In a bit of a rush

I have to jet out of here pretty soon, go to physical therapy (back problems, yuck), but I did want to record a few impressions of the first day of classes.

I walked into the classroom for 102 and it was mobbed: it turned out that a number of the students were actually in another class, but there had been a sign on the door saying they should report to my room (for reasons that remain mysterious). I know something about the professor for that class, so I went to check--and she was there, in the room, taking attendance of the six or eight students who had arrived after the sign had been taken down. I told her that a bunch of her students were in my room and that I'd send them along to her--but all I can think is how disappointed they must have been to go from me (as I walk into the room joking and energetic and full of beans) to my colleague, who is notorious for being virtually dead on her feet. I'm not really kidding: she is old, in poor health, and truly doddering (she also misses almost as many classes as she teaches--and has her adult children do her copying for her, and god knows what else: for all we know, they grade her papers, too). I felt so bad for those poor students; this is one of those cases when tenure is truly a bad thing. The woman needs to go, we know she needs to go, but she keeps saying she can't afford to go because she needs to pay for her children's college tuition and blah blah blah. But she's worse than useless: I think she's genuinely detrimental. And there isn't bugger all I can do about it.

However, I had a bit of a blast with the students who legitimately are in my class. It was interesting to note the ones who may well drop before next week--and the ones who damned well should (I can already tell, truly, that a few will not, repeat not, make it, should they choose to stay). But the majority were bright-eyed and bushy tailed and appreciative of my approach. I did give them the "work through frustration" and "college will change you" spiels, and most were paying close attention. Two came up after class to shake my hand (nice and firmly, no dead salmon handshakes) and tell me how glad they were to meet me. Yay!

Of course, we know William's philosophy about the classes that start out terrific going south in a big hurry and the ones that start out dreadful turning into a delight, but I prefer to hang on to my sense that this could be a delightful class.

I have a similar feel for the students in the Mystery and Detective fiction class. I also gave them the two set spiels--and the two senior observers came up to me after class to tell me how true it is, what I had to say, especially about the enrichment that comes from college. The students probably won't hear it any better from them than they do from me (we're old fogies, after all, what do we know?), but some of the students--in both classes--did seem to take it in. One of the students took her time packing up at the end of class, left long after everyone else--and then poked her head back in to ask how long the readings are. Not a good sign. But the others seem ready to take it on. One came up to me after class to ask if I actually watch the BBC series Sherlock, or if I only know the one episode I intend to show the class--and she was thrilled to bits to discover that I'm a huge fan of the series, just as she is. (And that reminds me: I need to put in the request for the media so I can show the episode, and Gosford Park, which I also intend to show in class. Gave me a good excuse to own both.)

It will be interesting to see how the Fiction Writing class shakes out tomorrow. The main thing is that I want to keep the classes loose. One student in the 102 told me he was already "crapping his pants" over the work: he asked what I wanted them to write about in their theory/evidence logs--he hadn't even picked up on the fact that they read something first. I know my answer wasn't very reassuring, but it was the best I could do. I don't want to nail them into just looking for stuff to suit the paper topics I assign, and indeed, I've revised the paper assignments to suggest that they can come up with their own way of approaching the stories, as long as their approach meets certain criteria (like, oh, that it actually talks about something important in the stories, for instance). But I know they all feel uncomfortable with this idea of just logging lots of stuff because it might turn out to be useful. It was interesting to see their reactions to my invented logs (written by "Eleanor Q. Student"): the detail blew their minds, but yes, darlings, that's what I want. I also gave them the spiel that "Susie went to the store" is not a theory; "Susie went to the store because..." is. (Next question, of course, is why do you think that's why she went?)

So, obviously I'll know a lot more next week. And obviously not even that will be enough to truly tell me much of anything; the whole feeling of a semester unfolds gradually across the entire 16 weeks. But it felt like a good start, and that's all I need.

Tomorrow: Advisement (mostly telling students "here's what you need; go upstairs and see if you can actually find it; if you can't, then find something to fill your schedule any way you can: there are no other options and no, I won't do your schedule for you") and then Fiction Writing. Cool beans.