August, argh

And no, I'm not being a pirate for the day. That's a groaning sigh at being back in the office--as usual, getting less accomplished than I intended. For one thing, I seem to have been carrying around some kind of bad printer juju, as first I struggled with my printer at home for about an hour before I got it to work, then just went through a similar problem here at work. Argh. Then, a book I had promised to review by August 15 has not yet arrived from the publisher. I confess, this is partly my fault: I agreed to review the damned thing, then completely, utterly forgot (in my wild excitement over the trip to the Northwest): not only did I not look for it before I left, I didn't even think to look for it and to raise a red flag about the fact that it wasn't here. So the other day, I got home to a message from the review editor, explaining how to upload our completed reviews. Major oops. And major panic attack. She's being very sweet about it, however: if I get the book and think I can get it read and reviewd by September 1, it can still go in the fall edition of the journal (the inaugural edition: the page is under construction but can be found at http://www.ecozona.eu). If not, I have until January 1, and it will go in the spring issue. Whew.

Meanwhile, the other book I'm supposed to review is languishing, partly read, on my coffee table. I'm finding it a real slog, particularly for the kind of review I'm supposed to do. I reviewed for them before: It's a very interesting process, as it requires one to think not just about the book but more about personal/practical considerations of teaching with an environmentalist focus. That one is greentheoryandpraxis.org/. But the book is a very practical, how-to manual for setting up community-supported agriculture, and that doesn't work very well with my pedagogical slant. I wish now I had said "no" to it: after I agreed, others came along that would have been much more appropriate for me and my work. Ah well. It will be a good challenge for me (and a lesson in trusting that I can be more choosy about what I agree to take on).

I have started working through the new style guide I'll be using for 101, and I like it very much. The organization is a little different from my personal approach to beginning comp: it focuses on research way before I do, but even so, that helps me remember to talk to the students about the importance of gathering information from sources before starting to write, certainly before trying to formulate a thesis. It's also giving me some good ideas for pre-writing assignments--such as having students write a brief overview of what they think my essay assignment wants them to do, and what they need to ask questions about in order to feel confident beginning the task. There is an example of that kind of response to an assignment in the style guide, and I think it's a great idea. I'm also chipping away at the short-story collection I'll be using for the American Short Story class: haven't gotten very far, but the stories are getting more interesting. I still am waffling about how much structure to predetermine and how much to just let the students explore ideas with much more general guidelines from me. But the more serious, albeit subterranean, mulling and stewing has begun.

And as I do this work, and write about it here, of course I am also feeling the upsurge in anxiety levels. Argh again. This is a new project for me personally: how to build sufficient motivating energy without having to resort to wild anxiety and panic. I'm sure it can be done--but it certainly will be new to me.

I cleaned off a little patch of my desk but ran out of that particular kind of brain energy pretty rapidly. I expect I'll get the bug to clean up and organize eventually, but it hasn't blossomed just yet. In a little bit here I will embark on the first of a slew of instant scoring placement readings (we read while students are finishing up their other placement tests, so when they are through, they can find out exactly what their placements are and go register right away). It's not much different from the regular reading, except there is a certain amount of time pressure to get them read--and we don't leave until we've finished the batch from that testing session, no matter how long it takes. Usually, the first few sessions are not heavily attended and we're done pretty quickly. By the end of the process, students are showing up in panic-stricken mobs, not having gotten into any other schools and suddenly realizing that NCC may be their last option--and then we're often there for 3 hours plus. But tonight shouldn't be too hard.

And I realize that I'm still adjusting back into all this after my weeks away: it's a very abrupt and radical shift of gears to go from traveling through the incredible scenery of Montana, Idaho, and Washington with Ed, visiting family and beloved friends on occasion but often just off on our own, and being back here, caught up again in the mill-wheels of my "normal" life. But if you're interested in the trip--a break for you from the experience of reading this blog about work work work--I think you can access my photo album of it this way: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051027&id=1073272194&l=cd0471b7bc).

And now, a little more work before I go read. Student blooper of the day (left over from last semester): "He became a drug attic."