75 hours

I ask that every student of mine to come and spend 30 minutes with me in the office this semester. By the time they all come through the door, I'll have invested about 75 hours into student appointments this term, the most ever I've attempted here at BCC. Back at the other school, I probably had more student face time than anyone there, but then I lived and breathed student engagement (maybe a little too much, since I married one, eh?)

But seriously, this has been an enormous undertaking, when it should be the simplest of things: "hey, let's jaw around about your paper, topic, life..." I've had many people ask me why I am dedicated to this, when I could just be grading (or for that matter, reading, surfing the net...writing a blog--ahem!).

I explain it like this: I think it's very, very important to know who you are learning with (and I intentionally aim this both ways, for we're both learning in a meeting one on one). I'm learning about them, their learning styles, interests, strengths and weaknesses academically, but even more, I'm learning who they are. I'm learning how to better serve them, I think.

I also require a journal of my composition students, 3 100 word entries per week, roughly. Sure, there's kicking and screaming, but it has tremendous dividends for the student (of course, or I would not assign it). It's also very valuable to me, to again get to know my clients, my students.

I cannot put a finger on how all this knowledge plays out in the classroom, in grading, in pedagogy overall. I could never write a paper about it or prove it empirically, but I am sure it's having a positive effect.