Earlier this semester, Betsy Smith asked students in her intermediate ESL course at Cape Cod Community College to read Bridge to Terabithia, the children’s-lit classic. The request came with an assignment: Everyone in the class was to hold a presentation exploring one cultural aspect of the book.
One student, a guitar player from Brazil, wanted to present on Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which figures briefly in the novel. At the start of a class session—the course is held every Wednesday night from 6:30 to 9:30—he told Smith he could use some help with the musical portion of his presentation. He asked the professor: Can we meet during your office hours to go over some ideas?
For many professors, that’d be a standard request. But Smith is an adjunct, and she shares her office with as many as 18 other part-time professors.
“I don’t have office hours,” she told the student. He gave her a puzzled look. <Read more.>
