Annual Christmas Party

Oops, I mean "Holiday" Party! We aren't allowed to refer to it as "Christmas."

The President of our campus, Dr. Brenda Davis, hosts a lovely event. She is truly a wonderful administrator. When I began teaching at the campus 19 years ago, there were about 8 of us. Today I wasn't sure who these people are because we're all separated into our own departments and disciplines.

This afternoon was probably the last opportunity to get everyone--staff and faculty--together to celebrate the holiday and end the semester. Final exams are next week and then everyone will be gone for the holiday.

This coming Tuesday, I will meet one more time with each of my 4 classes. We'll wave the checkered flag and be done! To say that I can't wait would be an understatement, but then on the other hand, I'll be quite sad to say goodbye to some of these students. Some of them are just outstanding. They've been courteous, polite, and grateful. Their young lives are filled with amazing stories (truth is better than fiction).

I've had the privilege of watching some of them transition from being appalled that they were assigned to a "basic writing" class rather than "freshman writing," to students who now understand how to weave words together into a wonderful, interesting message or into a defense of their opinion. They also will exit with a good understanding of punctuation and grammar.

Thanks for the insightful comments yesterday regarding those student papers I blipped. One comment, by ~onmaplecreek, mentioned that the papers were hand-written in this day of computers. Our faculty has been told that cheating runs rampant in America and my students reinforce that by telling me that they have friends who take online classes and a girlfriend or a boyfriend does the work for them.

So several times a semester my students are required to produce an in-class essay (without notes and without their textbooks). They do an amazing job (or they don't because they don't study). If I let them use their laptops or a school computer, they import an essay that was written previously and then it's difficult to know who really composed the draft. This way, they complete the task feeling victory (or not). And yes, they either love me or hate me.

They are all very smart, but most of them have never been made to stretch. They've led cushy lives in high school, but that does not prepare them to be the future professionals that our society needs.

Well, rain is on the way, and in this geography, that's exciting.
Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol