Office Hours

One student happened to pass my office on his way to math class and said, "Oh, so THIS is where your office is!" as though it came as a complete surprise to him. Now he intentionally passes by and assures me that he's "not giving up" and "you'll see."

On the one minute essay last Thursday, one of the responses was, "I learned not to write a better essay," which is enigmatic but could have something to do with my telling them that is no perfect writing; there are merely deadlines. Then there were several that asked "Why does every seem like it's getting harder" or "Why is writing so stressful?" For the students who ask if there is "Xtra credit if your doing bad" and the one who said, "You are not giving us some break. Some of us work and take two other subjects," I will repeat that this is a double course and that perhaps they have taken on too much. The requests for breaks and extra credit amaze me, but my colleagues say that I am naive. I wonder.

Then there is the blessed student who keeps hoping to "be patient about learning." For all their angst and complaints, several of them aced the partnered vocabulary quiz and a brief review of parts of speech. I think they will all be surprised at some of their successes even though the essays were still in the 50- 78 range; they are getting things - slowly but surely.

It will come if they will stick with it; that is always my biggest challenge.