No Goodbye, Farewell, until we meet again!!!

     Every spring during my grade school years, I would start to get tired of school and get ready for summer. Im always ready to get out of the hot old buildings that our district refused to put air conditioners in and enjoy the sun. Then in the fall, it was nice to start back up again. It felt refreshing to pick out new classes, reunite with old friends, and reassure yourself that this is going to be the semester that you work hard in. Then as time goes on, you get settled in your classes; its just how life goes. Sometimes that is not the case though. Sometimes that doesn't always work though.

       Yesterday, which was a Saturday, I went to check my school email and was shocked to see what I had. There was a new email that read, new teacher on Monday. I opened the email up and this is what it said. 

Dear Class,

For personal reasons I will not be teaching our ENGL 15 class any further this semester. Despite this, I want everyone in the class to know I enjoyed our time together, and I hope all of you can keep applying what you've learned in class for the rest of your college careers. 

Beginning Monday, I am turning over teaching duties to blank, who is an excellent rhetoric teacher; I'm sure you all will learn a lot from her. She would like the class to read the "School Lunch" memoir on pages 108-112. She also has some extra material she would like everyone to look at before class on Monday:

A video about storytelling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxDwieKpawg&noredirect=1


Two short memoirs, that have very different approaches to dialogue:
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/11/02/falling-overboard/

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/12/22/031222fa_fact3

I know everyone in the class will go on to have fruitful careers at Penn State.

Regards,

Blank 

It may not seem that big a deal to some people, but this situation is very complex. Its not as if you teacher had been pregnant all semester and had a baby. Its also not as if we are in elementary school and lastly its not the beginning of the semester, but right in the center when everyone has finally gotten used to everything. 

     There are also some more complexities for me since I have various disabilities and physical limitations. I'm not saying that these are a problem or that I am using them as a crutch, but they may make things more interesting. First off I get disability services through my university which means that in the beginning of the year I have to give them accommodation letters. This class starts tomorrow, do I need new letters to give to the teacher or will they have handed over the letters to? Does this mean I have to set an appointment up with the ODS or not? It also means that I have to tell one more person the wonderful news that I have a seizure disorder and that I have a medical bracelet, which they don't always take very well. Its also really tiring to have the bad reactions over and over again and I just wish that I had someone that knew me and felt comfortable with my circumstances and trusts me that my seizures aren't bad. This would only happen if they had known me for a while and really knew what to expect and that its not that big a deal. 

     Now add that this is a class that has reading intensive parts that we read in class and I have visual issues that make my eyes tired really easily. If I don't have my disability information with them on monday, I may have to struggle a bit until we can work out personal accommodations that may be available per teachers discretion since there aren't many accommodations for in class. I need in class accommodations sometimes, but if you go to your disability specialist, the only accommodation that you get is extended time on in class projects, which in the end doesn't help at all because that means that you just get to complete a project on your own time. That doesn't mean that with a reading assignment you can just read it on your own time. There are in class discussion about in class reading and there are peer reviews of 5 page papers for two people in a 50 minute period while answering questions about said papers. 

     Another issue is that I have aspergers. We have a class of 25 students, which means that have to tell yet another teacher about my aspergers where they may not understand it. Why I have to tell them, you ask? I have to tell them, because sometimes I answer quetions/raise my hands too much and I can discuss what I can work on in class if I am having social trouble. They are able to accommodate me more than you may know by giving me visual cues. Now also take into consideration that I don't do well with change. Normally change is a lot harder for me, but if I cried just a couple years ago about a piano less being cancelled just one time and now I am dealing with my whole class being turned upside down, i'm doing pretty well. I just don't know what all it means. 

     I know this is a lot of whining, but its a lot of stuff to think about within a 48 hour period. I have to be ready to make changes asap. It may be a good thing in the end, but I really don't know what to think. I didn't really connect with the teacher before anyway, but still. I'm dealing with change really well and its not bad, I actually find it very interesting, its just putting all the pieces together in such a complex situation that is hard for the typical students to adjust to or take in.