Monday, May 22, 2006

an interesting Monday ahead of me

Smoo officially celebrates its 100th anniversary on Monday the 22nd (technically today). In my shuffles back and forth from my office in the Social Education Building, I've been watching the prep crews set up enormous metal tube frames for light fixtures and speakers. I won't be surprised if Neil Diamond shows up in the afternoon to rock the house and have our middle-aged adjumma faculty partying like it's 1983.

I was perturbed to discover that the festivities would mean cancelling classes for tomorrow (cancelled again on the 31st, which is election day-- check out the Yangban's excellent blog for info). Our supervisor told us that we would have to give the students make-up days. This bugged me because I had planned out my semester rather meticulously in late February/early March. I always give my students syllabi in the grand tradition of American academe, with chapters and activities noted day by day. Although I do occasionally depart from the plan (as any teacher must), it's rough when a sudden cancellation messes with something major, like an exam day. I thought I had been told about all our off-days before the 12-week term began.

Upon hearing the news of the upcoming class cancellations, one teacher decided that the 22nd and the 31st would make perfectly fine make-up days, since we would otherwise have to make classes up in June, which is vacation for us. (Did you think we would do make-ups on Saturdays?) I agreed with my colleague, and have told my students that Monday the 22nd and Wednesday the 31st are our makeup days. I also told them that attendance on those days would be optional, so I'll be curious as to how many students will be showing up on both days. One student has already texted me by cell phone to say she'll be there tomorrow (well, today).

Monday's going to be loud and obnoxious. I doubt I'll be getting much done during the day. I might actually travel over to Nathan's side of campus to watch the festivities from his building's rooftop, which offers a fantastic, sniper's-eye view of much of the campus. I'll also note once again that Smoo planned its 100th year celebration much better than did Korea University, which scrambled-- and failed-- to complete the construction of its centennial memorial hall in time for 2005, which was Go-dae's 100th year. Smoo's centennial center was fully operational in 2005, when I first signed on. Go, Smoo!


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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm having four makeup classes today: the Monday/Wednesday class that gets missed today, and the one that gets missed on the 31st, plus the class that I am going to miss for our son's delivery this Wednesday! That's in addition to the regular 3 hour Monday night class. After that, it's off to the hospital tonight for admittance.

I am not a fan of these makeup classes, as they make the holidays more stressful than non-holidays, because we have to make up the classes--it defeats the purpose of a holiday.

Kevin Kim said...

In my case, I had thought that the 22nd and the 31st were normal class days. It was only last week that I learned otherwise, which royally screwed up my calendar. So, instead of assigning make-up days for later on in June (or on a Saturday in May), I decided to keep to my schedule and hold class today. Will do the same next week.

I had secretly hoped that no one would show up, but the students have been coming today. Arg.


Kevin

Anonymous said...

Once upon a time I used to cut through the Ewha campus on the way to work. I was typically passing through early in the morning, so it wasn't exactly "hotties on parade," but I enjoyed that portion of my commute.

Even though you're probably not getting rich teaching English there, I guess working at Sook-dae, surrounded by all that femininity, could be construed as a fringe benefit.