(no subject)

I'm a TA for Sociology 101 again this year (third time at this university, fifth time overall, and I'm hoping the last time for a while). We're starting with 900 students this year instead of last year's double-cohort of 1500. It seems like a more manageable size, especially since we still have eight TAs (only down one from last year). So far the smaller number has meant that there aren't as many people sitting in the upper balconies, which is good as the upper balconies tend to be the rowdiest. It also means that I can observe them more easily when I sit in the top balcony between patrols. Last night the most notable thing I saw was the large number of people not taking notes of any sort. Normally I'd attribute this to the fact that they're encouraged to record the lectures, and many do (one of my clearest memories from last year is watching the professor lecturing on stage with digital recorders piled as his feet like a silver offering). However, last night was the first class and I didn't see many recorders in evidence. I'm not sure what this means. Did they not expect a real lecture last night? Have they all been working on developing improved oral memories, perhaps through the consumption of vast amounts of epic poetry? Do they not think the class is important enough to write things down for? (We all know sociology is only common sense, after all!) I'll be interested to see what the numbers look like next week.

Today was a generally productive day in a less frantic way than the last few weeks have been. It was nice. The only dark spot is that I think I'm in the Graduate Administrator's bad books. It's not entirely undeserved, but I think it may take a while to get out.