English 1301
M. Hall

Notice for Thursday, 12 October, and Monday, 16 October

Dear Students:

I regret that I (too much use of the first-person in one sentence) will not be able to meet with you1 on Thursday, 12 October.

However, please allow me to make amends. Because I am missing a day, I (again, too much use of “I”) grant everyone in both classes an extra absence.

Further, on Thursday I will leave on the front desk of Angelina College’s Jasper Teaching Center a sign-in sheet for the Monday-Wednesday class and a sign-in sheet for the Tuesday-Thursday class. If you sign in and then promise to yourself to take an hour to work on your persuasive writing lessons, either on-site or at home, I grant each signer another absence. You will have to be honest with yourself on this.

And still further: Monday, 16 October, is a Jasper High School student off-day, and since most of our class are dual-credit students, all are exempted from class that day. However, I will be present beginning around 0930. If you can spend an hour on campus to work on your persuasive writing assignments in the classroom or the library, or to talk with me one-on-one about your progress, I will grant you yet another absence.

As you know, the State of Texas is strict on the matter of absences, and some among you are at the tipping point in this matter. I will not break the law regarding absences, but here is an opportunity to bend it. Come to campus and get rid of previous absences or build a metaphorical bank for future ones.

This is a bit dodgy, but I can ethically (adverb modifying a verb) defend (verb) it.

Initiative is your ally. Passivity is your enemy.

Cordially, Mr. Hall

1The second-person pronoun is correct here because the writer is addressing a very real you – which would be you – and not a conversational you referring only to an abstract.