I’ve been scheduling conferences with each of my students this week, leading to a host of amusing and frustrating interactions. Some realize only later that they’re not available for the time they signed up for, some tell me there is a “mandatory” sorority meeting during their scheduled conference time (does that seem like the right thing to tell your professor?), and some wander in, bleary-eyed, two hours after their scheduled conference time, wondering when (not if) they can reschedule. Sigh.
There are, of course, amusing interactions in the other direction, with students afraid to talk with me because they have confused themselves into a mess about their paper. They then get a bit gushy when I “magically” “fix” their paper mess. No point in telling them I’m a control freak, and tidying things up is my favorite activity!
But the most amusing interactions are those via email. I’ve forgotten how awkwardly we write to our professors. I do it still: “Um, so-and-so-, would you, like, be willing to, possibly, only if you have time, be on my advising committee?” But my freshmen do it in ways that amuse and comfort me–even I’m not quite this bad most day! One student wrote to ask if she could reschedule her conference since it conflicted with her latest schedule. In closing, she told me to let her know “if the new time would be more convenient for you.” Was that really the point of the email? Gotta love awkward indirection.
Erin
Alan Schmierer