It was after six in the evening, and I
had been working almost since the crack of dawn.
After preparing for classes all morning, I had tried to inspire three groups of English 101 students to approach revision with enthusiasm--or at least without trepidation. In between classes, during office hours, I had discussed drafts with at least half a dozen students. One young woman, dressed all in black, underestimated her writing skills and was in tears at first, but she left the office with a plan for revision, and she even smiled. Another, who is facing pressure from her parents to get excellent grades, seemed optimistic after we discussed how she could add to her draft and relieved when I offered to extend the deadline. Fueled by those small successes and by the coffee I sipped during office hours, I had worked with another half a dozen students over the next two hours in the college's Writing Lab. I had explained comma splices and discussed the First Amendment.
By six o'clock, I was beat.
But before I could go home, I needed to revise a literature test for the next day. So I climbed the stairs back to my office. Just as I reached the top, I glanced out the window.
After preparing for classes all morning, I had tried to inspire three groups of English 101 students to approach revision with enthusiasm--or at least without trepidation. In between classes, during office hours, I had discussed drafts with at least half a dozen students. One young woman, dressed all in black, underestimated her writing skills and was in tears at first, but she left the office with a plan for revision, and she even smiled. Another, who is facing pressure from her parents to get excellent grades, seemed optimistic after we discussed how she could add to her draft and relieved when I offered to extend the deadline. Fueled by those small successes and by the coffee I sipped during office hours, I had worked with another half a dozen students over the next two hours in the college's Writing Lab. I had explained comma splices and discussed the First Amendment.
By six o'clock, I was beat.
But before I could go home, I needed to revise a literature test for the next day. So I climbed the stairs back to my office. Just as I reached the top, I glanced out the window.
Below me, in the sun shining from the
west, bushes of red roses whipped in the wind around golden prairie
grass. The petals were almost translucent in the light.
As I walked down the hall to my office, I smiled.
As I walked down the hall to my office, I smiled.
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