my adventurous Tuesday

Today I began teaching a summer composition class. It's a class I've already taught twice, so I expected things to go fairly smoothly. For the most part they did, although it was still kind of a crazy afternoon.

Up until about fifteen minutes before class, everything was perfect. I was wearing a new outfit (shirt, skirt, and shoes) that I really liked, I had no problem getting to the xerox machine to copy handouts, and I arrived to class early to get set up. Some students began trickling into the classroom early, which was fine. I only realized there was a slight problem when, over the course of about fifteen minutes, 9 students asked me if they could please add the class. I told them that I only had three spots left, but that they could sit in on the class if they wanted to try to get one of those spots at the end of the hour and a half. In retrospect, I probably should have sent some of them home at that point, since it turned out there weren't enough chairs in the room for everyone.

The class itself went fine, but the end of class...woah. I was still stuck with nine students who wanted to add. Two, it turned out, wanted to audit the class, which isn't allowed in our department, so I sent them away. One was a freshman whom I dismissed by saying that seniority had to be prioritized. Three said they were seniors--I said I would probably add them. The remaining three were sophomores who all said they would lose scholarships and their ability to return to college in the fall if they didn't pass this class in the summer. Ack!

I told the sophomores they probably wouldn't be able to add (although they might if some of the absent students drop), but felt really bad about it, especially since there is only one section (mine) of this particular class being offered this summer. The lack of class spaces seems like the result of very bad planning on someone's part.

I spent an hour talking with the secretary in the composition department after class, asking questions and trying to get more information about the status of some of the waitlist students. She was really nice about it, but the situation remained frustrating, especially since I learned that many of my students have previously failed this particular class multiple times, and many of them really need to pass this course now in order to graduate. No pressure there! :P

When I finally left the office, I realized I was very hungry. I decided to walk across the street to grab a sandwich, only to discover that my up-to-then comfy new shoes had caused a sudden, fairly painful blister to develop (and pop, I think) on my heel. I stopped into a trendy clothing store in the center (the only clothing store in the center) to see if, by any chance, they were selling cheap flip flops that I could wear for the rest of the afternoon, but the only flip flops they had were $50 (!!!). And I was hurting, but more like $6 worth of hurting, y'know? So I passed on buying the shoes.

Instead, I bought chocolate cookies from Trader Joe's, because chocolate makes everything better. And because they didn't have bandaids, which I had entered the store hoping they might. While there, I got extra cash, and went to the little cafe to buy a sandwich and salad.

After I ordered, I stood near the cashier for a moment to put my wallet back into my purse. Then I noticed a young woman next to me looking at me strangely.

"Hey!" she said. "I know you! I went to high school with you!"

She turned out to be a friend of mine from high school whom I hadn't seen since I was in 11th grade. Coincidentally, she was also teaching summer school (ESL), and was also hungry. We sat in the cool shade and ate and laughed and learned about each others' lives since graduation. Really, the late afternoon couldn't have been more wonderful.

So...if I hadn't had a rush of students trying to add my class, hadn't forgotten to eat lunch before class, or hadn't blistered my feet, I wouldn't have reunited with my friend! Things have turned out just fine this Tuesday.