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Note #163: A belated check-in (2026.9.30)

I usually do a little check-in post at the beginning of the semester to report how things are looking for the term ahead. I’m obviously a little bit late on that, as it is now the end of September. I will admit to being a little burned out after the spate of photo essays I posted back in August, but it’s also just been a really busy semester so far. I’ve had a lot of things on my plate, including a new position that I was asked to fill; my duties are not too onerous, but it is yet something else to add to the pile. I will comment no more on that, though, as nobody wants to read about administrative duties (and, perhaps more importantly, I don’t want to write about them).

Instead, I will focus on my classes and teaching, as I usually do. The fall semester is when I have two undergrad classes, which means I generally end up having the largest number of students. There has been a lot of movement in my attendance, with students joining and dropping classes, but I have ended up with a total of eighty-seven students. (This is assuming that one student who has applied to join late under special circumstances will be able to find their way through all the red tape and another student who is still on the roster for one class but has never showed up will eventually decide to drop.)

This is a lot of students for a single semester, but they seem to be a good bunch. They usually are, of course; I’ve never sat down after the start of the semester and thought, “Man, what a bunch of rejects this time.” Not every student will live up to their potential, but already I can tell that the vast majority of students seem to be sufficiently motivated and interested in the subjects. I even had one Korean student email me just yesterday to say that she was so inspired by our classes on classical Korean literature that she wanted me to be her advisor for her senior thesis. I haven’t decided on that yet, and we will be meeting tomorrow to talk about it, but it is still a flattering request. To be honest, I am a little bit surprised, as I did not get the impression that she was all that inspired. I guess you never really know what the quiet ones are thinking. I do try to get students to participate in class, but some students are just naturally less talkative than others.

In other news, I did try to come up with a more thorough policy on generative AI usage in class than what I had last semester. If I’m being perfectly honest, though, I kind of left that to the last minute, so even though the policy was more thorough than last semester’s, it could definitely be improved upon. I’ve already had a couple of students use generative AI on their first assignment; this was due in part, I think, to a failure in communication, but it also had a lot to do with students simply not understanding the technology. The good news is that I was able to work with both students to guide them in the right direction. I’ll have a much longer post on that—and my evolving thoughts on generative AI usage in class—later, though.

For now, though, I’ll just wrap this up by saying that it’s going to be a busy semester (isn’t it always?), but I do hope it is going to be a good one. I know I’m going to be slammed with work and responsibilities, but I have a good feeling about my classes and my students, at least. Research is what it is, and I will try to get as much done as I can (even though I won’t get as much done as I would like). There’s nothing that can be done about administrative work and other responsibilities. But if the classes turn out good and I feel like my students and I have collectively built a good learning experience, I will consider the semester a success.