Wednesday, December 17, 2008
I graded the final exams yesterday, input grades, and posted them. Two people failed (although by the University scale, they made D grades). Both students missed too many classes to catch up fully; the male buckled down toward the end and made good grades, but the female continued to miss class. Grade distribution was as expected: mostly As, a couple of Bs, and a couple of Cs.
The last five final exam questions were fill-in-the-blank about mythology. Last question: Actaeon came upon Artemis _________________ in a spring. One person wrote, "fornicating" and another wrote, "making love".
"The virgin goddess!" I exclaimed in the TA office. I was then gently reminded about sexual relations among females, which turned into a hunt for the lexicography of τριβησ. Nevertheless, I counted the above answers incorrect, considering neither student would have made an argumentum e silentio if called upon to defend.
Labels: Actaeon, Artemis, final exams, fornication, grading, lexicography, making love, mythology, office, students, teaching, virgin goddess
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 3:21 AM]
Uh-Oh Spaghettio
Friday, October 31, 2008
I do not celebrate Halloween, but I bought a couple of bags of candy in the unlikely event some little monsters might darken my door. Being sent away empty-handed, these hoodlums might have returned loaded with flaming pies to hurl on my porch. The night has passed without incident, and with only two high-school girls (in UK sweaters: "We dressed as college students") stopping by the entire evening. This leaves a bowl full of Snickers and Hershey's minis to be consumed. Am morgen I'll dump it on the neighbor's lawn, for those little munchkins to devour.
I do not like children.
Labels: candy, children, Halloween, Hershey's minis, neighbors, porch, Snickers, students
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 8:19 PM]
Look Into My Eyes
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I dress well on the days (Mondays through Thursdays) when I teach. This afternoon I appeared, as usual, "casually sophisticated" in all but one detail- a button on the chest of my blouse came undone as I distributed a quiz, so that anyone who cared to could clearly observe meine großen Brüsten. Wunderbar. I turned around to face the blackboard while the chickadees were bent over their quizzes to pack my chest back in.
Yesterday, the students read and translated a story from the book. The passage ended with one main character, Horatia, calling to another, Quintus, to wait for her. The passage ends: "Horatia runs to him. They go forth to school together." I made some comment about crazy love in the ancient world, upon which a girl in the class said,
'But aren't Quintus and Horatia brother and sister?'
...whoops. Well, times and customs sure have changed, haven't they?
Other than minor, daily disasters, the teaching has been going well. As a group, the chickadees are a good little bunch. Since the book exercises and readings lack verve, I incorporate real Latin poetry every week for pronunciation practice and to introduce the students to the range of literature available. Thus far, if not enthusiastic, no one seems opposed to this.
Labels: blouse, breasts, button, chickadees, clothes, incest, Latin, literature, poetry, quiz, students, teaching, translating
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 4:10 PM]