More plusses than minuses

Minuses:

- It's foggy and the forecast for today predicted sun. We've had sun most of the week while work kept me indoors, so it's a downer to have a dreary weekend when I'd have time to enjoy pleasant sunshine.

- My afternoon will be spent with someone who takes great joy in belittling others and making people feel guilty and miserable.

Plusses:

- I still have half a box of authentic Belgian chocolates left. Hoarding is a Very Good Thing!

- My urging to reinstate a Writing Lab at school seems to have paid off. One more approval is needed and then we'll be able to set up a space where English teachers can give support, advice and assistance to students who want or need help completing writing assignments. With so many students shunning hard copy resources and using the library as a place to access computers for research, very few if any machines remain available for word processing. Judging from the low writing scores on recent broad-based tests, students need more individualized instruction and guidance in using their own language, and this Lab will provide that opportunity. Hooray!

- Next school year I'll be relieved from the assignment of teaching the yahoos (Hallelujah!!!!), and I'll be allowed to return to teaching one section of the middle level sophomores instead, as I did four years ago, along with Brit. Lit., Creative Writing, and World Lit. I'm still the only staff member in this department who teaches four different courses, and next year there won't even be one duplication (two sections of a course) as I have with World Lit. this year, but that's fine. It's easier to keep them straight, I've taught them all before, and I won't feel like I'm repeating myself to the second section of a course that meets later in the day. The way it looks now, the total number of students in my class load will be a few higher than this year, but we're still blessed with totals smaller than those at some other area schools.

- Three weeks from now I'll be in France!