That went well

Two 102s back to back--and both were OK at this first meeting. I was a little worried about the second group when class started--a lot of them seemed pretty resistant to the whole notion of class--but by the end they were warmed up nicely. There are, of course, a few utter lunks in each class, and one or two of the over-eager, but most of them were alert and engaged at the end of class.

It dawned on me yesterday, I think, that I could even do the usual syllabus go-over differently than I have in the past--and I like what I did. Instead of grinding through it with them, I handed it out, told them to look at it individually and note any questions or observations; then I put them in groups to discuss what they saw; then we talked about it with the class as a whole. Flew like a bird. I'm keeping it.

We had an interesting conversation about cell phones and electronic media in general, stemming from the anti-cellphone rule in the syllabus and from a quotation at the start of the syllabus: “[The] more we text and Twitter and ‘friend,’ abiding by the haiku-like demands of social networking, the less likely we are to have the habit of mind or the means of expressing ourselves in interesting and complex ways.”(Neal Gabler, Los Angeles Times, 28 November 2010, qtd. in “Talking Heads,” Time 13 Dec. 2010: 26. Print.) They were very interested, I think in particular because I wasn't judging them about it, or just laying down the law but actually engaged in listening to what they had to say. If I get a chance, I'll say more about that conversation in another post; I have to make this one relatively fast, as I have to blast out of here for a private dance lesson.

But I do want to record a few favorite moments. One, in the earlier class, a student observed that my own writing, in my little description of the class at the beginning of the syllabus, could be a model for their writing. Nice of her to notice. The second is not unusual, but I always like it: several students came up to me after class to talk to me individually, usually about concerns regarding the class or to explain something about a unique situation I should be aware of. The last young woman I spoke with was particularly touching: she had been very frustrated by 101--and by a previous semester in 102--and was concerned that there was something conceptual going on in terms of college-level writing that she didn't understand. We talked for about five minutes; she was on a bit of a loop, saying essentially the same thing several times over, but I reassured her, I think without giving false hope. I'm a little more concerned about the young man who wants an A: he seems bright enough but I'm not sure if he has an A brain--and if he doesn't, whether he has the kind of brain that can become an A brain through hard work. (Some can't, more's the pity, though all can improve.)

In any event, I'm looking forward to Thursday's classes with them. Nice to be able to say that, as I was feeling a bit disheartened yesterday at the mere thought of starting up again today. And I'll be very interested to see how tomorrow's class goes (American Short Story). I have a stint in Advisement, too--we're being shot right into the thick of things this year, instead of the three-week gradual gear-up that we had last year. We'll see just what kind of madness is going on there; it might be dire, but at least I'll be done early, thank God.

And now, I'm going to eat my little "brown bag" dinner and put on my dancing shoes. No proof, no edit, no reread: the post goes up absolutely raw.