![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Last Sunday of Summer Break
Aug. 22nd, 2021 11:52 amWell friends, it has come. The last Sunday of summer. I saw a post on FB that said for teachers, the month of August is one long Sunday night, and I agree. I officially go back to work tomorrow, although I went in to my classroom every day last week. Just for a few hours. I’m really not looking forward to teaching AP Research. It looks good on my resume, but I much prefer teaching literature, literary analysis, and creative writing. There are parts of research writing I do enjoy, like learning how to determine a source’s credibility. But the whole research class is a lot. I got some training, but Research isn’t an English class. Kiddos can do all kinds of research. One of my students last year researched AI and created a program. Ideally, students would be able to find mentors, but that’s nearly impossible here, due in part to the lack of a large English-speaking population, and certainly one I have no connections to, outside of the school.
Also, I think the whole AP program and the push to get high school kids doing college work so early, without consistent, college-level support, is monstrous. I have students taking 4-5 AP classes a year, starting as young as 10th grade. But we need to offer AP classes just to be competitive. And many students need AP classes in order to be considered for university in their home countries. The more I learn about the pressures students face in the Korean school system, for example, the more I worry about all my kids and their lives after high school. It’s not something I have any control over, alas, so I can only be supportive while they are in my care.
Also also, teaching AP looks good on my resume, and I eventually want to get into a better school, so we do what we must. But I’d rather teach AP Literature and Language.
I’m still writing every day, although it’s slowed to a few paragraphs at a time. I don’t have a new snippet to share because the piece I’m working on, the last in my hugs prompt list, is just dragging. If I may brag (and perhaps give myself a little confidence boost), I started working on that list in April, and the series is nearly at 29,000 words of fic. I also found four more prompts lists, including another hugs list, on Tumblr, so I’ll have things to help me along as I keep writing.
I’ve been circling the idea of writing a longer fic in my Modern Cultivators AU, but I’ve only got the barest glimmer of plot. And, in reviewing the previous fics I’ve tossed into that AU, the timeline is very Jeremy Bearimy at the moment, so I don’t even know where it would fit. Although speaking of Jeremy Bearimy, maybe I can just kill them all off and move them into a Good Place AU? (I won’t kill them off. I don’t like to write MCD.)
I’m also reading Zen Cho’s novel Black Water Sister, and it is so good! It’s also kind of maybe sort of making me want to go back to writing original stories? Who knows. I’m feeling a little stuck at the moment, so I may just take a break from writing, if I can meet my GYWO goal, and refill my creative tank with books and sewing.
I hope you are all doing well.
Also, I think the whole AP program and the push to get high school kids doing college work so early, without consistent, college-level support, is monstrous. I have students taking 4-5 AP classes a year, starting as young as 10th grade. But we need to offer AP classes just to be competitive. And many students need AP classes in order to be considered for university in their home countries. The more I learn about the pressures students face in the Korean school system, for example, the more I worry about all my kids and their lives after high school. It’s not something I have any control over, alas, so I can only be supportive while they are in my care.
Also also, teaching AP looks good on my resume, and I eventually want to get into a better school, so we do what we must. But I’d rather teach AP Literature and Language.
I’m still writing every day, although it’s slowed to a few paragraphs at a time. I don’t have a new snippet to share because the piece I’m working on, the last in my hugs prompt list, is just dragging. If I may brag (and perhaps give myself a little confidence boost), I started working on that list in April, and the series is nearly at 29,000 words of fic. I also found four more prompts lists, including another hugs list, on Tumblr, so I’ll have things to help me along as I keep writing.
I’ve been circling the idea of writing a longer fic in my Modern Cultivators AU, but I’ve only got the barest glimmer of plot. And, in reviewing the previous fics I’ve tossed into that AU, the timeline is very Jeremy Bearimy at the moment, so I don’t even know where it would fit. Although speaking of Jeremy Bearimy, maybe I can just kill them all off and move them into a Good Place AU? (I won’t kill them off. I don’t like to write MCD.)
I’m also reading Zen Cho’s novel Black Water Sister, and it is so good! It’s also kind of maybe sort of making me want to go back to writing original stories? Who knows. I’m feeling a little stuck at the moment, so I may just take a break from writing, if I can meet my GYWO goal, and refill my creative tank with books and sewing.
I hope you are all doing well.
