1. When I arrived at school, expecting several student papers in my email inbox, I discovered they weren't there. This is a moment in a teacher's life when a teacher can either seethe inside at the unreliability of students or assume it was something else, not the students' fault. I immediately chose the latter option. I thought something must be fishy. During class, I met alone with the handful of students whose papers did not come in and, lo and behold, almost all of them had sent them and it was a failure of the LCC email. So, papers not coming in did not become a source of hectoring the students for not getting work in on time, being irresponsible, etc. etc., but became a source of laughter and a problem instantly solved. (Exhale.) I sure prefer the "no problem" approach to instruction over the rule bound, holding the students responsible, not trusting them approach.
2. To some of my students it might seem too elementary that I ask them to write down the central contrast in the article "Secrets of Happiness", that they see that the article deals with the difference between feel good and value-based happiness, but I ask them to do it anyway, because without this basic understanding of the article, all is lost. My students did a good job with this today and it made me happy, in a value-based way!
3. The painters have disassembled our kitchen and it's just easier to go out to eat and so we got to see our good buddies at Billy Mac's and I also got to break my months long pasta fast and enjoy some spaghetti and meat sauce and garlic bread.
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