Next time

I'm continuing the thinking that started yesterday about how to restructure assignments for the lit courses. The big reconfiguration that I tried this semester with the 102s seems to have been worth it, so I'll run with that again next term to continue to collect data: was this semester's success a fluke or a valid finding? But now that I'm leaving 102 alone for a while, it's time to retool the lit sections.

Among other realizations--this one primarily for my own benefit, but also beneficial to the students: I'm going to give deadlines for revisions along the way, instead of accepting them up to the last minute. Human beings procrastinate: if I give students until the end of the term, they'll take it, and then they'll end up in a horrific crunch at the end. And so do I. I'm spending a lot of time right now cranking through revisions as fast as I possibly can, so I can get them out of my hair before I embark on final papers. Even though I'm not commenting at all, it's time consuming to determine whether the revision merits an improved grade. This is the first semester when I've gotten so many revisions: usually I get a bare minimum, but this time, almost everyone submitted at least one--and some students resubmitted everything, all at once. It's maddening, as I want to get to those final papers, but I allowed it, so I have no one to be angry with except myself.

In any event, as a consequence, the plan for next semester is to give students two weeks from the date I return a graded assignment in which to do a revision: after that, the original grade stands. I'm still mulling over how to structure the assignments so it's clear they're meant to build, so students use the various assignments to maximum benefit. But more on that some other day.

I was unhappy to lose one more student from today's 102--and to lose her today. She wrote to me earlier in the week to say that her son has been very ill, in and out of the hospital, so she'd not been able to attend class. At that point, she intended to show up today with her paper in hand--but she e-mailed this morning to say that things had taken a turn for the worse and that she wouldn't be able to attend, and therefore knew she wouldn't be able to pass the class. I told her I'd give her the W, but it's a shame to lose her when she'd gotten so close to completing the course. Still, perhaps she'll take the class next semester from someone who isn't as ferocious as I am, will be able to apply all she learned from me, and pass with a much higher grade. Mostly, I hope her son is OK.

So we're down to eight students in that section. I put them in pairs today to review each other's papers, looking specifically for bozo errors and for correctness of documentation. They were very sweet about helping each other (of course). I'm hoping the papers are good. One young man in the class didn't submit everything with his paper that he needed to (no sources, no approved proposal): I've sent him an e-mail about that but I think I should call him, too....

Meanwhile, Native American Lit has picked up one more student--and Nature in Lit is still hanging at six enrollees. Dammit. I put up a whole bunch of fliers yesterday, but I have a feeling they're going to get taken down again (long and boring story about the rules for who is allowed to post what--and conveying the rules to Public Safety officers and maintenance staff). So I'll print out a bunch more and put them up again next week--and try to hit a few more places. Please, God, let that course run!

I was rather hoping that one of my favorite students from last spring would sign up for Nature in Lit, but I now believe she won't. She got an incomplete from me in Native American Lit--she simply had bitten off more than she could chew--and I've been hounding her all summer and all fall about getting the work in to me. (She's also my cat sitter, so there have been many opportunities for me to nag her.) She had promised me the work on Monday, then Tuesday--and then yesterday, sudden silence. Uh-oh. I called and asked her to call me so we could talk. As I feared, she had not been able to finish--and that the main thing she was missing was the final paper. I told her to send me what she had, and I'd give her a mercy D--which would blow her GPA, of course (and sadly, she's in the same situation with a history class), but a D would be better than the F that would automatically ensue if she didn't clear the incomplete. She was deeply upset, barely keeping herself from tears, but also remarkably adult about the whole experience, knowing she'd done it to herself--and also knowing that in the long run, it would not be the end of the world. She was angry with herself, and knew her mother would be angry with her, but she was willing to accept the full consequences, have a crappy weekend of self-loathing, and then move on.

So, she e-mailed her assignments to me early this morning--and they were exceedingly good. Excellent. I could pick nits (perfection is unattainable), but they were terrific--her poetry paper and one unbelievably brilliant reading journal. I had already thought about seeing if there was some way I could petition to have the incomplete turned into a W, but even that didn't seem good enough, once I saw that work. And I thought, what the fuck. Is it really my job to make sure she suffers consequences of a simple error in over-confidence? Or is it more beneficial to her to give her a break? So I called her this morning and said, "At some point in your life, write me a paper on Ceremony. Meanwhile, I'll give you the A for the class." She was at work--and working with horses (who tend to get skittish)--so she couldn't jump around and yell, but she was almost inarticulate with relief. I submitted the change of grade today. Merry Christmas, Blondie.

I also submitted a change of grade for another student from last spring who had gotten an incomplete. The young woman was certainly capable of A-level work, but her mother-in-law to be had just been diagnosed with cancer, so she missed a lot of assignments and her final paper was pretty crappy. She earned a C; at the end of the spring semester we talked it over and decided she deserved a chance to turn in her missing assignments and to re-do the final paper. After repeated attempts to reach her, I never heard a word, and all semester, I've been wondering what to do. I decided to change the grade to the original C. It's better than the F of an unfulfilled incomplete--and she can demonstrate her sterling worth in some future class. She did, after all, actually earn the C, so she might as well have it. Interestingly enough, I looked at her transcript today, and she also earned a C for her 101 class. I wonder if she's overly confident about her abilities in English classes and so tends to blow them off a bit. In any event, that's another chapter closed.

But I still have to finalize this semester. Bleagh. I know how much I have to do, but the part of me that doesn't know how long it takes to do anything is saying, "I'm OK: I've got plenty of time to get it all done." And maybe I do, but I'm also aware that in a few days I may be screeching here about how much I still have to accomplish and how little time I have left. I spent a couple of hours this morning working on spring schedules and would like to do even more next week, to try to help Bruce as much as possible, since he was so good to me in the fall. And, of course, there's a lot of other flotsam that I need to get tidied up, like sending the pages for the photocopied 102 readers over to Printing and Publications....

Still, even with the knowledge of all that is to be done, I intend to put everything in a bag and take it home. My anxiety meters are creeping into the yellow zone (not on red alert just yet), but the whine about being tired and cranky is louder than the anxiety right now. I'll be sitting on the LIRR tomorrow, on my way to (and from) a quick doctor's appointment in the City before the rest of my usual Friday (including a ride, dammit; I've not been on a horse anywhere near enough this fall): the time on the train will be an opportunity to get a good wodge of work done. Then I've got most of Saturday and all of Sunday to alternate between the "I don't want to" whining and the "I'll feel better if do" good-girl routine. One way or another, in almost exactly a week, it'll all be over: I'll be finishing up paper work and posting grades on Banner and beginning my transformation back into a pumpkin or whatever it is.

And I'm working very hard not to think about all the stuff I need to do before spring term begins, or during the spring. That way, madness lies. Sufficient unto the day is the paper grading thereto.