Yesterday my grad seminar in rhetorical theory, "Bodies and Rhetoric," met for the first time under this somewhat bizarre institutional tradition called "the first Wednesday is a Monday." This tradition has to do (I think) with Labor Day and our luxurious weeklong Thanksgiving break. Anyway, it's confusing, this rule, and since for some reason my graduate seminars have been on Mondays in fall semester, they have often fallen prey to the WiM rule. This means that the first two class meetings happen in rapid succession--Wednesday, then the very next Monday--followed by a long lull while we observe Labor Day and wait for the second "real" Monday (third if you count the first Wednesday) to roll around. So it makes for an odd start, though it allows me to pile on the reading for that lully week (mu ha ha).
It seemed rather appropriate too that on this Wednesday that is really a Monday, our assigned seminar room turned out to be really someone's office. Luckily I have always been the kind of teacher who pokes her head into the room in advance, checks out the air temp--that sort of thing. I was surprised to find that the room listed in the course catalogue instead had someone's name newly etched on the glass and a note about how her G-5 is now installed and working. So the department secretaries and I made a room change sign and they notified everyone else who had a seminar scheduled for the now-office.
The new seminar room was pretty packed, including one person not registered for the course who cheerfully announced he was "shopping for classes." I cheerfully told him that he was shopping at a store that was sold out, since the course is already overenrolled, and so he asked if he could have a copy of the syllabus, stayed for 15 minutes, and then continued on his spree. I hope he finds the goods he needs!
Once the seminar got underway and I made it through my overview of all the stuff we are going to be doing over the next three and a half months, we settled into our first discussion of the readings. I'm trying to figure out why, but it seems to me that this seminar was missing the usual (and understandable) reticence at the beginning of the semester, and that everyone was instantly engaged and contributing. There also seemed to be very little anxiety about the workload--I'm accustomed to questions and more questions about the assignments and requirements--but nothing. Just a group of thoughtful people with diverse backgrounds who know what they're doing and seem genuinely interested in the course material.
I think this is going to be a good class, initial idiosyncracies notwithstanding.
[UPDATE] Since Aspasia herself has made the request--thanks, A!--I'd be happy to make my syllabus available. You can access it here.
