Not quite as much as I'd hoped

I really hoped I could have the numbers crunched for at least one class today, but that isn't going to happen unless I stay very late--and I'm tired enough I'm afraid I'll make mistakes. I did get everything marked for one section of 102--the smaller, later section--but only because I also had to do an assessment of informational literacy for that section, and I'm already more than a week late with my response. It really wasn't hard to do: I just had to evaluate how well students had understood, used, and cited the critical material in their essays and do a simple tally on an Excel spreadsheet, but I kept forgetting to do it, having to back up, remind myself what I'd read...

I also was hampered a bit in my forward progress by the need to actually comment on essays. I have all that work done, so things should progress more rapidly tomorrow--but I really need a new calculator. (Yes, yes, I know I can use my phone--but it doesn't work as well as an actual calculator does.) The little charge panel on the one I've used for years is apparently fried, won't hold a charge...

One more thing to get at Staples. I had a list of things I wanted to remember to get at Staples. It's with those two missing files and the lost book. (Rowf, growr, bazz-fazz.)

The students today weren't terribly interested in getting into a discussion of the semester, what they learned, what worked, what didn't. A few expressed disappointment that future students in 102 won't be reading The Left Hand of Darkness, but a few clearly stated that they fell apart at the end over that novel.

I come back to it over and over: Every time I think I have come to an understanding of why they find the novel so hard, I find myself returning to "yeah, but ... why is it so hard??" We all agreed that they probably could have managed it better if we'd spent more time on it--and I'm sure they're right, but if I'm going to have conferences (which all but one student felt were extremely helpful), I just don't have time: there aren't enough weeks in the semester.

But as much as I will miss individual students, I did not feel at all sad to say goodbye to those classes, a markedly different reaction to how I felt saying goodbye to the SF class yesterday.

And today I ran into Bruce as he was on his way out to do a workshop on online teaching. I apologized for not being at the party and told him I'd miss him. I know he'll be around a lot; he's going to keep adjuncting for us, bouncing back and forth between his house in Atlanta with his husband and his place out east on the Island. But I'll still miss him--and when he walked out the door, I was close to tears. He has driven me bat shit on occasion, annoyed the hell out of me, not handled things the way I think he ought, but he's been a truly wonderful boss, and we made a good team. I know Cathy will be wonderful in her way, and she and I will work well together too, but ... well, it's Bruce. I'll miss him.

Shifting gears: I had hoped I might be able to have a leisurely morning tomorrow, not set an alarm, that sort of thing--but if I'm going to get all my work done before I'm literally burning the midnight oil, I'd better get up and in at my usual time. (I cannot bring myself to come in earlier, even though it would probably be a good idea.) Even so, I may be here pretty damned late.

But that's tomorrow. Tonight: a quick stop at the grocery store then home and winding down ASAP. We'll see what tomorrow brings tomorrow.