december 11: best laid plans of mice and us

The title of today's post is an allusion to Robert Burns' poem "To A Mouse," which he wrote after turning over a field mouse's nest with his plough.  The basic idea is that however we plan, and however hard we work, sometimes forces far larger than we are screw everything up.

Which brings us to the fires, and the classes we aren't having today.

Today I planned to have you all sign up and tell us about the food you are bringing to the final exam.  As you may remember, we are not having a "party," for the simple reason that classroom events have been ruining that word for decades.  We will have a fully catered learning experience that will include your food, your stories about your food, and a structured conversation about your Big Questions, your work over the break, and our course calendar for the spring. 

Today I also planned to have you write your self-assessments so that I could include your thinking as I file grades this week.

Since none of that will be happening in person today, I am going to post sign-ups for each period next.  Please comment to the post for your period and let us know what you'll make and bring.  We will do the self-assessments during the final exam period, and I will just have to hustle harder to get grades done toward the end of the week.

Keep a good thought for the many people whose lives and homes are being threatened by the fires, and stay inside if you can.  Breathing this air is like sucking on an ashtray.