Hello, all!
Welcome to the first installment of a little series I’ll call Things I ❤️.
It’s fairly simple. In these posts, I’ll share stuff I particularly dig.
It may be something I recently discovered, pictures that inspire or speak to me, a book I rediscovered and remembered I love, a list of software or apps that are great or helpful, or music I’m enjoying as I write that week. Who knows for sure? Not me.
What I do know is that it’ll be stuff I enjoy. Stuff I like, stuff that helps me, that makes me laugh or think, that makes work and/or life easier, better in some way. That’s the kind of stuff I want to include in the Things I ❤️ series.
Since I’m preparing to start another semester at the front of a college writing classroom, I give you. . .
Things I ❤️: Semester Prep Edition 📚✏️💻🖊️🗒️🍎👩🏼🏫
1. Good Board Writing Supplies
I’m a sucker for quality writing stuff, y’all.
We all have our preferences, and I’m particular about my dry erase markers.
I’m an EXPO gal, all the way. I used to love a variety of colors but found over the years that sometimes colors such as green, other-than-classic blues, orange, and pink could be hard for students to read.
My must have colors are black, blue, and purple. Their dark, rich pigments have the strongest contrast against the white of the dry erase board, making it easier to see no matter whether you’re in the front row or the far, back corner.
For flair and detail (e.g. marking up or editing an example sentence on the board, highlighting specific parts of a list, etc.), sometimes I’ll use red, green, pink, and orange. They’re bright and pop, drawing the eye, which is exactly what I want.
This is the basic four pack that’s my great love. Chisel tip. Low odor. Black, Red, Blue, and Green. Perfect.
I discovered the joy of purple, pink, and orange though when I had a treat-yourself moment and splurged a bit on the intense colors eight count pack.
Ok.
Y’all. . .pay attention to this next one. It’s a revelation, and I love it more than is probably normal.
I give you HAGOROMO Fulltouch Chalk. *Mandi observes a moment of silent reverence.*
Seriously, this chalk is that good.
It’s dust free and SO SMOOTH! As in, it doesn’t creak or squeak/squeal or feel like something just shy of nails on the chalkboard when you write.
In fact, you don’t write. You glide.
Because I like to have a place for things and things in their place, I also got the HAGOROMO Chalk Case that holds five pieces because we protect the stuff that’s valuable to us.
Folks, as a woman who hates squeaky, breaking, creaky chalk (and whose constant compulsion to wipe her hands free of chalk dust has meant she’s walked across campus with white hand prints on the seat and thighs of her dark dress slacks), this chalk is gold.
So, yeah. I got the dang case. And, that’s a true story about the white-hand-prints-on-my-butt occurrence. It happened. More than once. Live and (eventually) learn.
2. Course Prep Tunes
When it comes to music as I work, it all depends what I’m working on.
I’ll stick to educator/course prep stuff for this edition of Things I ❤️, but let me know in the comments if you’d like me to share examples of what I listen to when doing academic and creative writing.
Okay, so for education and teaching oriented stuff, I can switch back and forth between a few things like —
Ambient Noise Tracks
Think the background noise you’d hear while working in a quiet coffee shop while it softly rains outside.
Here’s a great example of a lengthy one I often used when working on turning the extensive grammar/parts of speech guide I’d created while the graduate assistant director of my university’s writing center into short videos we could share on the writing center’s YouTube channel.
I also like movie scores and soundtracks.
Three examples off the top of my head
- Pride and Prejudice (2005 film adaptation)
Available in Mp3 album and CD as well as on Spotify
- The Young Victoria
Available on CD and via Spotify
- The Last of The Mohicans
Available in Mp3 album and CD as well as on Spotify
And, there you have it.
My Things I ❤️: Semester Prep Edition = quality board writing supplies and good teacher working music/tunes/audio tracks. Short and sweet.
If you’re an educator, let me know in the comments what your favorite semester prep things are.
If you’re a writer, what things (music, snacks, pens, whatever) make the work easier or more enjoyable?
Keep writing your story, folks! ‘Til next time.