This letter is for the past two weeks, and the big thing of course was the start of classes on Aug. 20. Like I said in a previous letter, I think, it didn't really seem like the normal change because I was doing so much at the end of the summer. So on Monday the 18th I had a breakfast that I went to with the author of the Freshman Reading Experience book, and then later attended his speech at the opening convocation for new students. In between those we discovered that a bunch of international students had shown up over the weekend and needed to enroll in English 101, but we didn't have anymore space. So I added a section and contacted a person who had wanted to teach as an adjunct but couldn't teach any of the available sections before, and let her choose the time for the class. So there was a bunch of stuff I had to do for that and on Tuesday met with her for an hour and a half to give her the brief training for teaching the class. Her class ended up full by Wednesday when classes started.
Tuesday evening we went to our elementary school's back-to-school picnic, being invited by our neighbors across the street. They had good food and then a helicopter flew in and fire engines came and sprayed their hoses for the kids to run around in. All the kids had fun, although Claire stayed away from the spray. She loved the helicopter.
The craziness of student schedules kept me busy throughout the first week, and I had to tell many students that they could not get into a full section, no matter what their story. So I ended up advising a lot of them, and was able to help some of them. I had to laugh at some of the requests because the students were so determined that they could somehow talk me into letting them into a full class. I am teaching two English 102 classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and one online class. So other than my first two classes on Thursday, I was consumed with taking care of the administration of composition courses. The worst thing that happened was the new teacher that was hired missed her class on Wednesday because I told her the wrong classroom. So I had to obtain the e-mail list of her class from the registrar and notify all of them to show up on Monday as normal. But that worked out fine.
On Friday Claire went to dance class, and then on Saturday we had a ward picnic in the afternoon at a member's house, and that was fun. They have a swimming pool and so the kids had a good time.
The second week of classes began with the desperate students still trying to get into classes, and luckily that ended on Tuesday afternoon as that day was the last day to drop or add a class. So on Wednesday I was able to get into the teaching and other things things that I need to do without interruption. Overall, everything went pretty smoothly the first week, which is good. I am planning a major revision of the composition course, and have the support of the department and the dean, so hopefully that will go through this year in a way that won't take up all of my time. We are going to make a custom textbook and make the course a one-semester course instead of two semesters. There are lots of things involved, though, so we'll see how it goes.
My book project was sent out for review this summer, and the review came back positive with a few suggestions for revision, and so the editor suggested that I work on the complete manuscript for now. I don't know if that means I have a contract or not, but he said it could take awhile for everything to happen, so I'll work on it in addition to a few other articles because I don't know if the book will get published in time for it to count towards tenure, but articles will. But I'm glad that the review was positive and that it will likely get published sometime.
Tuesday evening J.J. had her book club group at our house, and they discussed the freshman book while I watched the girls upstairs. We got quite a bit of rain early in the week, I think on Tuesday morning. It was raining early in the morning when I woke up and when it stopped, there were 3 inches in our little kids swimming pool. After that much rain, our grass has turned green again and the trees have stopped dropping a few leaves. It was looking quite dry for a few weeks. I'll actually have to mow the lawn for the first time in 3 weeks.
Thursday evening we all went to the faculty/staff appreciation pre-football-game cookout and then Claire and I stayed for the first half of the football game against Lambuth. It was close when we left, but MSU ended up winning big. Claire was a little bit interested in the game, but was confused when I pointed out when they did a handoff or pass. "They are supposed to use their feet -- it's foot-ball," she said. So she was satisfied when she saw them kick a field goal and then a kickoff. I think we were climbing to the top of the stadium for the opening kickoff -- she was particular about where to sit, and we moved about 3 times. The stands are much bigger than the crowds that come to the games.
Friday I was able to do some work on an article that is based on the microfilms I was looking at, and I made some good progress on it before attending a meeting about the study abroad program I am involved in this winter in London if I get enough students to sign up for my class, and then went home. I ended up taking Claire to her dance class while J.J. took Rachel grocery shopping for some things for her Relief Society activity the next day.
Saturday I went on a 6.5-mile run in the morning and then we all went to the Farmer's market later, and I did some work in the garage after leaving it alone for two months. J.J. had her R.S. activity, so I took Claire to a birthday party and then took Rachel with me to Lowe's to get a few things, and then went back to the party for the rest of it. It was the party of Lucy, who is the daughter of some good friends of ours outside the ward, so it was nice to visit with them and mutual friends. We got home around 5:00 and we had a simple dinner and everyone went to bed early.
Today in church Rachel was really, really tired and wild. J.J. had to lead the music, and it worked for the first few songs, but Rachel kept getting upset when she would go up, so I took her out and then Claire followed me. So we stayed out until the end and then Rachel seemed to get worse throughout the rest of the meetings and through the ward potluck afterwards. Only one more Sunday and she goes to nursery! That will help a lot we think, although we hope she doesn't drive the nursery leaders crazy.
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