shopgirl; not even the witty narrator could sell what became, ultimately, a flawed persona.
2. Fantasy and Science Fiction, Mar/Apr.  I read this magazine of short stories and novellas in snatches at work, which is probably why I remember almost none of the stories, except a charming retelling of one of the tales from 1,001 Nights.
3. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.  I’ve read Austen many times before, of course, but this was the first time I’d read the R. W. Chapman edition given to me as a Christmas present.  It was excellent–Elinor Dashwood is always one of my favorite Austen heroines.
4. Colours in the Steel by K. J. Parker.  See previous post for thoughts at the time.
5. The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King.  This book follows up the cliffhanger ending of its predecessor in a satisfactory way.  I’m already looking forward to The Pirate King, which is a pretty spectacular title.
6. Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett.  One of my least favorite Discworld novels, this book is a satire about the Holy Wood, which isn’t magic, but a kind of alchemy.  Dungeon Dimension creatures enchant familiar Ankh-Morpork characters into a kind of acting craze, which a not-quite-hero, not-quite-wizard must put to rights.  Also features the Librarian.
7. The Belly of the Bow by K. J. Parker.  Book two of the Fencer Trilogy.
8. The Best American Short Stories 2010 edited by Richard Russo.  As usual, I particularly liked the story by Rebecca Makkai, whose novel The Borrower I’ve been wanting to read.  As well, Tea Obreht, whose novel The Tiger’s Wife I read earlier this year, makes an appearance.  I enjoyed almost all the stories in this edition, except, to my surprise, the ones by Karen Russell and Wells Tower, whose short story collections I’ve formerly appreciated.
9. Od Magic by Patricia McKillip.  A gardener with powers he himself doesn’t realize comes to work at the wizard’s school in Numis, where a traveling magician, a princess, a quarter warden, and a bevy of wizards discover a nameless, wordless threat.  This charming story is an enjoyable fairy-tale-like read, comparable to select Sherwood Smith and Robin McKinley.

Also, look! I’ve started tagging authors.  This particular list makes me look quite well-read indeed.

How is it already almost September?

I feel as though I should and should not take stock of August.

Workwise, I had an enormously successful month, working overtime for the first two weeks of August at my SAT tutoring job and receiving my highest single paycheck to date, hooray.  I also got last-minute hired as a freshman composition teacher, and for the last week have been teaching three sections of “the rhetorical situation just means the circumstances that surround your writing.”

Readingwise, I’ve been far less impressive, having only read seven books so far.  I’m intending to finish up a collection of short stories today, but that still puts me lower than last year’s September, which had been my lowest book month prior to this one.  Why has there been such a dearth of reading in my life?  Because when I get home from work, somehow I always wind up staring at the TV, that evil, mindless, fascinating box.

Writingwise, I am even worse off than I am for reading.  I wrote a story of less than a thousand words one night on a lark, and since yesterday have written a couple of pages of a (gasp) non-science-fiction story that may or may not pan out.  I’ve only submitted two of my required five fiction submissions this month, so I should clearly spend some time on that.  (On the other hand, can I not give myself credit for a spectacular syllabus, which I wrote from scratch in six days?  Can I not give myself credit for unit plans and writing prompts?  Can I not give myself credit for assignment sheets and sample essays?)

Today’s plan involves writing, reading, and working goals: do submissions and play with new story, finish reading Best American Short Stories 2010, finalize tomorrow’s lessons, and teach SAT for a couple of hours.

I am a busy woman.

Who needs some tea.

Reasons why I hate my computer classroom

One of the courses I’m teaching this semester takes place in a small room with computers lining the perimeter.  The teacher’s podium is in the center of the classroom, making it impossible to face all the students at once.  I have had more discipline problems in this classroom in the first week of school than I had for an entire year in a traditional classroom.

1. You must look at me when I’m speaking, not at the blank computer screen, not out the window, not at your desk, not at each other.

2. You may not use your cell phone to show pictures of your girlfriend to a classmate.  Especially not while I am lecturing.

3. You may not use the class computers for personal reasons, including looking up homework for another class.  No, really, you may not use the computers for anything except typing your paper.  No printing either.  This is a computer classroom, not an open computer lab.

4. You must read your homework and come to class prepared.  The computer is not going to cover for the fact that you have no idea what we’re talking about.

I am frustrated by these behavior issues and find it tiring constantly to remind students that this is a composition course, not a computer course.  I believe I will plan a week of class where we do not use the computers at all in an effort to counteract the students’ instinct to use/abuse them.

And now for more grading

Thank goodness for the feedback sandwich!  There are three essential parts to helpful feedback for any piece of writing.

