Project: Pokémon Cards

Check out the newest pokémon trio: Kitty Llyr, Llyr, and King Llyr.

Basic starter pokémon Kitty Llyr.

Kitty Llyr evolves into ninja-like Llyr.

Llyr evolves into self-assured King Llyr.

Whoa! Ultra-rare holofoil King Llyr with crown! 
Even more intimidating and powerful!

Admit it, he'd make an awesome pokémon.

Superteam: Short Story from High School

[For an assignment sophomore year. Read this post first. Names shortened to first initials.]

Once upon a time, the way many exciting, fun-filled, and action-packed stories start, a group of five talented heroes came together to form Superteam.

Their names were as follows: Ellye, who was a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and an unparalleled swordswoman; [J] “The Snake”, who was an expert in all things electronic; [J2], the Samurai Ninja; a girl by the alias of H-Ventura, who could understand animals; and [S] “Cute Kitty”, who had the senses and agility of a cat. These five were hired by the CIA to help on secret missions, but that is another story.

Our story begins on a particularly slow day in Smithton Missouri, before the quintet had known of their special talents…

Ellye heard the sound of a car and a motorcycle pull into her driveway. She closed the book she’d been reading, and got up from where she was sitting, outside at the picnic table, and walked over to the gate. Her cousins, [J], [J2], and [S], came over from where they’d parked [J]’s Ford GT and [J2]’s Kawasaki Ninja dirt bike. Ellye opened the back gate and let them in.

“Hey E,” [J] said as he passed. [S] and [J2], or [J2], as they called him, both raised their hands in hello as they all walked up the steps of the front porch and into the house. [J] sat at the table and was followed by Ellye and [S]. [J2] leaned against the wall.

“What are you guys doing today?” Ellye asked.

“Hanging out with you,” supplied [S], resting his head on the table. Ellye nodded.

“So what do you want to do?” she asked.

[J2] tapped his chin and mocked thinking. “Hmmm….how about we…race four wheelers? And my dirt bike?” He looked at the others for an answer.

Ellye laughed. “I saw that coming,” she said, “Sure.”

The four of them went outside and to the barn, where Ellye had two four wheelers. They rode all afternoon on the vast back pasture and only came in when the sun began to sink below the horizon.

Going inside, Ellye asked, “Do you guys want a sandwich or something?” There was a chorus of yeses and into the fridge they dove for ham, turkey, and lettuce sandwiches.

As they finished, [S] asked, “Do you guys want to watch a movie? It’s to dark to do anything outside.”

[J2] swallowed his last bite of sandwich. “I think we should play shuffleboard.” And so began the ritual argument that was shared between [J2] and [S] every weekend at Ellye’s.

“I really feel like a movie tonight, c’mon,” [S] would wheedle.

“But we can play teams in shuffleboard,” [J2] would counter.

“Movie.”

“Shuffleboard.”

“Movie.”

As they quibbled, Ellye shook her head and went to the window. It was evening, and the sun’s light was fading quickly. [J] joined Ellye at the window. He looked for a minute, and then said curiously, “Who do you think is at the end of the driveway?”

Ellye jerked her head in that direction. Sure enough, a car sat at the end of the driveway with its lights on. Ellye squinted. It didn’t look as if anyone was in the car, or near it. “Maybe they…” but they never found out what they may have done, because the next second, Ellye, [J], [J2] and [S] heard a bark, and then a whine from the backyard.

Ellye ran to the back door, flinging it open in her rush to see what was wrong. Her dog, Indiana Jones, had been in the backyard, sitting quietly in a chair on the porch. Now though, she was gone. Instead, the companions could see a dark figure running to the car holding a squirming bundle in its arms.

“Indy!” cried Ellye, running to the back gate. She flung it open and hastened to the driveway. [J] was right behind her, followed by the other two boys.

“Quick, get in the car!” [J] told her, jumping in the driver’s seat of his Ford GT. Ellye threw herself into the passenger’s seat and [S] got in the back. [J2], however, swung himself onto his motorcycle. He started it, peeled out, and began following the dognapper in hot pursuit. [J] did the same, speeding up the gravel road behind him. The gravel road ended, and the chase proceeded onto the highway.

[J2] tried to block the criminal into going into the ditch, but failed, and resigned to following him closely.

The man turned onto three more roads in quick succession, but still the others followed. Then, came the moment they almost lost him. The dognapper turned left onto another road, that couldn’t be seen easily from [J2] and [J]’s views. [J2], who was going top speed, couldn’t slow to get on the curve, and he passed the turn. As he turned to get back on track, [J], who was farther behind, said, “I know how we can keep on his tail, we’ll take the shortcut.”

