Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Bye-bye, My Syllabi!

So the classes were cancelled. Again. Since the beginning of the semester, I have only taught one class per week because of all these cancellations. I have no idea why the classes were cancelled today, since there isn't even any snow on the ground, and it's quite warm. Now I'm walking around the house, singing, "Bye-bye, my syllabi." It's very difficult to teach when you have to keep cutting things out of the syllabus.Continuity is key in my literature survey course. I am yet to rise to the level of Fray Luis de Leon, who after a five-year-long imprisonment at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition walked into the classroom and continued his lecture that had been interrupted years ago by his incarceration with the words, "As we were saying yesterday. . ."

Oh well. At least now I will be able to write at least four more pages of my article.

7 comments:

Pagan Topologist said...

We are always given the option of rescheduling classes missed because of weather. Soem faculty take advantage of it; some do not. Have you asked about whether you can do this?

Patrick said...

Don Maclean references. Love it :)


Sorry to hear your syllabus is in a shambles. More than any other field, literature may suffer the most from disruptions. Reading the works only takes you so far - the discussion/interaction is where the learning will take place.

Clarissa said...

"Reading the works only takes you so far - the discussion/interaction is where the learning will take place."

-Exactly! The course is difficult. I need to be able to take students through it.

"We are always given the option of rescheduling classes missed because of weather. Soem faculty take advantage of it; some do not. Have you asked about whether you can do this?"

-This always becomes very complicated because all of our students work and most of them commute. There needs to be a time when they all can meet, and it's very hard to get that to happen.

Anonymous said...

Oh... Even if I love teaching more than anything else I wish classes were cancelled here once in a while. I could focus on my research for a couple of extra hours!

In the last 30 years we only cancelled one day of class, during the 1998 ice storm. So even if 30 centimeters of snow will fall on our heads tonight I will still be in class tomorrow teaching la convivencia de las culturas en la Espanha medieval.

Ol.

David said...

When I studied in Salamanca, that was the coolest quote/piece of history I heard from my program coordinator.

There's something to be said about being unflappable when bad things come along.

NancyP said...

On the Missouri side of the river, the roads are "black ice" (can't see easily). Every non-emergent service is closed for a day.

Clarissa said...

I wonder if it will get much better tomorrow.