Back to School: Week 5

With five weeks of being back on campus under our belt, we are now 30% done with fall semester.  We are also being subjected to a tsunami of student papers: the good, the bad, and the ugly.  I always feel a bit like the poor girl in the fairy tale who was told to spin gold out of straw, which is something like making a silk purse out of a sow's ear.  But then a few students actually do the assignment they have been asked to do and write a paper that is interesting and free enough of surface errors to make it swift reading.  This almost makes up for having to spend so much time in front of the computer rather than outside walking around the lake or biking to the bakery or tossing a ball over the hill in the park for Gracie to retrieve.  Almost.

Gracie models her Target raincoat

Tuesday, our first day of the week on campus, Gracie and I awoke to rain.  Luckily, I was prepared with an umbrella for me and a raincoat for Gracie.  She was not too keen on wearing the coat's hood but did not object to the coat itself--purchased at Target for a reasonable sum.  We did not check to see where the raincoat was made and hope it was not made on some island prison by children chained to little sewing machines.  It really did keep her dryer than she would othewise have been, especially underneath.  Tuesday is our easy day. 

Wednesday, usually our day to exercise and grade student work, was Student Success Day.  In honor of student success which both Gracie and I believe in strongly, we hosted a one hour, noontime Webinar, broadcast live from our broadcast studio in the sunroom of our lovely St. Louis Park home.  With extra credit promised for attendance at this Webinar (or any other Student Success Day Presentation up to three), we had twenty students in attendance.  This is less than used to attend my Raising Readers presentation but more than I would have been able to meet with had I spent two hours of the day driving to and fro from the campus.  Anyway, we toured the library and saw how to sign up to use and then use Smarthinking.

Gracie and my photo for the
English department rouge's gallery
of instructors

Thursday, Gracie and I went in early to open the writing center.  I get a bit wound up gathering all the things we need to take with us for the day.  Gracie stays calm though and this calms me down.  She now knows the writing center and is very well behaved while there.  This Thursday, we had papers to return to the students in the 7:45 a.m. class that follows our writing center stint.  I had the papers in a box on wheels.  This is pretty awkward to drag around and doing so managed to eat up the time between writing center and class that we have been using for a quick trip outside for Gracie to relieve herself.  A true trooper, Gracie did not complain and, instead, waited like a lady until class was over and I had returned the box to the office for her visit to the great outdoors.

Excellent portrait of Gracie by son Nate

Friday is our hardest day.  Since we don't go to the campus as early, I have been mistakenly telling myself that we can do a lot of things before we leave.  Unfortunately, this is not true.  We have been leaving a little late, and I have had to almost speed to get to the campus in time to get us to the writing center for our second hour of the week spent there.  On Friday, Gracie and I sit at the instructor's table.  I sit there, and Gracie sits under the table on her rug pressed up against the glass wall sometimes dozing and sometimes staring at the students working in the booths in the hallway outside the writing center.  Students usually come to us for help, but sometimes make us come to them.  When this happens, Gracie goes to the student's computer or the student's table with me.  This Friday, the writing center was surprisingly busy.  Perhaps students were inspired by Student Success Day to make use of the writing center with renewed vigor.  Anyway, Gracie and I were kept hopping.  Then we had a short break before our three hour afternoon class (which is like eating an entire pie right before going to bed).  Thursday on our way home, we had stopped off for more dog food and got Gracie a bone stuffed with cheese and bacon (or something meant to simulate there things)for her to chew on during this long class.  Happily, it kept her busy while I worked on keeping the students busy by pretending to have more energy and enthusiasm for coordinating sentences than I actually felt.  Viva the conjunctive adverb.  And then our week was over...Not!  Those darn papers followed us home, I'm afraid!  Argh!!

Gracie and Laurie thought to escape, but the students' papers followed them home.