“What shortcut?” asked [S].

“This one,” said [J], “hold on,” and he tore off across a field to their left, cutting right behind the dognapper. [J2] caught up and got behind them, and they raced after the man together.

After a short chase, the man made another attempt to throw them off, and this time it worked. He tore around the edge of a warehouse, that seemed to pop out of nowhere, and was gone. As the others made the same turn, they couldn’t see or hear his car. [J] and [J2] stopped, and everyone got out.

“He must have…I don’t know, maybe he went inside?” [J] threw out into the silence.

The others shrugged and went to the warehouse door. Inside, it was dark, and they couldn’t see the man, but they saw someone else.

A girl was tied to a chair in the middle of the room. [J2] rushed over and untied her, helping her up and taking the gag from her mouth. “Who are you?” he asked.

“H,” said the girl. At their questioning looks, she said, “Just H.”

Ellye asked, “How did you get here?”

H sighed. “I was chasing the dognapper, and, he caught me here earlier today. I’m glad you guys found me.”

“Is he here?”[ J] asked next.

H nodded. “Just went through that door,” she said, pointing to a door on the other side of the room.

“Let’s get him!” cried Ellye, “C’mon.”

The group followed her through the door into another room, which must have been forty or so feet long.

They ran half the length of the room, and then stopped suddenly. A giant pit lay in the center of the big room, ten feet across and flush with the wall. It was ten feet deep, and in the bottom, sniffing ravenously in their direction, was a razorback.

Worse still, the only way across was a thin, suspended tightrope that stretched straight across to the other side of the pit. If one of them could make it there, a board was propped against the wall that could let the others cross. Also, they could spy steps leading up to a doorway on the opposite wall.

“We’ll never make it!” cried Ellye miserably.

“Yes we will,” [S] said from behind her. Everyone looked hopefully at him.

[S] was ten, and, being the youngest, most people probably would have thought that he would be a cumbersome burden to have on a mission such as this. That was not so.

[S] stepped forward and over to the tightrope. He looked down once at the hungry razorback, and it gnashed its long, bloody teeth at him and snarled. [S] gulped and stepped one foot carefully on the rope. Even more slowly, he set the other down beside it. Everyone held their breath.

Balancing on only centimeters of rope, [S] slid his feet forward. He stared straight ahead, as if fearing that if he looked down, that would be the direction he would go. Again, he slid forward. Now he was almost halfway. Another two times he slid forward, passing the halfway point.

Just as he moved forward again, his foot slipped from the rope. His body tilted forward; H gasped.

[S] caught himself in a graceful cartwheel, landing nimbly on both feet at the other side of the pit. The razorback growled.

The other four, still watching from the opposite side, exhaled. [S] sprinted over to the board, and laid it near the tightrope, crossing the pit. It just fit.

[S] stepped on one end, and [J] on the other as H crossed. [J2] followed, then Ellye. [J] was the last to cross. He slid along it, much like [S] had on the rope, while the board creaked and warped beneath him. With no weight on the other end, it began sliding closer to the hole. Just as [J] stepped onto solid ground beside[ S], the board tilted precariously and fell into the pit. It split at the bottom with a resounding crack.

The companions looked at each other for a moment, and then let out sighs of relief.

“That was a close one,” [J] said, as they climbed the steps to the door. Here they stopped again. [J2] reached for the handle, and swung it open. As they stepped inside the dark room, they all gasped.

Inside were rows and rows of dog cages, stacked head high and filled with whining, yapping dogs. The bare-bulb light that hung from the ceiling swung back and forth, casting light briefly over the dogs’ thin faces. Several of the animals were lying in their cages, barely making a sound. H’s hand flew to her mouth and she cried out.

“Where did he go?” [J2] whispered to the others. They shrugged.

“Wait,” H said. She cocked her head, listening. “He’s here. Third row from us,” she said over the yapping dogs.

The other four looked at her in surprise. “How did you…?” Ellye began.

H got a look of wonder on her face, and told them. “The dogs told me.” She stated matter-of-factly. At the stunned looks on the others faces, she said, “No, seriously!”

[J] shook his head in amazement, but said, “I’ll stay and guard this door, you guys try and sneak up on him.” They nodded. “Be careful!” he added, as they tiptoed along the rows of dogs.

