Good news

So, both my raving students--Monkey Skulls and AYM--were civil, respectful, and listened carefully to what I had to say in conference. I don't think AYM quite gets what I said (hard to wrap one's brain around the need to be able to articulate clearly and objectively a point of view one does not agree with--or that because of one's preconceptions, one may see something in a work that is not there). But he said he thinks he can do what he needs to in his paper. Fair enough. I did encourage him to bring his resistance and his counter-arguments into class discussion: after our meeting I started thinking about the cowardice involved in spewing on the page but being unwilling to say so much as a syllable in discussion with peers, never mind with the class and me. Either he's afraid he'll encounter the "I'm the teacher so I'm right" response (I am right, of course, but it's not because I'm the teacher--and I am happy for students to bring their arguments into class discussion, as long as they do so in a civil and intellectual way). Or, perhaps more frightening, he has a sense that he doesn't have a strong enough argument to support his beliefs and that the students who agree with the readings will outmaneuver him. (Not to mention that he'd also have to face my counter-argument, and I think he knows damned well he won't win in that situation.)

But I'm relieved things with both went well. And when I was talking yesterday about the evil star that put both those fountains of bile in the same class, I neglected to mention that that section also includes two young men who are extremely smart, very open to learning, quite capable of improving their already good writing and thinking--and (bonus) who are open to the ideas in the readings and the enviro-topic of the course. They are both quiet (even in groups, though at least there they will share their ideas--and I hope knock the socks off the rest of the group). Even so, they bring balance to the class. Same class also has a couple of women who are intelligent, articulate, and also philosophically and politically in line with what we're reading (plus one I often have to cut off because she gets so excited she won't stop. A little like me.) So, really, no evil stars involved, rather a few little irritants but generally a great bunch.

Oh, and the student I thought would give me the "you didn't get my e-mail?" thing contacted me prior to her conference: she has cocksakie virus and wanted to know if she should still come to her conference since she cannot speak: her mouth and throat are filled with huge blisters and probably will be for another 2-3 weeks. I worked out a deal with her so a) I didn't have to mark her paper, b) she can still engage in revision with a guidance from our conference and c) she can still get credit for at least part of the assignment. I have a high level of suspicion about the "my grandmother died" excuse (which I did get from two students, both of whom also said they had to leave the country for the funeral and had no access to computers/internet), but this poor young woman is genuinely in agony--and willing to turn up for conference and class anyway. She gets a break.

I'm actually doing OK energy-wise at the moment, so I don't want to do this blog thing for very long: I think I actually have one or two more papers in me tonight. I'm half tempted to take them home, but better to do them now before the energy starts to fade (and before I get interrupted by the life-maintenance stuff).

The triage continues. At this point, the one place where I can force open some space is in stuff for the students. I hate giving them the fuzzy end of the lollipop, but without boasting, I can say that I do give them way more response on their work than most of my colleagues--and by now the backlogged homework is so far out of their awareness that response is meaningless. So once I can get to that (this weekend??), I intend to whip through it as quickly as possible. That will be hard for me (along the lines of "I don't know when to shut up, or how to make things simple"), but it's a good exercise for me and it won't hurt the kids. And I am desperate to carve out some time for all the other stuff that's catching fire all around me.

But the heavens keep giving me tiny unexpected respites: I didn't have the committee meeting I thought I had today (an hour plus of time, whew!). P&B let out early (again, whew!). The last two student appointments tonight didn't show up (quelle surprise, as neither had turned in a paper). So back I go to crank out just a few more....