Why You Shouldn't Allow a Student to Suggest "Cancer" For the Free-Write

Because obviously she has a story to tell. And that story will make her cry when she's reading it out loud. And it will make the other students cry.

And the teacher.

Yes, the BABYDADDY of my student has cancer. He's 27 years old and it's terminal.

Listening to her read the story out loud makes it extremely hard to move on to parts of speech or sentence fragments.

What's a community college teacher to do?

Silence bombards the room.

Finally, a student in the front raises her hand and volunteers to read her free-write. She has cancer, too. But she's a survivor. It's a happy story, and we all applaud.

Never in my life have I been so relieved to know that someone else has cancer...I mean, has survived cancer. Now I can move on to sentence fragments and forget--for the moment--that our lives, how little we know and share with one another--are fragmented.

An Open Letter To My One Finger-Typing Student

I am so sorry I leaned over you and began typing words to your email sign-up questions.




I felt it my obligation to get the class over with by Thanksgiving.

I also apologize for grabbing the mouse from you. I assumed everyone knew that you had to position it on a field and click in order for it to work.

And when you couldn't create your email address because of the common name "Floyd Jones," I thought you knew I was kidding when I told you to try "Pink Floyd Jones."

In spite of our getting off on the wrong appendage, I greatly admire you. You have 8 kids and two day jobs, and you're spending your nights back in school to better your life.

You're doing great.

And with a bit of Xanax, I will be too.

posted at Humor-Blogs