As they cleared the third row, they could see a figure standing in the middle, holding a large pipe, and grinning evilly. His lips were pulled back in a devilish snarl, and he laughed coldly. Ellye stepped forward.

Another pipe lay on the ground at her feet. She kicked one end, and it flew up. Catching it, she set herself into a battle stance in front of the man.

For a moment everything was still, even the dogs barks seemed to fade. Then, the man lunged at Ellye. She ducked back as he swung his pipe at her, and she counter-attacked. Her make-shift weapon crashed into his, and there was a resounding ring. The dogs barked louder still, until H yelled, “STOP!” Amazingly, the animals did, falling silent as the man swung again at Ellye. As she looked around her, surprised by the sudden quiet, he swung low and this time hit her right leg. As Ellye fell to her knees though, she flung out her weapon and collided with his side.

The man stumbled backward toward [J2], who caught him with a quick side kick, and the man fell. He got up again though, and stumbled toward [S]. [S] moved agilely out of the way, and the man crashed into a wall.

Ellye stood, leaning on her pipe for support. The man regained his balance, picked up his fallen weapon, and charged her. Ellye, thinking for a brief moment that he looked a lot like a jouster, lifted her own pipe and rammed it into his chest as she ducked to the side. The man stumbled backward again, gasping for lost breath. As he hit the wall, Ellye placed her pipe against his throat, and applied what pressure she could muster. The man dropped his pipe, and, gasping, held his hands up in surrender.

“Guys, could I get a little help?” Ellye called out, and in moments [J2] was at her side with a length of rope, tying the man’s arms and legs.

Ellye let [J2] handle the man, and slid down against a row of dog cages, sighing.[ J] came over and stood in front of her. “I found how to open the dog cages; it’s all on an electronic circuit. Come here and I’ll show you.” He reached out a hand, helped Ellye up, and took her and the others to where a small number pad was fixed to the wall. He pressed a few buttons, and all the cages opened. Luckily, the dogs seemed to sense the need to wait, and stayed in their cages, which eliminated a lot of confusion. One dog did run to the group though, and Ellye scooped it up, letting it lick her face happily. “Indy!” she cried, hugging her little Jack Russell Terrier.

In the end, the group called the police, and a dognapper who had been terrorizing the area of [Town] and [City], [State], was sent to jail. After this, a member from the CIA contacted the group, and all five signed up as secret agents, and they lived happily, and adventurously, ever after.

Thoughts on Some Juvenilia Writing from High School

I was thinking this morning about a series of short stories I worked on when I was in high school about my cousins and I. Actually, I'd been thinking about these stories a lot recently, now that the birthdays of two of my cousins just put us all at the ages I thought we were in the story. I'd been musing about how weird it was to be the age I wrote myself almost ten years ago. Let me give you some background though, because after looking back over those stories, saved on USB, I found that my memories were a little off:

The stories are about “Superteam,” a group of secret agents. The team was made up of my three male cousins, my sister, and myself. I was fifteen when I started writing these. Don't judge. According to the creation date recorded on my documents, I started “Episode 1: The Phantom Disc” on August 20 of my sophomore year of high school. But then I wrote a three-page short story about the same characters for a high school assignment that was apparently created just eight days later. I can't remember if I had actually thought up the idea for the story before the short story was assigned, or if I created “Superteam” solely for my paper and then continued to work on it after. My cousins and I pretended to be secret agents and played Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 all the time when we spent days at my grandmother's house in the summer. I remember talking to them about what they would want their superhero alter-egos to be. In fact, I know I had to have done that before the assignment was due because I remember being unsure if my youngest male cousin would be happy with his alter-ego name choice in the future. He was about five at the time and chose “Cute Kitty.” So I must have started creating the story before I wrote the paper for English II. You know, thinking back I can remember using a floppy disk—that's right, a FLOPPY DISK—to save these in the beginning. That seems so long ago. I also remember losing stories once or twice on those stupid floppy disks. Darn you, floppy disks! So it is likely that the stories were actually started before August of my sophomore year, but I'd had to retype them after losing some material.

The beginnings of the two stories started in sophomore  year differ a bit. The later stories I wrote, a couple over the next two years, match the beginning of the story that was technically started earlier. I think I probably went back to update and add to the one I created first after turning in the one for English II. The beginning of the later stories goes:

*names have been shortened to first initials

“Once upon a time, the way many exciting, fun-filled, and action-packed, stories start, five adventurers and their trusty pet monkey came together to form Superteam.

      The quintet of heroes included these: Ellye, a black belt in Taekwondo and an expert swordswoman, and [J] "The Snake", who was amazing with all things electronic and the only person to hack into the CIA mainframe (but that's another story). Also, there was [J2], The Samurai Ninja; a girl by the alias of H-Ventura, who could communicate with animals and had a pet spider monkey named Mufasa; and [S] "Cute Kitty", a boy with the agility of a cat and several other talents. These heroes were hired by the CIA to help with important secret missions.

      Our story begins on a particularly slow day in [Town], [State], on Ellye's farm, where the adventurers hung out when off duty...”

I realized some things looking back over these stories. First, at this time I did not know how to use a colon for lists, as I did it incorrectly in this instance as well as in the assignment for English class, even though there it is worded a little differently. Second, as I found when reading some of the other stories—this realization was a little sad actually—I am not now at the age I was in the stories. I'm older. I thought in the stories I made us (from youngest to oldest) 13, 16, 18, 23, and 23. I thought I did this because I wanted the youngest to be at least 13, and I thought the reason I remembered how old we were was because this year was the year when, between the cousins, three out of five are at significant ages (my oldest cousin and I are just at regular ol' twenty-three). But I was wrong. In one story I wrote that the oldest of us are 20, and in another 21. On a side note, here's how I explain our youth and abilities in one of the later stories through my oldest cousin's viewpoint:

“He and Ellye (short for Elizabeth) were both 21, [J2] was 16, [H]; 14, and [S]; 11. All were very capable for their ages, and some more so. All were trained in martial arts, some more than others, and all could take anyone who might attack them, if presented with the opportunity. But there was more beneath the surface, and only those hardened in noticing it would.

      [S], the little rascal, [J] reflected, was only 11, but more advanced that some of the long-time CIA members in their division. He was a nice kid, and would not use violence unless necessary, though it unfortunately was sometimes, but preferred to use his incredible wits to fight villains. His brain had been the deciding factor in many of their endeavors.

      [J2] was the rebel. Though the others had their own spells of striking out or ingeniously thinking up some no-way-this-is-gonna-work-but-somehow-it-does plan, he was by far the one who did it most.

      E, she was the tough one. Sometimes, the most insecure one. [J], being her cousin, knew that sometimes she doubted herself more than the others, but she was also the one who probably loved her job the most. Without this and writing, she would probably be nothing.

      [J] was the eyes and ears of the operation. He prided himself on being observant and cautious, using these abilities to get the job done at all costs. He had just turned 21, [. . .] and was basking in the happiness of being an adult.

      And then there was [H], previously just H. She’d set out on her own at 12, and gone off to do who knows what. Her parents and sister had been shocked, sad, but obviously confident in her, and just a few months ago, she had revealed that she had been [H] all along. She told of how the CIA had contacted her and then heard of her family and their special talents also. They’d watched them for a few months, and when they’d showed superior determination and skill, had also signed them on and put them with [H]. [H] had not fully explained everything that had happened in those months, but [J] attributed this to it only being found out about a couple months ago anyway. He figured in the next few, they would learn more.”

The funniest thing I think is that my sister asked that her story include the semi-running away and making it on her own for a couple years before we all became secret agents. Even at the time I was writing this, when she was only about eight or nine, I was pretty sure she wouldn't be one to do that and make it on her own at 12 years old. It is funny what eight-year-olds think about the future . . . and what fifteen-year-olds think about being a secret agent.

Sadly, I've already passed the age I projected a future self to. But I think that's why these stories still interest me, even though they are silly and not great examples of creative writing, which I so desperately wanted to make a career of for some time (okay, partly still wish I could make a career of). It was interesting to write about myself years in the future and wonder what my life would really be like at that age. Now that age has passed, and I'm not a secret agent. But that's okay, because third, I realized that these stories are ridiculous (an eleven-year-old secret agent?), but I don't care, because they were fun, I enjoyed writing them, and my cousins and sister even got in on giving me suggestions for their secret agent alter-egos. That's why in the version above, the opening includes my sister's “pet spider monkey named Mufasa” who sadly does not make an appearance in the story for my English class.

If you've now gotten a taste and want to read a silly--but perhaps worth a laugh--piece of juvenilia, here is the link to the Superteam story I wrote for English II.

P.S.: Thanks to the English teacher I had for that class, who is one of my favorite teachers of all time, and who always had fun creative writing assignments as well as critical ones later on. The Superteam story was written for an assignment in which we had to use a certain number of vocabulary terms in a three-page short story. Those words are highlighted in the story.

