Strange days indeed, most peculiar, Mama

I had a brutal night last night: didn't get to sleep until after 3 a.m. I tried to sleep in, but was awake at 7:20. Rescheduled my doctor's appointment (which I wasn't going to make), and didn't rush through my morning routine; I got here at about 11. I made sure I had photocopies of stuff I'll need for the 102s next week, got some things uploaded to my faculty home page, and then pointedly did not look at any student assignments: I just read the book about mystery and detective fiction that I'm using as my start on underpinnings and theoretical background. I'm not learning anything entirely startling or new, but it's nice to have the margins filled in better--and the more I read, the longer becomes the list of things I'd love to assign. As always, it's going to be quite the challenge to make the selection out of all the terrific stuff I'd love to have the students read.

I did that right up to class time. And there were three--count 'em, three--students there, plus the senior observer. I think at least three of those who were missing today will be back; I sure as hell hope so. But today was actually a great day. The five of us had a great discussion about the poems, and there was even one of those moments when the students were talking back and forth to each other, not going through me, and another moment when two were kind of jumping over each other, so eager were they to say what they had to say. Generally, they really liked today's selection of poems (cool beans), and even better, they understood them very well. It was actually lighter, easier, more energized than Tuesday's class, when there were more students in the room. Interesting.

I'd come close to canceling, too, and I'm glad I didn't. I truly do want to get everything marked to return to them next week--and I don't want to try to use Monday in Advisement to do it. It's not a lot (especially since I only got three mini-papers and three sets of idea logs today), so it truly won't be onerous--and I am curious to see how they did on their first big papers. I have to head in to the City tomorrow, so I plan to use my time on the train for grading. Perhaps I'll even get a little marking done before I get on the train; the more I can get done tomorrow, the happier I'll be. Well, "happy" isn't quite the right term: the more relieved I'll be.

And I'm doing a little more hand-holding than I'd normally do: I did send an e-mail reminding those who were absent how to go about submitting mini-papers for credit. I neglected to say anything about their logs (slightly different rules for submitting those), but I'm really mostly concerned about the mini-papers.

I'm also afraid that today's absence and missing work means that my former student has just completely sunk his chances of making it. Very disappointing.

Still and all, I like ending the week with this class. Even if I end up just with the three who were there today, it will be a good class; if I end up with the six I hope will stick, I'll be delighted. Plus, it's delicious to be finished early--office hour, class, and done--particularly now that it's light out, even as I finish this blog post. I don't even have to do anything else before I walk out the door: plants are watered, bag is packed, I'm as organized as I'm going to get. Early dinner and early home: that's the plan.