Season of the Loft
Jul. 16th, 2019 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouse Once again, I've been a terrible correspondent.
This time my excuse is that I have been swamped with Loft work. Not only did my classes (one for adults, another for teens,) BOTH fill, but I also had two paid manuscript critiquing gigs in so many months. I haven't started teaching my teen class. That will be at the very end of this month and go, every day, for a full week. It's part of the Loft's teen writing summer camp. It's also a class that I look forward to every year, because--as odd as this may sound--teens are some of my favorite people.
My adult class started last Thursday. I had a heard from the Loft while we were on our road trip that the class was "viable," (they consider any number at or over 5 or 6 to be so.) I remembered telling Shawn the news while we were in Michigan. So I'd been mentally preparing for all of that, but when we were home I could NOT find the email telling me the class was a go and I suddenly had a small panic thinking that maybe I'd mistaken the news for my teen class for the news about my adult class. I called the Loft, but no one was there yet. Luckily (though not for her), Shawn was home with a migraine and taught me a way to get Gmail to be more honest about ALL the messages with that subject and I found it! I not only needed to be reassured that I was supposed to be there, but the email also tells me approximately how many students to expect. The email said I'd have 7 people, and, having been through this a number of times, I prepared for 10.
When I showed up? The class roster had 11.
Then, someone signed-up THAT day and so I had 12.
That's nearly double and, for me, this was kind of a big mental jump. I was expecting a group no bigger than my writers' group and had thought I was going to be booked into the casual room, the "book club" room, and suddenly there's a FULL classroom of eager and yet, because adults, JUDGING eyes. Thus, my first class felt a little scrambled, a little cobbled together. Honestly? For that many more adults, I might have gone full author drag (which, for me, is a silk shirt, vest, and sometimes tie). Instead, I wore my "old man" shirt (a plaid short sleeved thing that looks like something Steve Rogers would wear on vacation.)
One weird thing that i have learned over the decades of teaching adults is that it is ESSENTIAL to establish credibility with adults. Because Loft instructors do not all have masters degrees (many do now, but I don't), it's really important to show up with a pile of your printed material and a long, long list of publications. Wearing a tie when you are a fat, goofy lesbian also helps a LOT. Makes me look like I am serious and that this is my JOB (which I am and it is, but you know....APPEARANCES.)
I have NO IDEA how the class went over, except that I did have a small crowd gathered afterwards excitedly talking to me about their fandoms and finally feeling like they weren't the weirdest person in the room (meaningful look in my direction, which made me burst into a huge grin and say, "Welcome home!.") That's USUALLY a good sign. I do worry that we have a lot to cover in four sessions, but this group seems very willing to leap right into critique. I already have 60 manuscript pages to read for Thursday night. I'm expecting 30 more pages, but we'll see. 60 is still a lot to go over in a 2 hour class.
Good news, I won't be lecturing a lot.
This time my excuse is that I have been swamped with Loft work. Not only did my classes (one for adults, another for teens,) BOTH fill, but I also had two paid manuscript critiquing gigs in so many months. I haven't started teaching my teen class. That will be at the very end of this month and go, every day, for a full week. It's part of the Loft's teen writing summer camp. It's also a class that I look forward to every year, because--as odd as this may sound--teens are some of my favorite people.
My adult class started last Thursday. I had a heard from the Loft while we were on our road trip that the class was "viable," (they consider any number at or over 5 or 6 to be so.) I remembered telling Shawn the news while we were in Michigan. So I'd been mentally preparing for all of that, but when we were home I could NOT find the email telling me the class was a go and I suddenly had a small panic thinking that maybe I'd mistaken the news for my teen class for the news about my adult class. I called the Loft, but no one was there yet. Luckily (though not for her), Shawn was home with a migraine and taught me a way to get Gmail to be more honest about ALL the messages with that subject and I found it! I not only needed to be reassured that I was supposed to be there, but the email also tells me approximately how many students to expect. The email said I'd have 7 people, and, having been through this a number of times, I prepared for 10.
When I showed up? The class roster had 11.
Then, someone signed-up THAT day and so I had 12.
That's nearly double and, for me, this was kind of a big mental jump. I was expecting a group no bigger than my writers' group and had thought I was going to be booked into the casual room, the "book club" room, and suddenly there's a FULL classroom of eager and yet, because adults, JUDGING eyes. Thus, my first class felt a little scrambled, a little cobbled together. Honestly? For that many more adults, I might have gone full author drag (which, for me, is a silk shirt, vest, and sometimes tie). Instead, I wore my "old man" shirt (a plaid short sleeved thing that looks like something Steve Rogers would wear on vacation.)
One weird thing that i have learned over the decades of teaching adults is that it is ESSENTIAL to establish credibility with adults. Because Loft instructors do not all have masters degrees (many do now, but I don't), it's really important to show up with a pile of your printed material and a long, long list of publications. Wearing a tie when you are a fat, goofy lesbian also helps a LOT. Makes me look like I am serious and that this is my JOB (which I am and it is, but you know....APPEARANCES.)
I have NO IDEA how the class went over, except that I did have a small crowd gathered afterwards excitedly talking to me about their fandoms and finally feeling like they weren't the weirdest person in the room (meaningful look in my direction, which made me burst into a huge grin and say, "Welcome home!.") That's USUALLY a good sign. I do worry that we have a lot to cover in four sessions, but this group seems very willing to leap right into critique. I already have 60 manuscript pages to read for Thursday night. I'm expecting 30 more pages, but we'll see. 60 is still a lot to go over in a 2 hour class.
Good news, I won't be lecturing a lot.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-16 08:51 pm (UTC)