Posting on the fly

I had about four different potential titles for this post, but time got away from me--ain't that always the way?--and now I have to hustle or I won't get to the pharmacy before it closes. So, here's the Cliffs Notes version:

Advisement: uneventful. I got assignments marked. Whew.

Poetry: earnest, hard working--not volunteering a lot. They're still nervous. I need to praise them more for being wrong. I also need to talk to them further about their responses, remind them that the responses are a tool for them to use in pre-writing their papers.

101: Thank god we were in the Library. I don't know what I'm going to do with them. I think the attrition has started already: in some ways that's great (fewer papers to grade); in other ways, it's discouraging (they're so unprepared to work or think). I don't know what I'm going to do with them. I keep "rehearsing" what I might say to them on Wednesday, about rebooting the semester. They were working hard today, but they were still confused. I think they can't believe that they actually get to "drive the bus" as I put it today--and they're afraid they're not ready. (I remember my first time driving at highway speed. White-knuckle scary. It's kinda like that.) I don't want to rant at them, though: I want to reach them. There are some very bright students in the group, and I don't want to lose them. There is one student--the young woman who kept trying to let me know that I was way over time last class--and at first she seemed very timid; now she seems like a nasty little bitch. I'm fully prepared to find out she's neither of the above, but right now, she has me on the alert: I'm not sure whether she's going to become a full-blown problem or whether she'll settle down and be OK.

Miscellaneous: I got some preliminary whacks at a few committee tasks taken care of, just enough so I feel I caught the strand of pearls before it broke, kept the plates spinning just as they were about to crash. The few assignments I have from students for tomorrow's class have been marked. I have more to do to be caught up with assignments (more discussion boards have fallen due), but I also realized that I forgot to record marks for the students from the M/W 101 who already submitted the first real homework assignment. Fuck. I cannot get it together for that class. It's just snake bit. Someone call the doctor, get some antivenin. (Oh, right: I'm the doctor. Fuck again.)

Tomorrow I need to get as much done on promotion folders as I can between/around/before-and-after the Mentoring program "meet and greet," a meeting with the Mystery Enthusiast from last semester (he's now officially on my roster of students to mentor), P&B and class.

The fun just never stops.