Project: A Better Litter Box Hider

How to hide the litter box more successfully:

Original box cover. Pros: helped a little. Cons: the front flap fell down a lot and lots of litter still got everywhere. Made in a pinch from fabric and trim, so not very sturdy.

Starting a new design based on this one. Thanks for the idea from the author whose cat looks just like Llyr except with extra toes. Instead of MDF I used particle board (1 4x8 sheet for $15 that I had partially cut down at Lowe's). I used gorilla glue as well as nailed the sides together while they dried.

Oops. Got excited and started gluing it together the wrong way, which wouldn't have been a big deal except I measured this one out so that Llyr's box would fit EXACTLY within the edges so when he kicks the litter out, on three sides it should fall back in the litter box.

Oops again. Sometimes my nails were a little close to the edge of the particle board and bulged out.

New jigsaw dad helped me pick out instead of borrowing his. Very handy. Notice I used the unfinished table as a work table.

How to cut a hole in the middle of the front: First draw outline of the entry hole.

Next, drill out several holes that your jigsaw blade will fit through. Mine are at the corners.

Place the jigsaw blade into a hole and cut from one to the next. Learned this in high school shop. Really glad I took that class and made a significant project. I was the only girl in my class and I made the biggest thing: a computer desk/hutch.  I am pretty proud of it. When I look at that I think, "Yes, I can build stuff." Ok, maybe I don't have all the handy tools that would make building stuff much easier and make the finished product prettier in some cases, but I do what I can.

Ta da! Entryway.

The top with trim. I used L-shaped trim so it covered the top and side edge. I made the top just barely bigger than the sides of the box, but it will just sit there, it doesn't actually slide over the sides.

Putting trim along the bottom. I hate cutting 45 degree angles. It is really hard to get them to fit just right. Used flat, plain trim on the bottom edge and thinner trim with rounded edges to cover the rough edges that showed on the sides and entry hole.

With two coats of "primer" . . . white ceiling paint left over from when my parents fixed up the house before we moved in. About to paint it Nottingham Green using a free paint sample from Benjamin Moore that I got with a coupon shared by my best friend, the queen of finding free stuff.

In place. The green is very minty, and in our cream/brown dining area I think it stands out a bit, but I could repaint it someday or put it in a room with a different color scheme someday when we move. Look, the exact fit worked! Only one side that litter can escape on, and I can just vacuum it up or use a scoop to pick up most of it and put it back in the box until it is time to completely redo the litter. Llyr is really messy with the litter. He kicks it everywhere, and then tries scraping outside the box to cover his waste. Crazy cat. I'll have to slide the box forward and lift from two sides when I want to redo the litter.

Realized that with rounded edges, some litter could escape into the back corners, so I taped up some paper to cover that. Not an ultimate solution, but fine for now.

I'm sure Llyr was flattered by this picture, but look, it works! He fit in the entry hole and used it fine, even overnight when I actually had the lid in place. After this picture I got him a treat to encourage him to keep using the new box, so he got excited and just jumped over the top edge, and some litter came out on his feet. But, soon I'll put a little mat in there to help knock some of it off, and so far it has been better.

All finished! Ah, much better, especially considering that the best place for the litter box is in our dining/laundry room. We don't eat in there a lot, but sometimes when we have visitors we do, and this will help hide it more nicely. I put up a tiny hook on the inside of the lid, too, and I'm going to buy an air freshener to hang inside the box so stinky Llyr won't make the box too bad for himself.

  Another project finished, finally!

Project: Chessboard Tabletop

I've been working on a couple of projects this past week and will soon be finishing up one that took up several days between cutting, gluing, nailing, and painting. In the meantime, though, I was able to get a couple of other smaller projects finished, one of which was a wooden top for our welded metal table. We bought the table for $20 at a garage sale last summer and it came with a glass top that was broken at one corner. Luckily, the glass was bigger than the tabletop by enough that I went to have the glass cut down to remove the broken part and it then fit the table exactly. Unluckily, we then knocked over some long boards that were sitting outside near the table and re-broke the glass quite worse than previously. So the table had no top for a while. We decided maybe a wooden top would be better since it is outside, even though the design of the table is pretty cool and Matt liked that with the glass it showed.

We bought a pre-glued pine sheet from Lowe's (pretty much the same cost as the table ... a bit expensive, but no gluing or planing for us to do, and it was about the right size that we didn't have to cut it down at all). We decided instead of just lacquering the wood we'd do something a little extra first. Here's what we did:

Putting polyurethane on the back side. Check out the cool table!

