Visitation

Today I had my class observed. I won't lie—the mere thought terrified me. I know my students are generally well behaved, and respectful, but what if they chose today to argue, or sit in silence? What if the two leading the discussion weren't prepared, or weren't there?

The evening before, one sent me a printout... a word search she had created. My printer at home wasn't working, so I thought I would get to campus early Thursday morning (this morning), print it, and copy it. Now I know I can't download files on the computer in the TA office... it just doesn't work for me, so I planned to do it at the library. I even had money ready for printing costs. I got there early, as planned.

And the computer was sooooo slow. It kept pausing. I wouldn't load. I was frantically checking the clock, checking the progress, and finally it loaded, and finally I could print the document, and finally I could run off copies. I was nearly six minutes late to class, on a very important day. My observer was, of course, already there, sitting in the corner.

I had not told any of my students about the observation, because I didn't want their nerves on edge too. I opened with our regular check-in, then a journal prompt about what kind of qualities they would look for in a presidential candidate; among the most frequently listed were honesty, integrity, understanding of financial and environmental concerns, and openness. Thankfully, the class went quite well overall, though I wish in hindsight we had spent more time on the discussion (Ruth Padawer's "Sisterhood is Complicated"), and less on the word search. When I spoke with my advisor after the class, he said much the same thing. He did observe how thoughtful they were, and how respectful, so that was good.

What a morning though!