Saturday p.m.

Almost 7, it'll be after by the time I'm done blogging. I got a little more than half-way through the silted up assignments for 229--and am discouraged, not because I'm not getting them marked fast enough (well, that too, but not primarily), but because the study questions approach to critical material doesn't seem to be working. I think I mentioned in a previous post that since students always struggle with the difference between primary and secondary material--and don't know what to do with the secondary stuff--instead of having them use the same reading journal form for both kinds of writing, I decided to have them answer study questions on the secondary. The study questions always include prompts along the lines of "how would you use this to help you analyze the literature?" And still, many students just paraphrase the critical material, or interpret it (sometimes they even interpret it pretty well), but they leave out the step of using it as support.

I grant you, there are some who interpret the secondary material beautifully and make intelligent connections to the literature. A few even show improvement from the first set of study questions to the latest, so either their group discussions have helped or something I've said in class has made a difference. But I'm at a loss for the rest of them. This may be one of those unfortunate things I just have to let go: the ones who don't get it may just not get it, and there may be nothing I can do to bring them along. That's always a difficult acknowledgment for me, however. I always think I'll find that magic bullet, so even if they can't do it well, at least they understand what they're supposed to be doing.

Poor Mr. "I'll bring my gun" is, as I predicted, struggling. He doesn't seem able to understand even the simplest of the readings--or at least he isn't able to express anything that indicates understanding in his journals. Mr. "I've missed the first week of classes but I'll get caught up" is, in fact, pretty well caught up on his assignments--but I am not so sure about what he's gotten out of them. So far, I'm distinctly underwhelmed by his work. Another student already has five absences (six = failure or withdrawal, no other options; at five he suffers a final grade penalty. He's turned in virtually nothing, and what he has turned in demonstrates pretty much complete incomprehension.) Two others have four absences (also a grade penalty), one because he has serious health problems, the other for reasons unknown. I'm trying to work with the young man with the health problems, but I'm just not sure what I can do past a certain point. The other student is one of the apparently very smart ones: he may think that his intelligence will get him by, but he's only turned in one assignment in addition to all the absences, so he may have to think again.

I also suddenly remembered that I'm doing two observations this week (tempus fugit): one on Monday and one on Wednesday (the class period before I am, in turn, observed by Bruce). So I need to read at least the materials to prep for the Monday observation, though I may let the stuff for Wednesday pickle for a little while longer. Monday afternoon is already set aside for looking at the folders for the folks I'm mentoring for sabbatical/promotion. And it's gotten to that time: I have to check my syllabi for a few days soon when I can cancel class to work on my own folder. I'm at least carrying home the documents for my folder that I have collected here in the office, plus the minutes of all the committees I've been on, so I can see when I attended (when I was even a member on some) and what, if anything, I did.

Oh argh. blatherblatherblather. If this semester doesn't turn me into a gibbering lunatic, I'll be eligible for some kind of hall of fame just for survival. Colleague Duane once described another colleague as running around like his ass was on fire. That succinctly describes my current method of propulsion.

Funny to be in the office after dark. Pretty soon, this will be a very common occurance (as the days get shorter and we finally stop saving daylight). It's actually kinda cozy. And I don't mind being all alone here in Bradley. I play my music without fear of bugging anyone, and when my music stops, I enjoy the silence. I am, however, going to turn on a hall light before I turn off the office lights: I don't relish the idea of walking down that long hall in just the glow of the exit sign.

And at the moment, the burning question is, what shall I have for dinner??