Another snow day. Good news? Bad news?

The snow day tomorrow is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, I can sleep late (and the heavenly choir sings), and I have the whole day to work without interruptions, which God knows I could use. As it is, I just redid the schedule for the online class for the rest of the semester, not only shifting the deadlines for work so students can do everything on the weekends but also giving the students more time to work on their second essays--and me a chance to get their first essays back to them. I'm going to end up moving the date for revisions of the first essay for the SF class, too, as I still don't have those essays back to them. And the snow day really bollixes the 101 assignment schedule. I emailed students earlier today telling them how the adjustments will work for the two weeks after we get back from the break, but I will have to then juggle the assignments for the rest of the semester.

Well, flexibility is good for ... something, I'm sure.

Today started with me having to replace my cell phone (not much of a story), but that set me back on time--and then I spent a lot of time reworking that Nature in Lit schedule and making sure the dates on the necessary online links were adjusted as well. In a face-to-face class I'd have done more juggling readings around to make the week when the essay is due lighter--but to do that for the online class would have meant completely reconfiguring the content of each weekly folder, which I absolutely do not have time to do. (And I just realized that I've been rather blissfully forgetting that I still haven't created the weekly material for the last few weeks of the semester. Note to self number 6,892.)

I also had to respond to two students who plagiarized--homework or essay (or both)--in the Nature in Lit. I decided to allow both of them to continue in the class, and I'm going to meet with one of them, because even when I presented her with the evidence of plagiarism, she said she couldn't see what she'd done wrong--and I actually believe that. It's been a number of years since she was in any English course, and she confesses that English has ever been a problem for her. So, teachable moment, says I. The other student? Well, I think he's a con man to a certain extent, but whatever. I don't have the energy to hassle over it. Take the zero; see if you can pass anyway. Moving on.

We had a relatively uneventful P&B, I'm glad to say (though there is some campus-wide brouhaha over the need to make up class days that were canceled because of the weather--a saga about the politics of this fucking place that I won't get into).

And then, class. And I have to say, I was a bit disappointed in the students today, as the majority of them had not done the reading--and even those who had been in class when I went over the set-up for the novel had pretty much forgotten everything I said. So, I re-explained (two major narrative lines, plus interspersed sermons and hymns; one narrative line in 3rd person, one in 1st; time jumps but this time signaled by dates--but those dates referring to an internal time structure, not a larger calendar; overlapping time setting with the first novel...), and then we did story time, with me reading aloud and stopping from time to time to get some of their thinking. (I made a joke about story time, too: everyone make sure you have your graham crackers and orange juice before teacher starts reading. I don't know if they had that memory--which actually was what we did either before or after nap time when I was in kindergarten (and each of us had a little rug to lie down on for nap time)--but they were obligingly amused.) I'm hoping they are better about being on track with the reading by Thursday. If not, I'll have to speak to them sternly.

But even with the majority of them unprepared, they still were lively and had a great time teasing each other and making jokes. Class chemistry. Can't bottle it; can't beat it with a stick.

Now, however, the building is all but deserted (OMIGOD! Sometime in the next 12 hours it might snow! Head for the hills, quick! Whoop Whoop Whoop sirens blaring...), and I'm not only falling over tired but extremely hungry. So I'm going to take care of both those things and hunker down for the night in the sure and certain knowledge that tomorrow will not only be another day; it will be a snow day.