Top side: Ta Da! Chessboard burned into the wood with a soldering iron. I don't have a super-close-up here but if I did you'd see that the squares are not perfect. I made them in strips with a tip for the iron that looks like a flathead screwdriver, and it took a long time, but I think it is decent for outside use.

With the rest of our outdoor furniture: two chairs from Menards and the pew in the back that was rescued during summer work from a trash pile in the woods near a church (meaning: free!). And our many, many plants.

Practice set-up with the minifigures that we use for Dungeons and Dragons. Yes, we're nerds, but it is fun. Now I just need 28 more minifigures to make a whole chess set! Or we'll use some rocks and paint one side with the names of the pieces if we want to be cheap. Then we could paint the other side of half of them and have them double as checkers.

Another summer project in the bag just one week in! In two more weeks I'll have summer classes, but until then I hope the project streak keeps up. I'm excited!

Student Course Evaluations: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Today I was able to read the evaluations that my students did towards the end of the year for my class. They are anonymous, but as with last semester, there are a couple that I can guess who wrote them. About twice as many students than last semester completed the survey this time, but it was still only about half the class. However, considering that I had 3 students officially drop in one class and 5 or 6 just stop coming in the other, 13/23 and 14/20 isn't too bad. 

Also as with last semester, the feedback was mostly neutral or good, but there were one or two hurtful or frustrating comments as well. These are ones that basically are negative but also don't fully explain what the student means or are totally off-base in my opinion. There were also some suggestions that are probably valid but also made me a little sad to hear. However, there were plenty of good comments as well, and as with last semester I'm choosing to believe that they are not trying to bribe me with those (since I made clear that I couldn't read them until grades were in) and that at least most of them are sincere. So that makes me feel better. 

I feel like when I'm reading all the comments, I can almost sort them into categories: positive but perhaps not that helpful, positive and helpful/justification, neutral but not very helpful, constructive criticism, and negative, frustrating, and not helpful. Some of them could also go really well in a "Things Students Say" journal.

Here are some examples from both classes, organized by the question topics, if you care to read them:

*Disclaimer: My comments are meant to show my initial thoughts of frustration, or relief, when reading some of these. I don't mean to sound as if I hate student evaluations - I actually think they are interesting, and sometimes helpful. Sometimes, though, it is hard not to get a little frustrated when it seems like a student is just saying things because they are upset about their grade in the class or when what they say contradicts what most of the rest of the evaluators say, because then I'm unsure whether they are sincere and I should take their comment into account. Looking back now I'm not as bothered by the harsh comments, although there are still a few that I think prove a tendency to a lack of responsibility on the student's part.

Presentation of Material/Pacing:

"It was ok...Sometimes boring" Ok.

"What was the most effective in helping me learn was the discussions because they are very easy to participate in. The material was presented very clearly. The class time was well used in both the lab and in the class room. The class pace was executed beautifully." When they say things like "executed beautifully" I sometimes wonder if they are actually being sincere, but overall I'd say this makes me feel like I did an ok job for this student.

"Mrs. C went over the material very thoroughly and was sure to use examples when things might not have been clear. The course organization was fine; it's hard to organize various writing styles in a meaningful way, so I suppose if she wanted to switch things around, it's still be fine. Class time was used effectively, but it did go a tad slow for me, most likely because I understand the stuff already." I like when someone says class went a bit slow but realizes that it may just be because they already understand the material. I hope it didn't seem too slow, but when most other people say the class was paced well, then I can see with this comment that the students who were at the top of the class realize that it only seemed slow because they comprehend the material easily.


"I was able to follow what was being taught easily and clearly. Sometimes things felt that the lessons themselves felt a little slow, but I believe that was just because the length of the class."

"The way the professor taught, she got on a college students level. She did not just tell us what to do she actually taught us how to do what we were supposed to do. It was really clearly presented. Yes the course material was organized well. Class time was well used. The
class always paced at an ok rate." :)

"Class moved a bit quickly for a Composition 1 class, but over all it was not impossible to keep up." Obviously some students thought it was fast - but it seems like overall the pace was good since only a few people thought it was slow and one thought it fast, and the rest said it was fine.


"I literally learned nothing more than I learned in Intro to College Writing. I think she needs to be more organized with tutorials. Information was presented okay, needs to be more clear on syllabus and not change it around." I'll give this person that I did change a few things on the syllabus, but I only ever pushed things back to give them more time when I'd put things a little close together. I'm guessing it is the same person that comments later on tutorials and why he or she thinks they were not good - so I'll save that for the tutorials section. It's not my fault that Intro to College Writing has the same material, I followed my given curriculum. I don't know if that is a high school class he or she took or a remedial college course.

