Journal+Six

Meagan Blanchette Zenion March 16th 2012 The discoveries of a writing intern: The Check-Up. We are now six weeks into the new semester. There have been two papers assigned and collected. I have met with various students on the weekend at Panera Bread and Starbucks for various writing purposes. The students and I gathered at Panera Bread on Sunday afternoon. I was the teacher. A baguette was my pointer, and the students were two groups from Wrt. 104. At Panera, I helped the students knit together their group papers. At that point it did not matter who had what part, the students were frantically typing to give their paper some substance. I went over some sample logos, ethos, and pathos and what the overall paper should look like. The students came in saying, “I have no clue if my paper is right.” After reassurance and many conversations, I am happy to say they all left knowing what needed to be done before tomorrow morning at 7:20 am. The next day early Monday morning, section 2 of Wrt. 104 met in room 117. Before the first bell rang I stared down the World Language/ English corridor to see Ms. Zenion’s door closed. My stomach dropped. I thought, “She can’t be absent, we have a visitor coming, what am I going to do?” The sad thing was, the only thing that came to mind was hurl (as in vomit.) Then I saw Ms. Zenion halfway down the hallway carrying a bunch of papers, bags, a coat and who knows what else. I could breathe again. Once everyone was in the classroom, and attendance was taken our visitor arrived without warning. She was just standing in the doorway. This is our friend Ms. Zipke. She is sent from the University of Rhode Island to make sure Ms. Zenion is teaching a //college level course.// She went around and collected all of the students’ Literacy Narratives. As she took her seat, you could tell that all she wanted to do was talk to the class. Ms. Zipke’s speech in a shortened version: //Hello, my name is Ms. Zipke I teach a writing course at URI, Kingston campus.// //I travel all around Rhode Island schools to make sure you earn college level credits.// //At URI, there is a place for you.// //I had this one kid, I tell this story all of the time. He was in the juggling club. If there// //is a juggling club, there is a place for you. Everyone thinks college professors are// //mean. They are not however, we expect you to act like adults.// //Now, Is that too much to ask?// //Oh, and there are no excuses about printing or not showing up for class.// //We know who you are and if you are not there we will find you!// //This course is 190 dollars. You can pay in cash, or check.// //Please and thank you.// The students worked on two worksheets to prepare them for their next papers, which is a position paper. They wrote down three possible topics and arguments for each. The introduction flowed into the next time we met. We did reading from the //Norton Field Guide// and discussed possible debate topics for next class. I have learned being an intern is not easy. It can be frustrating and communication is your answer. I don’t utilize academic lab time because the advisory makes me have anxiety and I don’t feel like I can fully understand the lesson plan. There has been many obstacles that I need to overcome, and surprisingly snippy girls’ comments aren’t one of them.