1. Last week, on the last day our WR 115 class met, I made sure my students knew that when they brought me their final folders that they were free, at that awkward moment when one wonders if it's acceptable, to wish me a Merry Christmas. Or Happy Holidays. Or Have a Good Break. Or to just walk mutely out the door. This announcement made my students laugh. Many of them today, grinned broadly when they turned in their final folders and wished me a Merry Christmas. I returned the senitment. I think we all felt like we were getting away with something! (For the record, those who wished me Happy Holidays, Have a Good Break, etc. smiled, too, but not as mischievously.)
2. I took portraits of all my WR 115 students at the beginning of the quarter. Four of my students, who had taken writing classes together previously, had their picture taken together. D.T. framed their picture and gave it to me as a parting gift as he turned in his final folder and wished me a Merry Christmas.
3. I didn't push my WR 115 students really hard this quarter. I wanted to see if their writing would seem all that different from past terms when I assigned more reading, more writing, and packed more instruction into the course. The writing was not much different. In fact, I thought some of my students did better work than I remember students doing the last time I taught WR 115 about five or six years ago. The older I get, the more I teach, and as I enjoy the liberties of teaching in my retirement, the more willy nilly it all seems. I mean, how would more reading, more writing, and more pressure to get things "right" necessarily result in better writing? I've been wondering this for the past five years or more. Maybe being rested and relaxed helps inspire the best writing....
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