Working Girl

Okay, sort of a working girl. I teach as an adjunct (meaning part-time for those not in higher education) speech instructor for Oklahoma Panhandle State University. I really enjoy teaching - even basic public speaking.

This semester, I am teaching an online speech class for the university. This is a little different for me. I have taught hybrid classes with the University of Phoenix, but I've never taught a full online course before and it is a little different.

At this point, some of you are thinking...how the heck do you teach/learn public speaking online? I mean, isn't it supposed to be about giving speeches? I understand your question and it is definitely not the prefered way to teach this - at least in my opinion. That said, there is also a need for online speech classes.

Since almost every institution of higher education requires students to take a basic speech course, we need to be open to offering it in a manner that students need and want. Online is the new way to go for many students. I will admit that students doing their online class while sitting in their dorm room or in their cubicle at their on-campus job, really bothers me. If you are on campus, take a regular speech class. However, I understand that there are just some students who would rather do it that way and that's fine.

Anyway, I am now into week 3 of this course and it is going fairly well. I am curious to see how my evaluations turn out at the end complared to my previous traditional class evaluations. Turning a class into an online class is not as easy as it may seem. If you've been teaching a while, it's not the hardest thing in the world, but it is critical to understand that teaching in the classroom and teaching online are different beasts. The activities that worked great in a face-to-face class, typcally don't fly well online. You have to get creative to keep students interested and motivated.

I'll put this out to you all to see if you think I'm getting close to the mark. Here's this week's threaded discussion. How does the opposite gender communicate? What about the communication patterns/styles of the opposite gender bothers you? There are two discussion threads. Males are supposed to respond in one thread and females in the other. In a traditional class I have the two groups split up and create a list of what they don't like about the opposite gender's communication style. Then we come together as a class and go through them all and talk about possible "solutions" to the complaints. For this online exercise, I have allowed them to read all the comments and complaints and then offered a third thread were we can discuss the "solutions." We'll see how this one turns out transitioning to online. I really wanted to keep this activity so I hope it works.

So, I'll pose the question to you as well...What about the opposite gender's communication style drives you crazy?

"No...I don't want it!"

We are on the countdown till The Wee One's birthday. She officially turns 2 in a couple of weeks and while we've been seeing signs of the "terrible two's" for a while, this week has been especially challenging.

At first, you think it is wonderful when your child learns to talk. All the new things they can express and tell you about, even in their fragmented sentence structure. Then they start figuring out that they can use this new-found vocabulary to reject things, and pout, and make you want to pull your hair out. I really do think it is part of their twisted plot to get us back for keeping them cramped up inside us for so long. Don't they realize that that process was just as uncomfortable for us (if not more so)? Gheesh!

Anyway, the past two weeks have brought a series of new phrases and words into our home. "Ewww, nasty." "Nasty, gross." "Mine." "Knock, come in." "Someone at door." "Cited for scuela (Excited for school/escuela)." Mostly pretty cute.

Then we got the not-so-cute ones..."Arrrr, oh shit." Yeah, she said it. Fortunately, it only lasted 2 days, and I'm hoping doesn't make a reappearance for a few years. (Is it sad that it was kind of funny/cute when I first heard it? Be proud of me...even thought it was kind of funny, I did not laugh!).

Then the dreaded, "No...I don't want it!" Sometimes she leaves out the "I" for extra irritation. I mean, really, if you are gonna whine, at least whine in a sentence. That one has not left so quickly.

Pretty much everything this week has received this lovely phrase. To top it off, she has one of those typically cute, high, sweet voices. Not so cute or sweet when the high pitch is used to whine. She has also started to do a little dance with the phrase. That's lovely. I mean the dance is kind of cute, but it's being used as a whine so it loses it's cuteness very quickly.

