Should. Not gonna.

All of my files, student assignments, folders, things to be copied--whatever--are in a huge and chaotic mess. I "should" organize them tonight before I leave. I wanted to do that when I got back to the office after observing a colleague's class, but there was an email from our wonderful goddess of the office staff, saying that because the evening secretary would be out, Cathy wanted me to be down in the office.

I dutifully went down there, but I was filled with resentment. I am not a secretary--nor is Paul--and we shouldn't "have" to be in the office when one of the secretaries is sick. We can be around when Cathy is not here, as we are her assistants, but that's a different story, and if I'm covering for her (which is my job as evening supervisor), I can do that just as well from my office.

What annoyed me most is that I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to get done--all of which was not transportable to another office, as it depended on my being on my own computer, or, well, organizing all those stacks of paper. I've done at least the most important bits tonight, setting up conference times in the appointment-tracking software, typing up the conference sign-up so people who haven't yet signed up can do so (the typed copy on the wall outside the office; the one students filled in by hand home with me so I know the order in which to tackle the appointments).

Speaking of conference appointments: thirteen are scheduled for Monday (a busy weekend ahead, as previously complained about); eight each on Tuesday and Wednesday (plus a few students from the SF class); no 101 conferences on Thursday, just one conference with a student from the SF class. That's assuming A) that the students who have not yet submitted to Turnitin actually do so and B) that no one else submits in addition to those students.

I won't get into how completely annoyed I am that students are "forgetting" to upload to Turnitin. God dammit. What on earth do I have to do so they'll remember?

Growf, rowr, bazz-fazz.

Cleansing breath, cleansing breath.

Today's class was moderately disastrous, as the students opted to sit in a circle, then (for the most part) refused to talk--though I did get the one student who had yet to contribute anything to class discussion to speak, and she had an intelligent insight, though I did have to specifically call on her to get her to talk. I worked around the circle for a while, then I put them in groups while I finished marking the notes I've been collecting so I could return those. Note to self: only do the circle thing when there is the appropriate critical mass of students who are willing to talk; otherwise, stick with groups.

And the observation went fine. My colleague was doing the best she could with one of those classes in which the majority of the students steadfastly refuse to think, work, talk, do anything beyond the abilities of a house plant (except get themselves in and out the door on their own volition). But she handled them as well as could be done--and in the observation, I will point out that holding an English class in a science lab is probably not a grand idea for any number of reasons (not to mention that the tech in the room is nonfunctional, so she couldn't show the video clip she wanted the students to watch). I'll write that up next week, I hope, after I finish grading essays (and engage in a little recovery time).

Now, however, I'm going to toss a few things in my bag and head for the hills. I may post over the weekend, as I'll be working, so keep yourselves tuned to this wildly exciting blog for further developments.