Flowers from a Student

Flowers from a Student
Originally uploaded by Prairie Brown

Over the course of the past week, three of the graduate students I've been working with all quarter defended their theses. I'd worked with each of them fairly intensely--two of them more than twice a week for the past month. Each of them invited me to her thesis defense, and both in the interest of supporting my current students and in furthering my knowledge so that I can better advise future students, I attended all three defenses.

I'm very pleased to report that all three passed their defenses: there are three new CWU Master Teachers out there doing wonderful things for their students. Each of these women (a fifth grade teacher, a sixth grade teacher, and an elementary school P.E. teacher) worked for several years to complete her degree, and all of them wrote wonderful papers. They each overcame personal obstacles (one had a baby midway through the graduate school process, another is currently eight months pregnant) to achieve the goals they'd set.

For the small part I played in their writing process, each thanked me in her own way. One thanked me for coming to her thesis defense by saying, "It felt like having a big sister there watching out for me." Another brought me a cup of my favorite peppermint tea. Another stopped by my office with a huge bouquet of flowers, and thanked me on the dedication page of her thesis. Their gratitude brought tears to my eyes--they're the ones who did all the work. I love that I have a job that people really feel is helpful!

To my graduate students: congratulations! You worked hard and you deserve your success!

Conference Proposal

Over breakfast (and I'll admit, a good deal of gossip) this morning, Sandy and I discussed the upcoming PNWCA conference. Sandy and I are in a unique position here in Washington because we run writing centers on campuses where there aren't any lower division composition classes to keep our centers full. Since we work at branch campuses of CWU, all of our students are juniors, seniors, and graduate students (most having completed Associate's degrees elsewhere before transferring to CWU). We've been noticing that students who visit our centers have writing issues that are unlike those of students who are taking composition classes.

We're calling our presentation for the conference "Re-Developmental Writing: Rediscovering a Lost Art." This morning we hashed out the basics (enough to put together the proposal) and came up with a few metaphors and a simple structure that should make our proposed presentation a welcome addition to the conference program. We plan to talk about strategies for working with student writers who have advanced beyond basic composition courses and who are doing well in their academic programs, but who have forgotten some of the skills they learned in composition classes, and who therefore need to be reminded of these skills so that they can adapt them for use in their own disciplines. Since the theme for the conference is "Are we having fun yet?," we've come up with a format for the presentation that I think people will enjoy, but which I'm not going to spell out right now because the proposals aren't in yet, and I don't want anyone to steal our idea!

Professional Growth

Today I spent a day off-campus at a meeting called a DDO, which stands for Directors' Day Out. With the new job, I'm now a member of the PNWCA (Pacific Northwest Writing Centers Association), and since I am the whole writing center at CWU-Des Moines, I get to go to the activities this organization puts on for writing center directors. This quarter the meeting was held at Seattle University, which was really convenient for me as it shortened my usual commute by about 20 minutes to only have to go as far as Downtown. It was the first time I've been on that campus, and I was really impressed. Unlike a lot of inner city campuses where it's impossible to forget the city that looms just off campus, SU is very sheltered and enclosed, and doesn't feel quite as urban as a school like Portland State.

Today's meeting provided an opportunity for the three people who run the CWU writing centers to be together in the same room at the same time, which I'm finding is a rare pleasure. Teresa (the director in Ellensburg) and Sandy (my counterpart on the Lynwood campus) and I enjoy each other's company, and this afternoon was a treat because in addition to the meeting, we managed to steal a little bit of time to chat. I'm meeting Sandy again tomorrow so that we can discuss a conference proposal we're putting together. The two of them provide a peer base that I haven't had for a couple years, and it's lovely to be included in a group whose members "speak my language." At North, I was separate from the writing center staff because I was a faculty member, and separate from the other faculty members because I was the only writing teacher in my department. It's nice to really be included and to feel like I have a place.

I also enjoyed meeting the other writing center directors from the area and beginning to learn about the programs on other campuses. They're a friendly bunch, and I'm really looking forward to this spring's PNWCA conference.

It also made me feel really grown up to be touring a college campus as a faculty member and not as a potential student. Today was one of those days when I suspect that even though I feel like a kid, the rest of the world thinks I'm an adult.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Before I tell you all how Michael and I are celebrating the holiday, let's start off with some warm-fuzzies from other places in my world that I've been saving up for just the right time to blog about them.

Warm-Fuzzy One

I was sitting in my office one evening a few weeks ago. I still had an hour before it was time for me to go home, and a student had just cancelled an appointment, so I didn't really have much to do. The phone rang. I answered it, and the voice on the other end of the line asked, "Did you used to work in Ellensburg?"

Surprised, I told him that I had. He explained, "I was one of your students, and I saw your name on the faculty list here, so I called to ask you about this school."

He was a student in one of the first writing classes I ever taught, just after I'd finished my Master's work. Now he's graduated from school and is a track coach at one of the area community colleges. He's just accepted a job at the community college that's connected to my university, and he wanted to know more about the university programs so that when his athletes are ready to transfer he knows what to tell them. Our conversation ended with him saying, "You were one of two people I actually liked in Ellensburg. I'll tell all my athletes to visit you!"

Warm-Fuzzy Two

Two weeks ago, I attended an advisory committee meeting for Career Link. Belinda told me a story about one of my former students, who had been acting up in class every day this quarter. I was surprised, because I'd never had a behavior problem with this kid. She had called him into her office to ask what was going on, and he'd said, "I want Prairie back!"

It's nice to be missed.

Warm-Fuzzy Three

For the past couple days, Valentine cards and gifts have been arriving at our apartment. We got lovely cards from Hope and my mom, and our gifts to each other came in the mail, and Michael got a mystery package from one of his blog admirers.

Our Valentines

Michael and I decided that since we're going on six years together, we wanted to mark our relationship in some sort of a more formal way this year. We did some research into symbolism and rings, and discovered a neat kind of ring called a "posey ring." During the Middle Ages, these rings were given "as a romantic gift or a token of friendship." The particular rings we chose are replicas of one made in the 15th century. The original is in the British museum. Posey rings have a message engraved on them that, when it touches the skin, is supposed to "have a particular power." Our rings say, "Of my love be sure" (in French, because French was the Court language in England at the time the original was made). This message seems really fitting for our relationship: if there's one thing I can be sure of in this world, it's that I know at the end of the day, no matter how tired and cranky I am, Michael will love me. I can always count on him, and he can always be sure of my love. (Michael has a picture of the rings up on his site that's far superior to anything I could get with my little camera.)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!