An outfit that "makes sense," says a student

I was exhausted at 5:00 PM, but when I saw that the computer was still on (I'd thought I'd turned it off), I decided to write two hours later.  This was a day when I felt "in form" in spite of the fact that the Y's new machines that kept us away for a week for their installation and now--surprise--require an appointment with a coach to set them up again.  Classes went fine except that I hadn't realized/remembered that my second section of ESL 142 Listening and Speaking was behind the first section, and they didn't respond the "knowing" way the first section had.  I now realize that that was partially because I gave a make-up test at the beginning of class to two students--something I almost never do.  I was feeling apologetic because one of them had tried to contact me, and I had failed to tell her that she needed to make-up the short quiz.  Of course, she was the one who balked at doing the exercise they hadn't done for homework because "we don't want to waste our time" going over something they hadn't prepared--even though I had given them a lecture on it myself. 

This was the day I met with Sunny Clark, the head of the Student Health Services, who really thinks we need to put things in writing and in translation for students who can't seem to do the work, but she had qualms about my putting certain episodes into writing in the "students in distress" piece.  Still, I learned a lot.

One of the strangest things I learned was what a Vietnamese student told me after class.  "You look good today," she said.  "Your clothes look good.  This goes with this and that goes with that.  It makes sense." 

That really made me wonder about what I've worn every other day!