I'm drooping; they're dropping

It's that time of semester when I have accumulated enough nights of sleep deprivation that I cannot seem to get caught up, even after several nights of a decent number of hours of slumber. My body doesn't bear up as well as it did even five years ago. I had to resort to candy in the morning today: I was in the office to grade papers and was falling asleep at 10 a.m., having gotten up at six. Ridiculous. The candy did help--at least I stopped almost nodding off--but the concentration factor was pretty nil.

So I'm feeling decidedly droopy; meanwhile, students are beginning to drop like the proverbial winged insects. Some just are conspicuously absent; others are making it official. I lost a 101 student today whom I hated to see go: she was earnest, hard-working, and making real progress--but, she explained, she's studying for her cosmetology license and working four days a week, and she finally realized that the time crunch was going to have a less-than-desirable effect on her grades, especially in my class. Wise choice for her, my disappointment notwithstanding.

Interestingly enough, that 101 section seemed to be holding relatively good numbers until today. But today, first versions of second papers were due--and 15 students were in the room. A few may come in with late papers either on Wednesday or via e-mail, but most of the ones who were missing I rather expect are plain vanilla gone. Mr. Macho among them: he was so poisonous in Wednesday's class that I cordially invited him to leave, and I suspect that was the last straw for him. In his book, I am now certified as the psycho bitch from hell, so I'll be surprised if he makes a return. Still, I confess, stranger things have happened.

It should also be noted that receiving 15 papers instead of 24 will make a beautiful difference in the grading grind over the next week. I'm still getting myself dug out from under a huge pile of mini-papers and reading journals for the short story class, but at the moment, it all feels do-able, even though I do not have the mental chops to grade anything further this afternoon. It will be another up early and grind sort of week, but worth it to get through the steaming piles of papers.

The good news: no meeting tomorrow during club hour (though I will be meeting a student from the short story class to talk about how he can improve his papers)--and during my two classes, I can pretty much sit there and grade, as they'll be doing peer review of their papers. I am rather wondering what to do with the short story class on Wednesday. Originally they had a paper due, so I didn't assign any additional reading for the week--but I moved the paper and didn't plug up the resulting hole. They got through this week's story today with time to spare, so there won't be anything further to discuss on that. Hmmmm. Mulling over possibilities that might help them prepare for their papers. We'll see what I pull out of my left ear (where all my lesson plans come from--that and places less attractive). And now, my office hour is done, and so am I (stick a fork in me). Homeward bound. Tomorrow is another day. Excelsior.