Teaching as an adjunct can be a lot of fun. It is also challenging. As I have encountered a number of situations, I realize such a blog can be helpful, both to me and to others.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

I Know You All

I think at this point, I now know all my students and am pretty sure I know who is in and who is out. It is interesting to think that here we are, three weeks into the semester are over, and I am just now finding out who is in class and who is not.

The Friday class started with 11 students but over the next couple of weeks, three more added the class. The last person to add showed up to class last Friday for the first time (It was really the first time she could have done so because of when she added the class).

My Tuesday-Thursday class has 23 students. One student missed the first two classes but e-mailed me before the semester even started to tell me about her upcoming surgery and how that meant she would miss the first two classes. One student was there for the first two classes but missed the next four. I would have thought she dropped the class but she also got in touch with me to tell me about some medical issues going on. The third student showed up for the first three classes, volunteered to be the first one to deliver her icebreaker and then on the fourth session, the day the icebreakers were to be given, did not show up. She did not show up for the next four sessions nor did she respond to an e-mail I sent. I figured she had dropped the class or planned on doing such, only to see her in class today. Apparently first she got sick and then her child. Legitimate, but she really should have been in touch with me and she was not.

Then there is the Thursday class which has 17 students. This is the one I am still a little unsure of. One of the students showed up to the first class but has not been there since. I am assuming he had dropped or will do so (or maybe withdraw), but I am not sure. He has not sent me any notification but he still appears on my electronic roster, which should be updated as soon as something changes. I am guessing he is just lazy in dropping the class, but I am not 100% sure.

Still, I now have a good feel as to who is in my class as well as who they are.