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Classes Again

It's been 33 years and counting and I still get a bit nervous before a new term begins as it did on Tuesday. Much less now of course. I have my checklists, mental and written, to make sure that if anything goes wrong it is not because of lack of preparation on my part.

I can encourage, nurture, and cajole, but I can't control my students efforts or achievements, so I have to just accept what comes my way. Of my two Fall classes one surpassed my hopes, the other let me down. (Absenteeism without communication, leading to abysmal final exam scores.)

Pretty much all of my professional work is the same way. I prepare and I do prepare hard these days, not relying on my memory and improvisations as I had as a young man. As I am not a hermit I work with others and along with my encouragement and cajoling I can not control the behavior and performance of others.


Comments

  1. Erin MerrynJanuary 13, 2023 at 9:59 PM

    Hi Jeffrey, I don’t know if you get notified if we are not connected but I sent you a message on Linkedin.

    ReplyDelete

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