Very tired. Janet and I were going to try to go to Scott Eagle's slide lecture at Artspace tonight, but she had an urghhy tummy, and I was freakin' exhausted. Ah well. At least I've seen his gallery "Killing Modern" once already.

Some early YWW impressions: my first class (5th & 6th graders) is fantastic. The kids are enthusiastic, well-behaved, eager to read aloud and have discussions. They're a real treat to work with and the class period goes by quickly. The second class, however, is going to be more of a challenge. Many of the kids in there know each other and like to talk a lot and goof off. There are some that are very interested in writing (including a kid who transferred in today and has been working on an sf story in his spare time), but most of them are only there because their parents made them. This is surprising to me; with the money these parents are paying, I figured more of the kids would be interested. But it's harder getting the older kids excited enough to pay attention, and none of them wanted to speak up today until I called on them.

But at least today was better than yesterday. First days are always rough, but especially when you've never taught a class before. Talk about a trial by fire. I was hot, and sweating, and floudered a bit after running out of things on my syllabus to talk about. But today, I had lots of in-class exercises, and got the kids in groups, and had them read their passages aloud. I talked about strong openings, and read the beginnings of If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino, Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow, Ombria in Shadow by Patricia McKillip, and "Show and Tell" by The Edgemeister. They loved Greg's beginning better than all the others, hands down, and it was fun seeing what they thought was going to happen after the third paragraph; a lot of them picked up on the detail of Teacher's stinger, and thought that one of the "children" might bring in a show that Teacher wouldn't like and get her stinger in their belly. This segued really well into foreshadowing.

And man, was Ol' Mike right about it being an exhausting experience. I only have two classes, and I'm wiped out afterward. Though I noticed I wasn't nearly as tired today, and I think it was because the kids were getting into it more; yesterday, I came home, sat down on the couch, and could barely stay awake. I have so much respect for teachers who do this every day.

Now to get some work done on "Last Fare" before heading to bed. We're plunging into the waters of Character tomorrow!

Now Reading:
Secret Life by Jeff VanderMeer

Stories Out to Publishers:
8

Books Read This Year:
32

Zines/Graphic Novels/Fiction Mags Read This Year:
17