Saturday, June 26, 2010

First night

First night is almost over, and things went well. I wandered around campus a bit; our first event was a dinner at 6:30. Pizza and salad; Diet Coke in paper cups. Hunter came out and gave a talk. I don't fall into that cult of personality thing, but I could see it working for him. He said the first rule of developmental education is to accept your students as they are. Where they are. More than just intellectually or academically or whatever, but also politically, and philosophically, and spiritually, etc. That makes a lot of sense to me.

I spent a few hours afterwards talking to Michael and Jerry, both from different community colleges in North Carolina. Both writing people. I knew Michael was solid because he caught me in the parking lot and asked if I needed anything fom the liquor store, and Jerry is my suite mate and an all around good guy. We talked about: EAP students in developmental classes; the inaccuracy of placement testing; NAFTA and the furniture industry; student leaders; something called "studentship" (which I probably should google); southern gothic literature; and students who go to school because that's where they get their money.

All in all a good evening. I miss my wife, I miss my pets, but it's pretty alright here.

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