Jennifer M. Baldwin's Blog, page 4

“Rule 4: Consider Everything an Experiment”

This is one of my favorite “rules.” When I’m struggling or in doubt, I remember to think of what I’m doing as an experiment. Case in point: For the last novel I’m teaching in my British Literature class, I decided we needed reading quizzes to keep the students honest. Earlier in the semester, I could […]

Goal Update: November 2024

It’s been five months since I posted my ridiculously long list of goals, and I figured it was time to do an update. Mostly for my own reflection. Maybe this is the teacher side of me, but reflecting on my work helps me see where to go next. It’s a taking-stock process. Let’s me know […]

“Rule 3: General Duties of a Teacher: Pull Everything Out of Your Students”

It’s not that I don’t try. I just can’t achieve it. I can’t pull everything out of my students. I can sometimes barely pull anything out of my students. This is one of the anxieties I have always had about myself as a teacher: that I’m rubbish. I don’t think I’m a complacent or “going-through-the-motions” […]

Caesar’s Triumph

We started watching Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar today in my AP Lang class. I didn’t feel like teaching. Thinking about the play, the class, being around other people, all of it made me sick. I wanted to crawl into my Bandcamp app and listen to midwestern alternative rock for the rest of my life. I didn’t […]

I Did My Part. We had a good run, America.

“Rule 2: General Duties of a Student: Pull Everything Out of Your Teacher: Pull Everything Out of Your Fellow Students”

Who are my teachers? Who are my fellow students? Finding teachers (recognizing them, really) wasn’t too hard, but this Rule also mentions fellow students and that was a much harder find. Who exactly are my fellow students? Without being enrolled in a school or class, I’m kinda just on my own. My teachers are the […]

“Rule 1: Find a Place You Trust and Then Try Trusting It for a While”

This is the first rule of the Immaculate Heart College Art Department under the direction of Sr. Corita Kent. I’ve decided to take one rule each week (hopefully) and try to live it out as fully as possible (while also continuing to live out the previous weeks’ rules). Rule #1 is to find a place […]

Draw or Make Something Every Day (in September)

This was an idea my husband proposed today, so we’re getting a one-day-late start to the challenge, but he suggested that everyone in our household (aka me, him, and the kids) should try to make or draw something every day this month. (If we miss a day, we can do multiple things in a day […]

Birthday Comics

Pocket Notebook

I keep a writer’s notebook, and since I also carry a backpack with me most places, I used to take the WNB with me everywhere. But honestly, I hardly ever took the full-sized notebook out in public and wrote in it. Just too unwieldy. I like the idea of having one notebook where I keep […]