1. A compliment.  Since students are sensitive about their writing, a commenter should always give a genuine compliment to encourage students in what they are already doing well.

Example: Vivid voice! You have a confident, authoritative sound on the page.

2. One area for improvement.  A good piece of feedback doesn’t point out every little mistake, but gives an overall goal to work on for next time.  It’s pointless to say something like “Learn about comma splices” instead of looking at what the root of the problem might be.

Example: You’ve written a lot of comma splices and run-ons.  Think critically about organization and how you want your ideas and sentences to connect.  Consider using transition words or dividing some of the longer sentences.

3. Encouragement.  And that’s why it’s a sandwich.  Good feedback begins and ends with something nice–the spoonful of sugar, if you will.

Example: Good work thoroughly evaluating this topic.

Multiply this sandwich by seventy, and you’ll get a feel for how my Thursday is going to go.

How to be associate faculty

6:30 – Wake up and get ready

7:30-7:50 – Drive to High School 1 to teach a dual credit composition course

8:00-8:50 – Teach class (in a classroom that has a projector that won’t communicate with my computer)

9:00-9:20 – Drive to College to teach class again

9:30-10:45 – Make a nuisance of self among staff asking questions, and work on setting up course website

11:00-11:50 – Teach class (in a classroom whose students sit around the perimeter, with myself uncomfortably in the middle, but that does have functioning technology)

12:00-12:25 – Drive to High School 2 to teach another dual credit course; inhale lunch

12:30-12:50 – Chase elusive classroom assignment

1:05-2:20 – Teach class (in a classroom where student computers work, but the laptop that communicates to the Promethean board is not present and that also has no regular white board in case of technological failure)

2:25 – Fail to find school principal to discuss classroom shortcomings

2:30-2:50 – Drive home tired

The 45 miles a day I will drive actually makes an hour’s commute, just spread out over the course of the entire day.

Evening – Read 250 pages of novel and apply retail therapy as necessary

More about books, less about teaching

Though I’m going to start teaching three sections of freshman composition tomorrow at a new college, I’d rather write about what I’ve been reading.

Aside from the writing textbook I’ll be teaching, I’ve finished reading Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett, which, as I expected, turned out not to be my favorite.  I’ve also read the first four stories in Best American Short Stories 2010, which I noticed while unpacking and thought I’d better read before the 2011 version comes out in October.  I really enjoyed “Into Silence” by Marlin Barton–though the main character is deaf, the story’s dialogue is one of the best written parts of the work.  I’m going to carry the short story collection around with me to read during my breaks between classes.

And I’m 150 pages deep into The Belly of the Bow by K. J. Parker, which is quite a different book from Colours in the Steel, still distinguished by excellent writing and many of the same characters, but in an entirely different setting and with a less clear antagonist.  So far, the Fencer Trilogy is a bit less pessimistic than the Engineer Trilogy (which should be a sign to those who know me that I like it a bit less), but it’s also a more fun and rapid read.  Not that there aren’t plenty of people who die, but there’s less a sense of hopeless fatedness to it all.

And now I’m going to look over my syllabus for the dozenth time and lint-roll my teaching dress.  Exciting evening.

So a lot of things have changed in my life, but I’m going to write about books

I’ve discovered a new favorite author: K. J. Parker.

I read his Engineer Trilogy during June and July, since I always saw them on the shelf in bookstores and needed something of length to get me through a tumultuous month.  I liked them so much that I ordered his Fencer Trilogy online after a fruitless search through used and new bookstores alike, only to discover that the books had UK covers–they haven’t been published over here.

I’ve since read the first one, Colours in the Steel, which is about the siege of a city and the strange magical connection between several people who seem to be guided by luck, or instinct, or tragedy.  The coolest part by far is the career of the protagonist, Bardas Loredan, who is a fencer-at-law.  Yup, trial by combat, fencing-style.

Meanwhile, I’ve also read the tenth Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novel, The God of the Hive, and it was familiar and funny without being spectacular.  Book nine was a bit bizarre, so I was glad to have a normal-strange story, including spies and bolt-holes and chases around London, instead of a weird-strange one, including Druid-style sacrifice and Holmes’s long-lost relatives.

And lastly, I think I’ve discovered my least favorite Terry Pratchett novel, Moving Pictures, which is to say that it’s hilarious but hasn’t got Sam Vimes or the Patrician or even terribly many wizards in it.  After I finish the last hundred pages (in which I hazard a guess that Discworld won’t be destroyed by creatures from other dimensions after all), I’m going back to K. J. Parker’s Fencer book two, The Belly of the Bow.

Perhaps there will be another siege.