And again

I used the same approach with the syllabus today for the Short Story class, and it flew well there, too. I did enjoy the moment when I brought up the problem of cell phones. One young woman had spent virtually the entire class texting, but I didn't single her out. I just said I noticed that some students had been texting while I'd been talking, and I asked why they thought the rule exists. The first response was that it was distracting. I asked, "distracting to whom?" "To the professor." True, I said, but then again, I'm this gray-haired white woman with a stick up her butt. Is there some reason why the rule exists for their benefit? Yes, they said--and gave the response they know is expected: "It's distracting to us; we need to give our whole attention to learning." Yeah, yeah, but can't you multitask? No, they said, not really. How do you feel if you're working in a group and one of your group mates keeps checking his or her phone? Pissed off. There you go.

But I think that young woman already dropped. Someone did; it will be interesting to see who.

And again, a student came to me after class and told me the long saga of his frustration and difficulty with all his previous English classes--and we talked for a while, about what he thought the problems were, what he might do to make things better. The nice thing was that he said I had made it seem like he could talk to me, tell me his worries, which had not been the case with his previous professors. I think I seem a little less scary this semester--and I haven't made my usual "I'm a monster" pronouncements. They'll figure that out soon enough. One student did ask about my grading. My criteria or where I fall on the easy to tough scale? The latter? "I'm tough." They heard the tone. 'Nuff said.

I went from class directly to Advisement--and note to self: I need to remember A) to bring my lunch with me and B) have some cash in my wheelie-pack so I can buy a cup of coffee or tea or something. I got hungry and didn't have food with me, and I desperately needed a break, but apart from a quick trip to the john, didn't have an excuse for one. It's enormously helpful to be able to say, "I have to get a cup of coffee; I'll be right back," and take a brain break. I'll try to remember both those things next week and from here on out.

It was quite a slog in Advisement: the place was pretty filled up (though there weren't lines around the building, as has been the case in the past). As is always the case, a number of students had lost their schedules because of financial problems (if they don't pay right away, they are dropped from all their classes)--and because most classes are now full, it's hard for them to scrape together a new schedule. A lot of what I did today was say, "OK, you already know what classes you want to take. If you can't take those because all the sections are closed, here are the requirement areas where you can look to find something else. Now, go to the Library, where there is tech support, sit down at a computer, and scrounge around until you find classes." Strangely enough, that--or a variation thereof--made them happy and confident that they could do just that. Many of them come in wanting us to make their schedules for them and do their registration--and some of the advisers will do that, but not this gal. "The kitchen is over there. Look in the fridge, and in the pantry; pots and pans are in the cupboards. Make the best meal you can from what you find. Good luck!"

One other nice event today: Kayla is back; she's interning for Paul this semester. It was fun to see her and to let Paul know how she and I had worked the internship when I was her "supervisor." I'll be very interested to hear more from Paul about it. He did say that he felt a little as if she was seeing him in his underwear, sitting at the computer eating potato chips: she is seeing behind the scenes in a way our students don't. But I think it will be very interesting for her to see the similarities and differences in our teaching styles, Paul's and mine. Come to think of it, I'll be very interested to hear more from Kayla about it, too.

Paul and I had floated the idea of a steak night tonight, but we've taken a rain check. There is a meeting of the Conviviality Committee tonight (at Applebee's, yuck, but I didn't choose the venue). I figure I'll drop by, be convivial while I figure out what I'd like to do with the rest of this evening. And I'll have a good long stretch in the office tomorrow before classes in which to figure out what pearls I've already dropped. Not many as yet, but some, I'm sure.