Saturday, September 26, 2015

What week is this? What day is this?

So now that the semester has begun, I teach a least one class each day, Monday through Thursday. The calendar this year has been very strange.
First, because Labor Day was so late we started classes on Wednesday, September 2. I can only remember starting classes before Labor Day once before (and I have no memory of what year it was, only that I was still a doctoral student, so we're talking late 90's).
Second, the first Monday was a Labor Day, so Monday classes met on Friday of the first week of school. Since I teach two classes that meet twice a week on Monday and Wednesday, the first week of school I taught Wednesday, Thursday (my regularly scheduled Thursday class) and Friday.
The week of Labor Day I taught on Tuesday (my regularly scheduled Tuesday class), Wednesday and Thursday. Okay, now let's go to the week of September 14, the week after Labor Day.  Monday was Rosh Hashanah and we didn't have classes. So I taught Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday again.  And that brings us to the week that just ended-Wednesday was Yom Kippur. So I taught Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
Next week will be my first "normal" week. Although who even knows what "normal" is anymore?
What about you? How has your college/university adapted to a late Labor Day and (somewhat) early High Holidays?

Monday, September 7, 2015

A new semester begins!

Before Labor Day, no less. But we all got through it, my students are wonderful, and I'm glad to be back.
I'll be experimenting with Poll Everywhere and I'm pretty excited about that.
And I'm teaching three learning communities; two with a business course, same professor, and one with an economics course.
So it will be a busy semester, in this, the fall semester of my penultimate year of teaching.