Bad teacher???

So I just emailed this story to a friend, but it feels right sharing it here, too.

Originally, yesterday and today were both supposed to be “no classes” days here at Shepherd—unless we had snow days. And you know how that turned out…

Well, we are all caught up in my MWF classes so I told them, “You know what? We don’t need to meet that day. But I will be available during our class time in my office if you want to talk about your papers.” These papers are due on Monday. Anyway, I know I told them at least a dozen times: “We won’t have class, but I’ll be in my office during our class time.” Early this week, I got even more specific: “Although we don’t have class on Friday, I’ll be in my office, Knutti 201C, from 9:00-1:00 on Friday. Come by if you want to talk about your papers.” I even sent out a flipping email with the same message.

So today I get to school, open my email and one of my shining star students (yes, I mean that sarcastically) has written me asking when I’ll be in my office today.

Words fail.

So here’s my question: am I a bad teacher if I don’t respond???