Posts tagged USM

Stuck

1 month ago

by JR in Grad School

I hate waiting until the last minute to do my planning. Saying that, I am a very successful procrastinator, but I still like to plan my semester well in advance. I create deadlines for myself and although I often change these around, I sleep better knowing that I have a set of soft deadlines to meet. This semester will be a little bit different.

My degree does not require a thesis; the final requirement is a successful defensive of a professional portfolio. I have already started previewing the text that provides guidelines for the portfolio, and I have also already collected and organized many of the artifacts that I will use. The portfolio is due on May 1st, and I am not terribly worried about getting it completed since I only have one class this semester.

That class currently has me in the holding pattern. The class is classified as a “Practicum” and there are three different sections. There is one sectionof the class for those students who are currently teaching language classes. The second section is for those students who are currently teacher’s assistants, and the final section is for the students who are not currently teaching or assisting. I know that I will not be in the second section since teacher’s assistants are only used for Spanish and French classes. I do not know if I will be teaching in January. It really depends on the number of international students that register for English classes. I felt that the director of the institute was happy with my performance, and most of my students seemed eager to have me as their teacher again. I will visit the institute this week or next to remind the director that I am still interested in teaching, but really think that it will be dependent on the number of students that are enrolled. If I am not teaching this semester, I will have to take version 3 of the class, and I will need to observe a large number of other teacher’s classes so that I can complete my practicum. Obviously, I would rather get paid, have my own class, and complete the practicum at the same time, but I just have to wait and see if I am needed. At this point, I would be happy knowing which section I was going to have to take so that I could start planning my semester.

Because I Love Being Busy….

2 months ago

by JR in Grad School, Language Learning

I recently started teaching a class at the English Language Institute here at USM. I am teaching a level 2 vocabulary class, and although I have enjoyed getting back into the classroom, it has also taken some getting use to; I have never taught a class where the majority of the students do not share a native language. I have also enjoyed using many of the theories and ideas that I have learned since I started the MATL program.

I am pretty much free to do whatever I feel will best help my students increase their lexicon. We have a textbook, but I have spent most of our class-time using realistic materials and making the students use the vocabulary they have leaned through task-work. Almost all of the students are hard workers and haven’t had to stress the importance of studying hard. The students have gone out of their way to get their work done, and this has made my job a lot easier.

I will only teach this class until Christmas break, and I am not sure if there will be enough language students enrolled for me to teach class next semester. Since I graduate in May, I have already started looking for potential jobs at other university English language programs, and I have already narrowed it down to a few programs that I hope will have interest in hiring me. Hopefully, JJ and I can stay in the south, but we are not closing any doors yet.

ELI English Teacher language learning USM

University of Southern Mississippi HDR II

6 months ago

by JR in Photography

I stopped by campus today to try to to get a few more HDR shots. I did not have the chance to stay on campus too long, but I was happy with the few shots that I got. My plan was to get inside the stadium and get some shots, but the girls soccer team was practicing so that will have to wait till next week or so.

This guy was waiting for me at the door to the Admin Bld.

Admin Building Football Stadium HDR images Photography Photomatix The Rock University of Southern Mississippi USM USM Eagles

University of Southern Mississippi HDR Photographs

6 months ago

by JR in Photography

I have wanted to get some shots of the University of Southern Mississippi Admin building for awhile now. Since my classes are finished for the summer, I decided to go out on Sunday and take some shots. Unfortunately, I had to sit in my car for about an hour waiting on the rain to stop, but the clouds do add to the drama of the shots. At this time, I can only process HDR photos that are sized around 600×400 because I am using the trial version of Photomatix. I might upgrade to the paid version of Photomatix if I decide that I want to keep doing HDR photography. I tried Photoshop’s HDR processing, and Photomatix seemed to do a better job.