rough start but a bright finish

The "work" day started with a call from the office saying that Bruce needed me to come in ASAP, something to do with the adjunct strike. I didn't rush--I said I'd be in as soon as I could, and knew that I'd vote in the primary, go to the drugstore, get my iced coffee all before driving to work. But I walked in, Bruce was leaving, and he said, "You have to talk to Allen"--who is the actual assistant chairperson. Long story short(er), as "officials of the college," Allen and I had to go to adjunct classrooms to see if the instructor was there. Each classroom had to be checked twice. Allen would do the first check, within the first 10 minutes of the class period. If the instructor was there, no problem. If not, he had to leave an attendance sheet for the students and tell them to wait until they were dismissed. I'd then do a second check 30 minutes into the period, collect the student attendance sheet, note that the instructor still wasn't there. Then I was supposed to take that paperwork to the administration--by 4:30--and have it notarized. One small problem: all this was to occur in the middle of when I was teaching my two classes.

I tried to be the good Do-Bee and figure out how I could leave my students to work while I walked around campus checking up on adjuncts--but finally I decided I really needed to talk to Bruce. Kathy, the office aide, called him out of a meeting (he was in back-to-back meetings all day) and told him the situation. He said he'd tell the area dean that she had to do my run for me. So, I was off the hook. But I have no idea what the situation will be tomorrow--or following days, if the strike continues. Tonight, members of the administration are checking all the classes: I just ran into the Queen of Assessment here in this building, looking for our classrooms.

I wasn't sure if some students may have been confused about the strike and so stayed home today, but it did seem that a number of students were missing, especially in the 102. I now think that actually many of the missing students withdrew (or were late: a handful came in part way through the period)--as I had three brand new students and one who'd been a no-show last week. I think everyone was there for Mystery and Detective fiction: two brand new students and one no-show from last week.

In the 102, I opted not to do my routine ice-breaker today--perhaps a mistake. I also didn't do the attendance cards that I have students fill out: both of those things take time out of class, but both are worth it. Instead, I talked to them more about their logs, and now that they've tried them out, they have a better sense of what I'm looking for. A couple of students hadn't done the logs, so I cheerfully said, "OK, see you next class" (and wonder if I will); a few were ready to leave because they felt their logs were inadequate, but I said if they had at least tried, that was good enough. Many are opting to re-do the logs on this first story, even though that means they'll have to have two ready on Thursday. I'll give them the chance to do a better job if they want it.

The discussion about the story was good: they got into it in their groups, and the whole class was responsive and thinking well. I keep telling them that I don't want to nail them into one interpretation too quickly: I want them to explore, see what they see instead of working to find what I tell them to find. Same thing happened in Mystery--and one student there even said, "I'm used to being handed a lot more, not given so much to do on my own." She seemed perfectly happy to have to do more on her own, she just was nervous about what to do and how.

The Mystery class is shaping up to be a blast. I did do the ice-breaker with them, and again, the joking and laughing and teasing were in full spate. Once they got into groups, the noise was damned near deafening--which I love. They truly were engaged in the work at hand, too: when I said, "OK, now we're going to talk about 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue,'" I heard several voices say--quite sincerely--"Oh, good!" They got into it, had a grand time. And enough of them know something about Sherlock Holmes to be shocked by how much Doyle ripped off from Poe. We found some hidden clues, some instances of "delay" (when we are told that someone has the information but aren't given that information)... Oh, I could go on, but it was great. They're relaxed, they're happy, they're enjoying the reading, the discussion, each other.

In both classes, they're starting to use each other's names already. Yes! Triumph. Even in the 102, not having done the ice-breaker, I got a few students' names down--and when I used them, the other students started to as well.

Of course, all my paperwork--old handouts, collected assignments, attendance cards--is in wild disarray, but I'm hoping I can sort it out tomorrow. I do know how today's plans worked out, however: remember all that stuff I was so sure I'd get done? Between my getting to work later than I'd intended (not just because of voting and so on but also because I changed my mind about that 6 a.m. alarm--when I was still wide awake at 12:35 a.m.), the fooraw over the attendance thing, and the meeting that I'd completely forgotten I was supposed to attend (I got there more than 30 minutes late), I felt like I didn't know whether I'd be able to remember who I am, never mind make sense of anything else. But I got the Poe story re-read before class, so I didn't have to bullshit my way through that.

I really do have to get up at 6 tomorrow, though, come whatever insomnia or inability to just put the body into bed. I need to get to the office early enough that I can pull together tasks to do at Advisement, as chances are, now that the drop-add period is over (thank god), it will probably be pretty uneventful there.

Again, I know what happens to plans. But I have to live in faith anyway.

Now, I'm going to eat my lunch--and yes, I know it's closer to dinner time, but I'm ravenous and I have to go to physical therapy before I go home: if I don't eat before I leave, by the time I get home I'll be so empty I'll feel sick. So, lunch now--and sure, maybe dinner in about 3 hours, when I finally get home.

I feel like I'm trying to beat a throw from short infield as I run for home. I'm going to be sliding into base on my belly--but then I'll be home (and yeah, I'll be safe. No umpire to declare otherwise.) But this was a good day, all in all, and I'm delighted that these two classes are how I'm going to be ending my weeks.