Week 7

Returning from break. About half the students seemed unaware of the second part of the midterm and it is lingering on. Not so happy about this, or how I handled it. This is related to my current feelings of trying to rush and force some things which inevitably causes compromises and, occasionally, substandard decisions on my part. One problem is that I have not reviewed the big picture for the course. I needed to do that, and will do that by the end of this week. I won't feel as rush if I can preview how the different pieces of the course will fit together, if not now, then in the future. This is important for me.
Another factor is the student energy is more sporatic now and I am trying to not this define how the course will operate. This is stressful, though - a little like herding cats to pull us altogether and moving in the same general direction. This takes ongoing focus on my part (a drain on my energy). I need to be careful that this, the class, is not about me but about what the students want because if I lose sight of this and fail to continue to negotiate with them about this then their motivation becomes about serving me - or not - rather than meeting their own needs.