Conclusions

And so today I had a good chance to reflect on yesterday's questions I posed to you all (or ever all y'all).

1. Dressing for the University: I'm with Kristie on the need for a couple more sweaters, but not much change beyond that. I had a chance to sit on a park bench (while doing this afternoon's readings) at lunchtime, and I watched students as they walked by. I've come to the conclusions that: a.) Victoria's not nearly as intense as Vancouver; b.) lots more people were dressed like me than I thought; c.) I'm sure not giving up the word "bunnyhug"; and d.) maybe I do need some more long-sleeved shirts. Okay, and when it gets colder I'll be wearing that vest that Meg gave me. Moreover, most of the students were wearing jeans, and more than three of the girls in my seminar group were wearing bunnyhugs (often called "hoodies" or "hooded sweatshirts" outside of Saskatchewan). I think I'm getting more comfortable there, and I'm now thinking more in terms of what's appropriate for different occasions. Today, being in charge of a group, I wore my black capris and black t-shirt with a cardigan and slip-on shoes. Business casual.

But, upon further reflection of Ky and Bernie's advice: great-grandpa pants and neckerchief, here I come!

2.a Leading seminars. I worked with the group as a larger whole and as smaller groups, and it worked really well. Most of the group is really outgoing, and we actually went overtime because they were discussing so much! We tore apart the readings and looked at how historians come by their findings (sources) and talked a lot about bias. Hooray, influencing young minds! I also started with a encouragement to shyer students to come to me, if they're finding it impossible to speak up in the large and/or small groups. One girl (the one that I figured was shy anyway) came and talked to me afterward and we've worked out a deal that, if it's too hard to speak up, she can write down her thoughts on a piece of paper and give that to me, to show me that she's coming prepared, processing the ideas, and trying. She liked that plan.

2.b Anecdote from today's seminar. I opened the group with introduction and discussion questions, in the style of Girls' Group. I used Meg's classic question: which superhero would you want to be? I made a complete dork of myself, but that got the group to relax and have fun. One student said she'd like to be the female version of Gambit, and I burst out, "That's awesome!" and then realised that everyone was looking at me and laughing. And then one girl asked if there was such thing as Batgirl and, well, that got me going. All in all, the introductions, and the fact that we had seminar outside (the other TA and I have to share a room for this week and next, due to room shortages, and the room's not big enough for both groups) helped everyone be a little more comfortable with the seminar. I think it went well.

And so, in conclusion:

a.) I'm no longer too worried about how I dress here, except that I need some more weather-appropriate clothes;
b.) The seminar style worked today;
c.) I'm a big dork.