Small Victories and Some Medium-Sized Defeats

Maybe it's the rain, my mounds of unfinished homework, or this pile of ungraded reading responses sitting on the table in front of me, but I don't feel much like celebrating any sort of teaching victory for this week. Blah. And since tonight is the only chance I'll have at posting a blog, I can't wait for my mood to improve before writing. Sorry! Don't read any further unless you want to hear some quality whinin'.

1. Ah, the reading responses. Like Tamar, I'm expecting a sudden windfall of latecomers expecting a decent grade. I gave them the inch--told them that the first two weeks would not be counted as late until last Friday (many students still didn't have books). Ha! You'd not believe the rash of computer problems currently plaguing my class. Today I finally put my foot down and told Thomas, who was the fifth in line with a computer excuse, that his printer was not my problem. Frankly, I thought he was lying. (Doubting Thomas, if you will.) If he wanted extra time, he was going to lose points. He handed it in on the spot. He was being completely honest--every other line in his paper was totally cut in half.

2. I spoke with four students after class that haven't handed anything in to date. After speaking to the first, I realized he just didn't understand the reading responses at all and was scared to hand them in. Nevermind that we've been over this. I gathered the students all together, and we mapped it out on the board, AGAIN. They said they understood, felt better, and were going to get busy on them this weekend. We'll see...

3. Taylor started a one-man revolt during the in-class drafting today. "I don't like this at all," he said. "I don't see the point of all this stuff. The assignment sucks. I don't know why we have to write crap like this." Welcome to the university. I patiently explained how the questions were gearing him toward the paper, and in a larger sense toward English 2010. He settled down and wrote a few paragraphs before getting up to leave twice. After class, he met with me to complain again. To his credit, he was not directing his anger toward me personally. Still, it was a bummer. (And I just got him coming to class on time, too! What now?)

4. The class has not quite recovered from the long weekend or my scary skirt--I've not decided which. They were so fun last week! The discussions were very lively and the students were interacting and enjoying themselves. This week they've been very quiet and reluctant. They practice 50 minutes of "mouth breathing" and evasive eye maneuvers, and then run out of class like their hair is on fire. What happened?

5. Did I mention that the prep time is killing me? What is sleep? My daughter told me today that I look like a vampire with my red eyes, dark circles, and white skin. No sparkles, either. Maybe that's what has my class so scared...

OK, I feel better. Life is not all bad, really. Tomorrow I'll probably be able to name any number of small teaching victories. The good outweighs the bad; it was just a rough day in the trenches. I can't wait to read about all of your victorious moments. I'm counting on you to make me feel better. :)