An Almost Snow Day

Is that even possible? Well, we had cold temperatures. (Here in SC, it's been rather warm. So, our 33 degrees feels really cold to me. I am a baby now--I don't remember what it's like in Wisconsin!) And they (ambiguous pronoun, I know--the weather people) had been calling for an ice/sleet/snow mix for today. Phooey. We got enough ice to make it miserable--but not enough to cancel school--not even enough to go late. Enough to slip around on as you try to crack the coating off of your car--enough to make you slip as you walk across campus--and enough to cause the caring/overly-cautious public safety boys on campus to dump sandbox after sandbox all over campus. But not enough to cancel school.

As I read over that paragraph, I realize that it may sound like I don't like school. That's FAR from the truth: I do love school. But I had some cranky kids in classes today--they feel they've been cheated in some way. I thought my lecture on plagiarism and quoting/paraphrasing/summarizing was inspiring--and I can't begin to describe the joy my Nathaniel Hawthorne lecture brings to my own life. But it didn't seem like enough for some of them. Pooh.

We've been in classes for a week and one day now. But I got a call from one distressed student who proclaimed, after I greeted him on the phone about an hour after class, "I think I'm late for class! Isn't it Wednesday?!?" I calmly replied, "No, it's Thursday. And class is over." He said, "Are you sure? Where's our class?" I answered--with the patience I'm known for all over the world--"I am ABSOLUTELY sure. I'm looking at a calendar right now. AND your classmates are probably at lunch or in other classes since I dismissed them at 1:30--when our class is over." He said, "What should I do?" My response, of course--"Go home." Hee Hee.

Another student came running in the door of my office--all out of breath--saying, "I overslept!!!" (Those three exclamation points are absolutely essential.) I just looked at her--our class had been out for, oh, 2 hours or so by now. What in the world? She asks (still out of breath), "Did you mark me absent?" Hmm . . . how do I answer that question?

Wherever you are, I hope you're warm--and dry. (This freezing rain is really quite miserable.)

But remember: I DO love school. (But a snow day--once in a great while--is quite a treat!)

A New Semester

Wow. I shouldn't talk about how fast time flies because that's a sign of age, right? But Christmas break just disappeared. Truly. And we've just finished our first three days of the new semester. Amazing!

How sad that I can't post more than once a month--even while on vacation. I don't think I'm cut out for blogging/to blog/the blogger world. (I'm still trying to find all of the various ways to use the word BLOG.) It's pressure! :-) I am so grateful, though, to see my former students--and so many of them have beautiful, precious children now. Wow--have you seen Alicia and Matt's incredible daughter? Or Karen and Nathan's little jewel? And Carissa and Brent's extraordinary little clan? (I shouldn't start listiing--I'll inevitably leave out someone/many.) Participating in the world of blogs (ha) is definitely worth it if I get to communicate with/see them.

Back to North Greenville--I would say that 88% of the students I've asked have told me that they're not ready to be back. I consider that quite positive. (It's a B on our ten-point scale!) And the other 12%? Nope, they're still on vacation. The seniors, of course, are happy to be back: they know they're on the last leg of a really long race. But the freshmen--they look cranky. And I practically have to pry their cell phones out of their little hands--they LOVE texting. (And they are really, really good at sending messages during class.) I'm so old I can remember passing notes--now that's old!

Enough. I'm rambling; I think I will write up an outline before I attempt to blog again. (And THEN, I'll make sense.)