June and School's Almost Out for Summer

It's hard to believe June is here, chestnut buds have turn to small fruit, and I enter my final Fulbright month.  Classes finish up, final papers are due.  All my students have worked so hard; I'm proud of the way they have embraced me and my interactive teaching approach - so different from listen and cram for exams.  They started the semester looking at their shoes or desks a lot - now they smile and join in class discussion easily.  They started by asking me a lot of questions about requirements.  They ended by asking me if they could improvise an assignment. 

My Creative Writing class has been particularly rewarding. We are a small seminar group, and the level of honest and thoughtful critique has been extraordinary.  They have also produced some stellar words and some are even ready to try and publish a piece of two.  We also have a spot for a group reading at the Young Rhymes poetry festival here in Ljubljana during the last week of June; an ideal closure for our class.

Here we are have a meeting at Cafe Barabuk - even after class is over, they enjoy writing together and sharing our words:)

My Media and Literature class has also really impressed me.  We read - A LOT - a  text on Seeing and Writing (McQude and McQuade), as well as Ruth Ozeki's novel, My Year of Meats, and Inverna Lockpez, Cuba:  My Revolution, a graphic novel.  Students kept thoughtful reading journals, did exemplary group projects on Media making, and are now handing in some super last work.

I couldn't be happier with their work, and our rapport ~