I'm not sure if it is all the weather changes, the fact that she started back to Mother's Day Out last week, the fact that she's turning the corner to official toddler-hood, if she's teething, or if she's not feeling well like everyone around us, or a combination of all of the above (that's my bet really). Regardless the reason, it is driving The Husband and I crazy. She has had a lot of timeouts this week and some early bedtimes. After reading a friend's blog this morning, I'm beginning to think it's just something in the air. Her children are at least at ages that you can reason with (in theory). At my little precious' age, we can try some amount of reasoning, but let's face it, a 2 year old isn't exactly high up the level of cognitive communication.

For now, we will fight it out and ultimately, The Husband and I will win, although I anticipate some ugly battles in the near future. Lord, give me strength (for real!).

Frazzled

My mind is just on the frizz today. I feel like it is running in a million different directions, and to be honest, it probably is. Today is the first day back at Mother's Day Out so I have a block of time to myself to get things done. That said, there are sooooo many things I need to do that I can't seem to get hold of it. I know, I know...use a little time management. Yeah, if it were that easy, I'd have it done by now.

Anyway, here are few of the frazzled ramblings going through my mind today...

- Do I have enough life insurance to cover things for The Husband and The Wee One? (Thank you MetLife for making me oh so much more aware of all the costs that would be added to The Husband if I weren't around...day care, housecleaning, etc.)

- How do I make cuts in my already super tight budget to afford more life insurance? ($300 a month on groceries is already pretty darn lean, don't ya think?)

- Why can't our society see that we have put ourselves in this financial recession by our own doing? If we didn't have to have EVERYTHING we want, the minute we want it, we might be a little better off. (Listened to a report on the radio about the number of people still losing their homes...maybe they should not purchase something they can't afford just because they want it.) Note...I am not totally free from blame on this. My splurge comes in the form of travel, and though we do it cheap, it is still something we should reign in.

- Are there any online communication courses I can teach?

- Why won't my stupid computer work the way I need it to to get this application to teach an online class done?

- How in the heck am I gonna get my stats done for my dissertation so that my advisor doesn't drive out here and kick my butt?

- Does anyone know the going rate for statistical help?

- Is it okay for The Wee One to live off chicken nuggets and fruit snacks since that's all she'll eat on a consistent basis? (Okay, she does eat other stuff, but I know that her main supply of nutrients are from these two things...oh, and milk).

- Am I doing enough with The Wee One to give her all the experiences and learning opportunities she needs?

- What church should be be attending? (Been searching, and let me tell you folks...it's hard to find a place where you really feel you fit and belong).

- Should I change my plans to visit my dear friend since her work situation is getting ready to change?

I guess that's about it for now. So, now that you know what a spaz I am, I hope you are able to appreciate the randomness of my ramblings. For now, I will lay my burdens and worries before God and go take a shower!

The lengths we go to for success

A while back I mentioned that we have been working hit and miss with potty training The Wee One. Basically, we have been encouraging her interest, but not really pushing anything since we knew we would be traveling a lot this summer. Now that we are home for an extended period, we figured it was time to give this a more concentrated effort.

We talked to people and read up on the training process and headed to Wally World to get the "necessary supplies." We now have stickers and picture cards and character underwear. Here's the kick...

My child does not particularly care for the characters that come on girl panties. Walking through the kiddie underwear aisle, the only characters she noticed and/or liked were on the boys undies. Therefore, my precious little girl is running around the house in boys under-roos!

As she started digging through the bag of undies and telling me about Woody, Buzz, Wallie, and Cars, I asked The Husband if he would be okay with his daughter wearing boys undies. His response was classic..."As long as they aren't anyone but hers, I'm fine with it."

Bless Their Heart

The first choir meeting of the semester was tonight and like a good little choir member, I immediately came home and pulled up all the music we'll be singing on YouTube. While doing this, The Husband was on the other computer typing in "Worst Choir Ever", just to see what would pop up. Check it out below...



Not really sure what to follow that up with besides..."Bless Their Hearts."