Boot Camp, Day Three: Hurry Up and Wait
=====
Today consisted of a brief meeting with the folks at the Writing Center (where I worked before, of course, and so was well aware of the resources available to teachers and students), followed by going over the papers we had to mark up the night before. For the most part it looks like we've all got some idea of what to look for in a "good paper", as we've reached consensus a lot in terms of grades. After an early break for lunch, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Dr. van Sycoc, who casually mentioned himself to be 78, ending much speculation on our and Dr. Slattery's part. We then did a bit on writing workshops, which I'm still unclear about running but am all in favour of doing in-class, and then he let us go early (quarter to two). While this was a boon for some people, I had to see Dr. Booker at 4:45, which meant I had three hours to kill.
Luckily I had gotten a copy of the York Plays (and the N-Town plays) from HE My Lord the Doctor Quinn earlier in the day, and had those to read & research on, which I did, mostly. I also tweaked the syllabus some more, adding a nifty background and adjusting some of the point values for the assignments. I've also begun to understand why Dr. Dave graded the way he did -- if I've got forty students' five-page essays to grade by the class after next, I'd put a bunch of checkmarks and "Good!"s, too.
No other news to report, as of yet; I'm hoping to get 706 as an office. It's pretty cool in that all of the 7th floor of Kimpel is English faculty and TAs, which makes a pretty tight-knit group as far as I've heard.
It might rain tonight or tomorrow, which would be great, as it means I might sleep continuously from 10-6. Oh, the luxury!
Anyway, I'm off to grade and read more of these essays. Cheers!