e-mail me at billdeg@umich.edu

2/16/2007

winter term blues

Something about the winter semester. The cold seems to slow everyone down and make folks on campus lethargic at times. Temps in Detroit have mostly stayed in the single digits and I've passed accidents on the freeway each day this week. Hard to escape the feeling that I'm playing catch-up on the paperload (more sets of first drafts! help!).

Also hard to escape feeling somewhat annoyed while going through those drafts: ideas that sit on the page waiting for illustration and example, problems with MLA citations, drop-in quotations. What have we been talking about in class for the past month? Okay, take it easy. They're first drafts. Discovery drafts. Don't get all curmudgeonly about student writing. Ask questions. Intervene. Help them revise.

Another winter term moan: absences. One section of comp yesterday: five students missing. The other section: three students missing. This never seems to be an issue during the fall semester. Bad roads, flu bugs going around...I know, there are reasons, but still, those winter blahs make it harder to be understanding.

Guess what I'm saying is, glad that I'm looking Friday afternoon in the face right now.

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