Student "edition" found at {csi dot journalspace dot com}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

There is this rule in life: expect perfection and most of the time be disappointed with something even a little less, but expect mediocrity, and you could be pleasantly surprised with the results.

I was thinking if I should talk about our college faculty recollection in the student accessible edition, but I guess I can write about some specifics here instead. First of all, I was half serious when I called the assembled occupants on the van on the way to the venue for a vote that one of our number be the facilitator instead.

But I had half thought it was going to be previous facilitator that we already had, which would have been good for me because he did give us a lot of time for sharing and reflection.

Now I realize that due to his having few new tricks up his sleeve the few times I have seen him at the students' retreats, that some of the faculty may not find anything new there.

But I really didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. The problem with having no standards set about something is that you still feel bad when something sucks, worse if forced or "required" to it.

She talked far much more than she should have been letting the teachers think for themselves. Maybe it's because, as she said, she was used to dealing with sixth graders, but no adjustment at all?

She even got "mock" angry when no one was answering her questions about who wants to share what they think. That should have been a big signal to her to change tacks, but maybe she didn't have any Plan B, which is also a big mark against her.

We, as teachers, were showing her - either intentionally or unintentionally - all the indications we knew when the students aren't interested, but she still kept talking until the afternoon.

All in all we only got less than two hours of reflection for the 11 hours we spent there (including transportation) and 6 hours out of that was painfully listening to her uninspiring talks.

I mean, two hours on telling us the difference between a retreat and a recollection, and what to expect? Half a day wasted right there!

Session 2475 also had to sit through an afternoon session of how Jesus is the best guy to emulate, duh. Class dismissed.