Almost Spring in Tea at the Cabin in the Woods

When I drove into the campus this morning I passed the ski hill and saw that even on May 1st we still have snow on the runs. Not good enough to ski on, but it is still there. The rain this week and higher temps into the high 60’s may help that melt off.

In my flower box sitting on the windowsill in my office, the geraniums from last summer have decided to bloom. in the other window on an old table, I have pepper plants and sunflower seedlings - just waiting to get outside. There is hope for the change soon.

I am steeped in the hiring process for the Psychology professor who will replace my colleague. So far we have had 2 candidates on campus and we have 3 more scheduled. Since it is the end of the semester, I am so far behind in my classes I have told them all - NO FINAL EXAMS this time around, I won’t be able to get them graded in time for the due dates of grade submission. Surprisingly, no one has objected but there has been a rash of students trying to get in late work or extra credit.

Next semester I am instituting a department wide policy of “NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED.” If the other professors want to allow extra credit, that is their choice, but the students need to learn about deadlines and consequences. I know there will be a grumbling about this, but it has to be done. I am also purchasing for all the department, cellphone pockets - they are hanging organizers with 25 pockets (clear) to put the cellphones in at the beginning of class and leave there during class time. There will also be grumbling about this, but in reality, no one can actually do two things at once. Multitasking is actually switching back and forth between different things, consequently, something is getting lost in the time where attention is diverted to the other “thing”. The college students of today have horrible writing skills and even worse attention spans. So, I am also going to try a pilot project with another professor and begin adding mindfulness techniques into each class time. We will do a pretest at the beginning of the term, another check in at midterm and one more at the end of the term to find out if their learning and stress levels have improved. My guess is they will be better off, but we’ll see.

Need to go get my Child Abnormal Psychology class activity printed. Only 2 more classes this spring and we’re off unto other things.

Now breathe…