Pulling out of the nose dive...

Wow, yesterday's post was one hell of a bummer, wasn't it. I'm better now. ("I think I'll take a walk." (Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference))

Both classes went well today--the later class despite being interrupted by a seemingly interminable fire drill. It meant a rather truncated experience for everyone, but we got through what I wanted to get through. I was on the tippy edge of canceling class not long before I went over, but Paul helped me remember that, once I'm there, I usually get a good burst of energy, which is indeed what happened.

The biggest triumph of the day happened in that 5:00 class, in fact. Two--count 'em: two!--students who have been noticeably silent in class discussion to this point volunteered answers or to read aloud from a handout for the class. One of them volunteered several times, in fact. I think I mentioned him before: initially, my read of him was not very positive, but I've been proven tremendously wrong. He is, in fact, quite bright: I now have a sense that his educational experiences haven't been very positive up to this point, but he's starting to catch fire, which is great. He's the one who surprised me with his smile in our conference on his first essay: a charming, John Lennon-type smile.

There was another nice moment after class; it kept me there longer than I wanted to be, but it was worth it. One student is extremely diligent but much too reliant on following exactly and only what he's told to do, not really bringing any thought to his work, just slavishly following the exact letter of the prompts. We talked for a long while after class, and I encouraged him to loosen up, experiment, risk some failure. He asked if it was OK to take risks and fail, and I assured him that it absolutely is: in fact, I'd prefer it to the rather robotic work I've gotten from him so far. I know it will be scary and difficult for him to let go and take risks, but I hope he does. Mostly, it felt great to let him know that professors actually want that. We're much more interested in creativity and innovation than in rote following of the rules. Jump off the edge, little bird: test those wings.

I also had a nice, long conversation with a colleague outside the building on my way back to the office. It's just good to be reminded that I really do work with great people. I know that, of course, and am grateful, but it's good to have the spotlight on it every now and then.

On the down side, I got virtually nothing graded today--and I've now managed to crank up the pressure on myself to pretty intense levels. I'm not entirely sure yet whether I will be taking Wednesday off after all--the workshop I'm supposed to attend hasn't been officially confirmed, and if it moves to a different date, I want to still have the option to call in Paul (or someone) to sub for me, an option I don't want to abuse too much. But if I do go to the workshop on Wednesday, I really do want to get essays back to the 101 students on Monday--and I still haven't finished marking the essays for the SF class.

So, like it or not, that's a 6 a.m. alarm tomorrow, so I can get to campus by 9, and get a good lick of work in before attending an assessment event (which we're all rather dreading at this point, not sure what onerous, screwed up initiative might be coming at us). I go straight from the assessment thingy to class, so I need to be rolled up and ready to return work to the SF students before 11:30 tomorrow morning.

Once I'm back in the office after class, I can start whacking at the ridiculously tall stack of 101 assignments that I need to get through--though I will have to interrupt myself at a little before 6 to conduct an observation. And after the observation, I'll be not just toast but burnt toast, so ... well, you see the direction this is heading.

Speaking of observations: I need to be more circumspect about speaking of observations in this blog. I forget that some of my readers are also my colleagues, and I need to maintain more confidentiality about P&B business. So, my remarks about P&B and observations--or any other P&B related business--will be very generic. And my apologies to anyone whose confidentiality has been breached because I was clinging a little too fiercely to my first amendment rights. I can still say everything I really want/need to say while maintaining more appropriate boundaries when it comes to P&B business.

That said, it's now much later than I expected to be here tonight (especially after as little sleep as I got last night), so I'm going to dodder off to my car and head home. And tomorrow is not only another day, it's Thursday. It won't be the end of my work week by any stretch of the imagination, but it's the end of the on-campus part of my week, and that's a lovely thing to contemplate.