Day 2: Ditto

OK, I've met 'em all. Today's 102 was more amenable to the rules and regs (or didn't fuss out loud about them anyway). It was a rather odd day--and will be unique in the semester--as I did not have a committee meeting, nor did P&B meet, so I didn't start "work" until 2:30 p.m. Of course, if I'd gotten into the office at 9:30 a.m., I'd have had plenty to keep me busy, but I took advantage of the late start and slept a little later this a.m., then ran a few errands I'd been putting off for days (still left one undone, but I'll get it done eventually). I got a little wound up about not being in the office earlier--I actually got in at 11:35 (and miraculously, got here just as a colleague was leaving a legal parking spot behind the building, so I'm parked right out back and not even risking a ticket). I finally marked two papers from last semester's dream student, James: he asked about them, which was just the spur I needed to finally get them done. Got some copying done. Put a few last bits of documentation into my promo folder (found the stuff I had freaked out about over the weekend--and it wasn't even hard to find). Oh, I don't know, noodled around doing stuff until class.

So, brief anecdotes from the day. 101: At the end of class, and older student shook my hand, introduced himself (I didn't catch his name but I'll know it in a week or two anyway), and said he was already enjoying class. (Nice to hear, but based on what, I wonder?) Another student surprised hell out of me. She had come in late and had spent the class making sotto voce comments about the syllabus and the first reading (obviously the first too difficult, the second too long: the precise comment, as she counted pages of the reading, was "Holy crap!"), but at the end of class she came to the desk, gave me a big hello, and said, "You're a cool professor." I said I was gratified by the compliment but surprised she would say so after the first class. She said, "I read people. Like books. I also read books." (The latter, tossed over her shoulder as she waltzed out of the room.) She's one to keep note of: we'll see what happens with her as the semester goes along. A student came up to ask a good question about the reading journal form: nice to see he was paying careful attention. Another asked a question about the books, what she needs to own and by when. Finally, a gentleman from South Asia (I'd guess India, but I'm not good at judging the accents precisely) couldn't seem to get out of the room: he told me he'd read that I'm a good educator (interesting: perhaps my rep on Rate My Professor has changed?), so he chose me; that he needs my guidance (um, OK...); he needs help on everything (ah, again, OK...). Clearly he's nervous: he also is a somewhat older student, coming out of the work world and with English as a clear second language, but he's very concerned to do well. He may become one of those energy-drain students, but I'll just have to be firm about how much time I give him.

102: A student from last year in the class. He'd been in my 101 in fall '08, took my 102 in the spring but ended up having to withdraw. He came up to me after class to say that he was taking more credits than he has in the past, so he hopes he can keep up with them all--but he's not dropping my class again; he's determined to make it. I don't see any reason why not--but he also can be a bit of an energy drain. Still, it pays off: I've seen visible improvement in his work in the past. Another student confessed (shyly) that he didn't know where Y212 is (my office: their photocopied readers are outside the office door)--very sweet, and when I said that Y is Bradley Hall, he was greatly relieved: that he knew. Another, who had come in late, first apologized for coming in late and then thanked me for asking him for his name so I could mark him as being present: "I didn't even have to come up to you," he said. Very polite, and nice that he felt he should say "thank you." And as I was waddling back to the office, dragging my huge rolling pack behind me, I encountered a student from that 102 who had just picked up his reader and who told me it was easy to find, well marked (I should hope so: I've got signs all over the box).

Overall, students seemed to respond more warmly to the information about the class and to me and my approach than was the case yesterday. I have no idea why: I might have exuded a different set of pheromones, the class chemistry might simply have been different, could have been the time of day or the weather. Always a mystery why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Same joke: laughter one day, stony silence another. Who knows.

But now I have to start actually teaching. Wouldn't it be nice if I never had to help them get smart? Well, no, not really: those moments when they suddenly get something are the whole point to doing this for a living. But the heavy lifting is about to begin, and I already feel like my energy is low.

Actually, physically that's true. I don't know what's up, but no amount of sleep seems sufficient. When the alarm went off this morning (an hour later than usual), I woke up, thought "I'll just lie here one minute before I get up"--and damned near fell back to sleep, even with the radio going, which is bizarre for me. I think my body has to adjust to this earlier schedule, and it's protesting. I'm still dancing, too: I'm not going to cut back until I truly have to--and that does mean I don't get home until almost 10 p.m. I'm trying to truncate my wind-down so I'm still in bed by 11:30, but that'll take some doing. Still, I'm not really operating at a sleep deficit, so I trust that next week this will all feel comfy.

Meanwhile, I think I may have the next block of readings for 265 figured out--maybe even the next two (miracle!), but I'm just going to listen to my iPod (Christmas gift from Szilvia, which I am ridiculously delighted by) and read Prairyerth, by William Least-Heat Moon. If I can't teach Nature in Lit, at least I can read some: I've wanted to read the thing for years, and I am loving it. Makes me want to read everything else he's written. I want to re-read--and read further--Barry Lopez, too.

Wouldn't it be nice if I were paid just to read whatever I want?