Course Content:

"The lectures were dull." 

"Too much reading and writing, but I guess that's the name of the course." Uh, duh.

"Like I said, I already knew most of it. It was all very helpful review and I'm sure I learned some new things. The readings were all interesting and well chosen, and emphasized the points we were studying. I also really liked the Connect, as I did learn quite a bit from
that." Most people do not like Connect, so I felt glad that a couple students this semester said they found it helpful. It is basically a learning plan that students do at their own pace that focuses on grammar, punctuation, etc. It's tedious and boring, I know, but it is required because of the school's Composition 1 Course Redesign.

"The content of the course was good, but the class did not learn anything about grammar or any questions we had." I always try to answer specific questions in class, and the several-week long Connect learning plan should have helped some with grammar, unless maybe it is way over the students' heads or they can't learn things on their own. I really do think I went over some of the common problems of grammar in class.

"I liked the fact that we were given a list of the readings at the begining of the course, which allowed us to prepare for each assignment before we disscused it in class.
"The readings that were assigned help to explain the papers we were going to write. It was helpful in the way it was presented. I really liked the discussions they helped me to think about the readings again, which helped me understand them better." 

"not a fan of the reading." Obviously some people aren't, but I feel like the majority said they liked them.

"Most of the information felt random. When we took the midterm, many of the topics felt random as well" As with last semester, there's always that one student who is probably upset about his or her grade who thinks everything was terrible. I hope that topics didn't really seem random, I tried to tie most things back to why we were learning about them: because the concepts are useful when writing. And I had a "review day" where I listed the major concepts we'd discussed so far for the midterm - I didn't give out a study guide, but they could write down the topics and I didn't put anything on there we hadn't talked about.

"All of it was good." Nice to know, though not very specific.


Tutorials/Conferences:

"Were helpful because she explained ideas individually and it was easy to understand."

"The tutorials were a big help to me. The teacher sat down and talked me through my paper; what she liked, what she didnt, what to change, stay the same, etc..."
 
"Tutorials were amazing idea to improve our writing skills." Some students really liked the tutorials and peer review. I had several more like this one. They like one-on-one time.

"Definitely needs to be better set up with tutorials. Needs to make sure people are coming to class and they understand what the paper is about. She does not explain what the paper is about in good detail." Yes, you are totally right. Even though you are in college I should still have to email you every time to miss class or call you up to make sure you are going to be in class. That is ridiculous. It's not like I forget who is missing each day. I took attendance and saw no check mark next to several students consistently. They chose not to be responsible enough to come to class. Or if something happened and they couldn't come to class, emailing me about it several weeks later is still not my fault. I had some students who didn't understand the prompts come up and ask me about them (I feel they were pretty detailed, it wasn't merely "write a definition essay"), and this student could have done that too. If this student was not there for the two days in a row that I have the tutorial sign-up sheet available and was not able to get a time, that is not my fault. This is college, people. "Make sure people are coming to class." Psh. How?


"The tutorials were very effective because they gave a chance to improve our papers but most importantly our paper's grade." I think I know who wrote this one.
 
Student Evaluation/Feedback/Grading System:

"I felt the grading was fair."
 
"There was lots of room to talk to the teacher if it was needed, even though she had minimal office hours. She was always happy to answer any questions I had and always did so cheerfully. The grading system was explained in the syllabus and it was fine."
 
"the grading was fair and adequately explained she told us exactly what she wanted and how. she would grade the work based on the work not based on the person." I'm glad this student felt that way. 

"Most of the grading system was fair, but attendance wasn't mentioned as an actual part of our grade in the class. It may have only been gone over once, but it wasn't until I looked on blackboard that I noticed that it was apart of the grading." I think I did mention attendance being worth points (2 points per day) on the first day, and then much later in the semester, but I will try to emphasize it more next semester because some students obviously did not realize or did not care. I had a lot of students skipping and missing small assignments and attendance points. I will say, though, that even if attendance is not counted for points, does that make it ok to skip class a bunch? I don't think so.
 
