Tuesday, January 07, 2003

Three...
We make work-plans for our students each year. At times we are tempted to make dietary plans and financial suggestions, as well as setting curfew hours and plan for exercize and hobbies, it feels like we are that detailed when it comes to planning student lives. These plans contain everything we can imagine that students will need to know and then some, and is a very useful planning tool.

A well-made plan relieves a lot of stress, as most questions can be met with: Do you have your work plan? Now open it up to page.... A badly made plan, however, is a nightmare. It demands constant updates and corrections and is a major source of confusion and frustration. Last fall the plan wasn't really so badly made, under the circumstances, but due to illness it became obsolete in the first few weeks of the semester for the new students. This meant major confusion, insecurity and student angst, which lead to stress, guilt and short tempers at the staff side.

This semester I have been working on this plan since November. I have been through it I don't know how many times, and harassed colleagues to make them keep the deadlines in relation to the plans. In a few hours I'll give them over to the students, and at that point I expect to see THE ERROR. Something has to be wrong. I just hope I'll find out fast.

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