Shooting myself in the foot?

The day turned out to be busier and more frantic than I anticipated. I'd forgotten that there was a big union meeting today; usually I give those a pass, but in the current state of the campus, I thought it behooved me to go. Nothing much new was said, just more details cementing what we already know: the president and BOT think we're a bunch of spoiled whiners and that we're only complaining because we're losing our "perks." (I'd be curious to know what they think a "perk" is: a teachable class?) The union leadership filled us in on what they've been doing, but they didn't tell us about any plans for future action until they were pretty harshly challenged. There are some plans in the works, but it would be nice if they'd let us know about them without our having to beg to be informed. They may be concerned about tipping our hand to the administration, but I don't think any of the plans would be stymied even if the administration did know about them in advance. I was very glad that the union secretary stood up and challenged the challengers, saying, "If you think something needs to be done, then volunteer to participate in what's being done." Amen sister. I get heartily sick of colleagues who perpetually say "they" should be doing something: Sorry, guys, but WE are the union, and if anything's going to happen, it's because we do it.

That said, however, I do believe the union officers are playing way too nice. Their thinking is that they need to keep to the higher ground, demonstrate that we are civil, professional, and prepared, and there is something to that--perhaps. But when you're dealing with a plague of rats, the higher ground may keep one's shoes out of the shit but it doesn't address the problem.

I also had hoped that P&B might be canceled again today, but no such luck. There was some routine business to take care of, which didn't end up being quite routine. We have to approve requests for reassigned time before they are sent to the administration, and there was some debate about whether several of those who had requested such reassignment had made reasonable requests in terms of the amount of time they asked for. It was an interesting debate about who is doing what kind of work and what kind of equivalence there is in terms of the work load for certain functions. In any event, the debate extended the amount of time it took to sign off (literally) on that piece of business--and then the fun began, about a student's grade grievance. It's a sticky situation, and it's entirely possible to understand both the professor's stance and the student's complaint, but the actual upshot is that the case is (unusually) going all the way to the college committee that handles such complaints, instead of being handled entirely in our department. Three members of P&B will be among the adjudicators, along with three faculty from the campus committee, and there will be a non-voting student representative there as well. But the best moment for me? The meeting will be scheduled on a Wednesday at 3, so I was instantaneously off the hook, didn't even have to feel guilty about not volunteering to participate, as I'm in class at that time.

Speaking of which, class today went well. The five women (plus senior observer--also a woman) were all there, had read the poems, and had great things to say. We finished one poem and got most of the way through a second--and that leaves two more (plus that smidge left over) for Thursday. However, as I told the students, if we can hustle through the poems a little faster than the syllabus stipulates, we can start earlier on the novel--and I'd love that.

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I took a break in blogging at that point to write some e-mails (that "if I don't do it this second, while it's in my brain, I'll forget it" thing). None of them were urgent or earth-shattering, but those little bitty things can crawl under my skin like a chigger and drive me insane until they're dealt with.

But before I start patting myself on the back for tying off those little loose ends, I must confess: I have a wodge of papers to grade before tomorrow's class. Obviously, I should be grading them now--but once again, I'm facing that wall of resistance that I never seem able to overcome. Fortunately there are not many of papers (though unfortunately, part of that is because the two students I was concerned about haven't contacted me--and I'm truly afraid they may be gone for good). I don't remember if I said that Ms. Chip on the Shoulder withdrew yesterday--a wise decision and a load off the class, as well as meaning one fewer paper to grade. I've only marked two papers, and started a third--and I'm hoping the current trend doesn't apply across the board. What I've seen so far is that they have some good ideas, sometimes even well expressed, but those ideas are buried in a sludge of crap thinking and writing: vague, unsupported, unconnected.

I have to keep reminding myself that the kind of writing I take for granted is actually very difficult to learn--especially if nothing in one's educational background has provided preparation. And I have to give them credit for the good ideas: the students who remain have at least glimmers of the kind of thinking that can get them through. Also, if I use a microscope, I can detect improvement since their previous papers. This experience is why Paul is making the case that grading papers like we do is contact. "What are you proving in this paragraph?" "What's the link to your thesis?" "Where is the specific evidence for this point in the language of the poem?" "This is too vague/general: what exactly are you talking about in terms of the poems?" "You got this idea from the critical essay: you need to give credit for that or you are guilty of plagiarism." "But the quotation you use does not, in fact, illustrate the point you are making here: what does the quotation actually say? Is there another quotation that would work better, or should you change the point you want to make?" All of those are actual comments made on papers: that's every bit as valuable (and actually much immediate to the individual student) as anything I do in the classroom. And many of my colleagues, whom I respect, have said, "If we have to teach a 5-5 load, I'm switching over to multiple choice tests and brief in-class essay exams." And that's no way to teach writing. Or literature for that matter.

Which drags me back to the union meeting today: more on the "faculty need to put in a 35-hour work week" insanity the administration is pushing, the latest demand is that everyone needs to teach an extra six contact hours--that's an additional two courses. Essentially, they want us to work like high school teachers do, and in the process truly turn the college into "13th grade," which has been a dismissive (and wildly inaccurate) charge leveled at NCC for far too long. I have the greatest admiration for anyone teaching in the K-12 system, and I have no idea how they survive their work load--but I do know that one of the things that suffers because of the way their work days are scheduled is the depth with which they can explore any subject area. Another is the depth of response they can provide on student work. That's what makes college different: the entire intention of "higher" education is that it gradually moves students into ever more specialized and profound understandings of whatever is being studied. At each level of education, mastery increases but breadth decreases: the focus becomes increasingly sharp and penetrating.

But then again, the administration doesn't give a rat's ass about true education; that's manifestly obvious, and we simply keep getting more piles of evidence to support that point.

Oh, lordy. So how do I reframe today to end on a positive note? I did allow myself the luxury of some M&Ms; that was nice. I am going to go dancing tonight for the first time in weeks; that'll be nice. And I did enjoy the session with the students in 229 today. That class is a delight, and I'm happy to have a chance to work with those young women in that sharp and penetrating way. They seem to be getting a lot out of it, too, and for me, at the moment, that's sufficient evidence that God's in His heaven and all's right with the world.