OK, so Nature in Lit is back up to 11 students. Cathy thinks it will run. The section of comp that I prefer to keep is also up to 11, and Cathy ditto. We talked about my taking the Modern American Novel course but for various reasons decided it would be a bad idea. But ... Nature in Lit. Fuck. I haven't worked on it in days, and if it runs, panic in the streets will ensue, as I do not have it anywhere near ready to go.
Shifting gears slightly: I truly like Cathy very much, and I think she's an excellent chair of the department, but I wanted to strangle her just a little today, on several occasions. I kept telling her that I had a record of what classes didn't have instructors and that most had been provisionally assigned to FT faculty whose schedules were in jeopardy. She kept looking at the numbers on Banner and saying, "What about...?" and I'd say--again--"I gave that to ...." or "That's on hold for ...." When I could get her to stop doing that and to sit down at the table and work with me, things went better, but I need to set up a barricade around her computer, because once she gets on the computer, she gets caught up in answering (or sending and then looking for answers to) emails, and we both lose track of where we were and what we had done.
In addition to which, because of all the if/then scenarios we had to set up or make happen, once it was time to start in with the adjunct schedules--the ostensible purpose for my being on campus today--it turned out to be easier just to erase everything I did last week and start all over. Note to self: don't start on adjunct schedules until FT scheduling issues are resolved. Ever.
Poor Paul has gotten the fuzzy end of the lollipop this semester: neither of his courses is going to run. Well, one might, but it is too uncertain to leave it on his course load; we had to take him off it and leave it for an adjunct to pick up (if it runs, that is). So we gave him a 102; I know he likes them, and he's brilliant at teaching them--but ... he had two honors classes and now he has none. The one that really hurts is his honors elective--a section of Brit Lit I, that went from three students to zero over the weekend. (Students who've been around for a while know that classes that are under-enrolled may be canceled, so if they see that they're in something with low numbers and its getting close to crunch time, they will often bail to find a class that will work for their schedules and that they know will run. I think that's what was going on with Nature in Lit at first--but now enough students are registered that others will take a chance on it (on top of which, most of the other online literature electives are full).
It's absolutely freezing cold in the office; I'm bundled up in multiple layers but my hands and feet are still cold. Nevertheless, I'm going to try to do at least a smidgen of work before I have to hustle off to physical therapy. And I'll be back trying to wrestle Cathy to the table as of about 10 a.m. tomorrow. Somehow or other, eventually this will all make sense, I think...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment