Sauced In New York Sometimes the food is in the sauce, sometimes we are
I ended up with the worst possible schedule this semester. That happens sometimes, a last-minute shuffle of classes. I will leave the politics of those moves aside (but will engage in lively discussion iffin’ ya want). The end result was a work week loaded up mostly on Monday, with just a smidgen of work required on Tuesday and Thursday.
Sundays, if I have not been completely disciplined throughout the week, are full of dread and worry, and dreams at night about arriving late for class after the students have left. (Yes, teachers have the same kind of anxiety dreams as do students!) And the energy required for Monday creates a constant worry on Sunday. Last weekend as we drove down to Albany from the camp, both kids asked if something was bothering me. I could only squeak out the response “It’s Sunday!”
But this may well be my BEST semester ever!
What what?
The Mondays are killer, yes. But they are fun. I just have to be uber-prepared for them.
But the Tuesday/Thursday class… now that is something else. And it is all because of ONE student.
My Tuesday/Thursday class is a writing class. We focus on the past tenses in Spanish, as well as expressing and defending opinions. The students blog (hoping to create future bloggers?), and do electronic projects that challenge them to describe with new and more specific vocabulary, as well as take risks with the language, as in use a dash of humor. It can be loads of fun.
But there is one student who makes my day every Tuesday and Thursday. My class is scheduled in a Mac lab since we do so much work online. When I send the students off to work on the computers, this one student (yes, she is on the shorter side) sets about to work, but she swings her legs as she works. I move around the room giving dictionary definitions, advice on how to express idioms, and technology trouble-shooting. But always as I work my way around the far corner of the room, I see those legs swinging.
It is a demonstration of delight. It says “I am happy doing what I am doing”. It makes my entire work week. And I get that two times per week.
Doubly blessed.
