Last Chapter on Spring 2011

Start time was 8:30 this morning for 13 of us in the English department-- some fulltime, some part-time instructors. A light breakfast (various pastries and cream cheese, fruit, coffee, and juice) was served. Then 2 hours of "norming" ourselves so we were all in sync regarding the criteria of freshman comp essays we would be evaluating.

After those 2 hours, we began reading and reading and reading. I felt like I was reading in slow motion. I just wanted to find a pillow, curl-up in a corner somewhere, and sleep.

A delicous lunch was served at 12:30. At 1:30 we finished reading essays; tallied the scores and then spent 45 minutes discussing what we had seen, what we had learned, and how our teaching would be different/improved as we enter the next semester (for some that will be summer session; for most it will be fall semester). It is our great privilege to teach students how to write, but more important it is our responsibility to teach them to write quality persuasive essays that make a claim and then defend that with specific evidence.

I walked away at approximately 2:15. I drove the two miles home, and immediately went online to submit the semester grades and to place my autumn textbook order with the bookstore. It only took moments and I could feel myself breaking through the invisible barrier and entering into summer. What a thrill!

Just a little bit later, the two of us drove a few miles north to the Victoria Gardens shopping plaza and into the Yard House restaurant where we ordered an inexpensive "happy hour" dinner and celebrated today's significance.

Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol


P.S. I opened my professor hotmail account on my phone this morning after getting to the campus and found another amazing compliment from one of this semester's students. I'm including it here for me so on dark days when I wonder why in the world do I teach, and on even worse days when I make the mistake of opening the "rating" websites where hostile students write horrid things, I'll have this as a salve to soothe my hurt feelings and balance the negativity.

"Good Morning Carol, I just wanted to thank you for being an excellent instructor who truly cares about students. I feel I learned a plethora of skills in your class, not only in reading and writing, but also within my persona. I can honestly say your class has moved me in a positive manner. So, thank you again for your educational passion and your care for each individual student. I have always believed life is about making a difference, and not only 'making', but being that difference, being the change you want to see in the world. Some people may believe it's impossible for one person to alter society, as it now stands, but I think those individuals abide in some sort of 'eyes closed' reality. It is instructors and individuals such as yourself who do change the world, day after day. Thank you Carol for making a difference. ~~Amber G"