When I woke up this morning, my first thought was of my missed class. It might sound silly to make such a big deal of it, but to me it is a huge deal. I need to establish a level of credibility with my students, and this puts me at a big deficit. I immediately (well, once I had coffee in hand) set up my educational management system (aka Blackboard) and sent out a group email to the glass. I didn't make excuses or sugar-coat it. I just apologized and told them why I wasn't there. Next, I created a syllabus. This isn't usually a problem, but I don't have a lot of experience with the online syllabus-creation tool and we're required to use it. I was able to import some of my information from last semester; that slightly expedited the process. Last semester I taught a twelve-week and an eight-week course; this one is sixteen weeks. I didn't have a schedule for a course of that length, so I had to do a little manuevering with the timeframe, due dates, and assignments. By 10:30, I had it finished and uploaded (as far as I can tell), along with additional course information and the first week's assignments. Whew! It felt good to take care of that. My Dean was quite gracious about my having missed the first day, so I'm golden (I think).
After that was taken care of, I called my salon to see if there were any openings for cut and color. My hair looked like shit, and I already feel like I'm behind the eight-ball for the first day of class. Amazingly, they had had a cancellation and were able to get me in. The stylist did a fantastic job, so at least I have that going for me. Oh, and I had forgotten until Sunday that I had posted a few things to eBay the previous week. I was reminded by a series of emails saying that my items had sold. I had to go to the post office after finding appropriate packaging and sealing the boxes up with shipping labels. And my young associate called to ask how to join a new ball of yarn to the scarf he's making for his girlfriend. Of the few things I would have taken time out of this day for, that's high among them. So he came by for a few minutes before I headed out on my errands.
If this post sounds a bit frantic, it's because that has been my day. Maybe in print it doesn't look so crazy, but it truly has been. I did take a moment to amuse myself with the purchase of a folder for my class -- a black folder with a single Angry Bird on the front. This just cracks me up. Who wouldn't be an angry bird in a 9:00 Saturday morning class where the teacher missed the first day? Whether or not my students think it's funny, it will amuse me every time I open it. Now, sitting down with my shoes off for the first time since seven this morning, I am looking forward to a quiet evening of crochet and a light dinner. Gosh, it feels good to relax!
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