"Grading system was not explained but it is set up the same across campus. She gave some feedback but you could tell she did not come prepared or have read the articles herself before class." First of all, the grading system is in the syllabus and I used a rubric on the first paper, although not after that . . . but the other part of the comment is what really hurt. I reread every essay before we discussed it in class, even though I'd already read them last semester, and I even mentioned having read them before I believe. I really hope I didn't come across as not having read them. I think what happened was that I sometimes would deliberate on which question I wanted to go over next or how to ask it, or would have to look back over the essay to find the phrase I wanted to point out, sometimes because something a student brought up in class made me think of a phrase I hadn't marked but knew was there. I can't know for sure if this student always did the reading before class, but I know there were days when almost no one had, and they admitted it or I could tell. I do feel like this comment is helpful in reminding me to be more straightforward and certain in the future, and to appear more prepared, because a few times I would forget something in the office or something at the beginning of class, but I really hope I didn't seem like I hadn't done the reading.
 
Additional Comments:

"She talk during class while we were trying to read or write individually. I need silence to comprehend what I'm reading or writing and she'd be quiet for a second and then start talking again. It was a distraction." I know what this student means, though I don't think it is as bad as it sounds. Sometimes I was making sure to give thorough instructions and say something I forgot, but I realize that sometimes I need to be very silent for some students to work. I don't think I really did this a ton, but I know I did sometimes during little things or short writings in class - not really during timed writings or big assignments I don't think.

"Thanks for being an awesome teacher!" Ok, there's no suggestions, but this did make me feel good.
 
"The instructor is a great person. She's really personable and funny. Sometimes when going over the material, she seemed a little flustered, but it was more of an awkward flustered. It only happened every so often so it wasn't a huge issue. She really knows the material and makes it easy to understand." This may have been what made that other student say I wasn't prepared. I know I did do this sometimes, but I feel like overall this semester was better than the last. I felt more prepared. There were a couple of times I forgot the order in which I wanted to do things or that I wanted to do an activity and I might have made that too obvious rather than pretending everything was just as I meant it to be, so I'll have to work on that. But I'm glad that overall it wasn't "a huge issue" to this student.
 
"You made English enjoyable to learn. I actually wanted to read and write and even found it interesting. I wish we could have had a class outside..but it was still really fun." I know who wrote this one because she asked for an outside class every day for the last several weeks. She was a good student. This one made me smile. 

"She was very relatable and easy to talk to!"
 
"Overall I thought the class was great. Normally for me I hate any kind of writing class but this class was actually pretty good and I enjoyed my time in it. I liked how open/broad the subjects we could write about for our papers. It made me to want to write and to write well." Success. 

"The course and instructor did a great job throughout the course of the semester however I feel like the inexperiance of operating a classroom showed. Students were talkative and would play on phones during class disrupting the learning experiance for those that were trying to pay attention." I should have been tougher on this - a lot of times I ignored it, and several times one student in particular would even take calls and go out of class without mentioning to me that she needed to take a call that day. I can't say I didn't know what to do. I should have just confronted the students who did this. A lot of the time I opted rather to keep going with lecture/discussion and try not to let myself get distracted, but I should have said something. Next semester I will try to be tougher about this at the beginning and throughout.
 
"I think the learning plan we did was not helpful and took up time that I did not have in doing it." I'm sorry, but as it is required, there is nothing I can do about this - but maybe the higher-ups will see comments like this and change it ... although I think not. Also I think it could be helpful in some ways, although I realize it is tedious. I will try to tweak it next semester when assigning it online to only focus on basic mistakes or something that could be more helpful to a wider range of students.
 
"Make sure you do not talk to student like the Elementary, even though you want to be a Elementary Teacher." :( I want to be a high school or college teacher and I think I even mentioned that in class. I think this sounds like it is from one of my foreign students, but maybe this person just didn't proofread. I just really wish I knew how I did this - was I too friendly? I thought I talked to them and explained things on their level. Not sure how to feel about this or how to improve.
 
"Everything was perfect." Again, no suggestions, but sometimes it is nice to hear that at least a few students had a good time. I know I can't please everyone, and I'm glad for the suggestions and constructive criticism, and comments like this one help me cope with the really harsh, hurtful comments that don't seem justified and are most likely from students who didn't do very well through their own laziness or the fact that they just aren't at a level to pass Composition 1 yet.


Another semester down, with some more ideas of things to work on for the fall. Overall I enjoyed my classes. I had some great students, some ok ones, and only a few who I was frustrated with, mostly for attendance and lack of responsibility. It sounds like overall it was ok for them, too, and some found it helpful. The majority of comments were positive so I think that means overall it was a successful semester. Here's hoping that a few months' break and more time to think over how to make the next semester better will help me improve.