Always the last to know
Posted on April 27, 2005 @ 11:38 am
So, I’m on a surprise day off today. By “surprise,” I mean that when I began my lecture on Monday, a student raised her hand to ask if class was canceled on Wednesday.
“Uh…not that I’m aware of,” I replied.
“Wednesday is Honors Day,” she informed me. “All afternoon classes are supposed to be canceled.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Doesn’t anybody tell teachers these things?”
“Apparently not. Wow…no class on Wednesday. That’s honestly the first I’ve heard about this. You’re not just jerking me around, are you?”
“Nope. It’s on the university website and everything.”
“Okay, er…I guess class is canceled on Wednesday. But that means we’ll have to take time away from the final exam review I had planned for next Monday to finish the material we’ll miss.”
“Can’t you just put the lecture notes online instead?”
“No.”
As usual, I’m completely out of the loop and left looking like a dorkus-malorkus in front of the class. Anyway, the upshot of the story is that I have a surprise day off today. Woo-hoo! Unfortunately, it’s going to be spent grading essays. Aww…
Posted by Jess | Filed Under Tales from the Classroom |
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I love that you just say no with no explanation. I’m giggling over the reactions that must have garnered.
My 10th grade teacher used to always joke that he used the step-down method when grading papers. When we asked what that was he said he would stand at the top of his staircase, let the papers fly and then step-down to pick them up. Grades were awarded based on which step the paper had landed on.
I’m thinking there was a little too much detail in his explanation for it to have been entirely made up.
Jess, come on, give the kiddos a break. Put the lecture notes online! Don’t be a meanie!
…And here I thought you’d be one of those profs that I would have had a crush on…I’m so disappointed in you, young man!
Are you going to attend the Honors Day convocation? That is why you have the afternoon off after all. You better hurry, the event begins at 2:00 p.m. in Hodgson Hall in the Performing and Visual Arts Center.
I was just looking at your syllabus. Does this week’s topic, “Democracies Outside Western Europe”, include the U.S.? Seems like a pretty broad subject area if so.
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I always relied on the students to keep me posted on events. They never told the teachers till the very last minute. But the kids, they always knew, and they were always right, too. Who needed a calendar when nothing was ever on it? Just ask a kid. Any kid. They KNOW things. (cue spooky music here.)