Panel discussion with people from the chancellor’s office to talk policy, so the running commentary is back.
1. Right after the introductions of the panel members, the woman at my table said, incredulously, “They’re all white.”
Her companion: “Yeah that’s disappointing.”
2. The contract grading session was good, btw. I learned a lot about different ways to implement contract grading, especially ways I can ease into it.
3. The wifi in this building sucks, btw. Also, I am super disappointed that the conference organizers didn’t secure a/the wifi password for us. Do they not know it’s 2018?
4. God doesn’t want me to use the internet. Not even my hotspot is keeping it alive in here.
5. Fixed it. Whew.
6. I spoke too soon. I just want to catch up on grading. 😭
Okay, that panel ended with me not doing very much grading. Then came the breakout sessions. I went to one on rhetorical analysis (which I love), and it was super interesting and fun because we did a group analysis of Beyoncé’s “Formation” video. I’ll be honest: the hype kept me from appreciating it at the time. It’s pretty brilliant. And I actually think I like the song now.
Then we had after session debriefings where I learned that there was a speaker during the morning that I missed because I didn’t look at the overview schedule and just the daily one. I am blaming poor document design even though I was the only person from our group who missed it. Oh well.
Tomorrow is the last day of the conference, and I reviewed the actual schedule so I won’t miss the keynote speaker in the morning.
The Englishist 
I’m enjoying your conference vicariously. “Rhetorical analysis”? Good heavens I haven’t thought about anything like that in decades. I feel out-of-touch and totally free all at the same time. Hope you make it to the key note on your last day.
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I love contract grading–use it in most of my classes. I have simplified over the years and now it’s quite streamlined. I find that it offers the best way to invite students into the work of the class. The group analysis of “Formation” sounds fascinating. I need to do more stuff like that with my students.
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I know! You are one of the people who have inspired me to try it, so it was good for me to get some different perspectives and ideas.
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I was just talking with my friends at Knit Night about the people who say, “You must have so much patience! I would never have the patience to knit.” And we think, “No, I knit because I’m not patient. You’re sitting there doing nothing, while I am here happily knitting away during the meeting or conference.” It really helps me stay awake and focused. Bonus for me knitting at my conferences is I can often get authors to pose with my sock-in-progress to post to my blog.
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Ha! That’s such a great idea! I love it.
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There is nothing worse than attending a conference with connection issues. Happy they got it fixed for you.
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