Slogging forward

The number of students in Advisement was mercifully low today; they tended to come in little clusters, but there were moments in which I could get a little work done, which was nice. I have marked the notes submitted by the SF students yesterday (yes, already! might be a record), and I've started grading their second essays. I haven't gotten very far with that, but just having started feels pretty good.

I got a little work from the students in the 101 class today. Of course, there's never much, as there are only about seven students left, but even from those seven, I didn't get much. The student who was thankful that I pointed out her progress with her second essay had engaged in some "plagiarism by being sloppy," so I told her to come see me about it. She'd cited the sources (not following any format, but she did cite), but in two places she'd used the exact words from the source (not exactly but almost)--but she hadn't used quotation marks. I pointed that out and told her that I could have given her a zero for the assignment--and that some professors might fail her for the entire course just for that error. She expressed her gratitude that I gave her credit and instead used the error as a "teaching opportunity." You're most welcome.

Shifting gears entirely, last night when I checked my email, I saw a message from the adjunct who wants to start up a scholarly journal on American mysteries. We were supposed to meet at a nearby restaurant--and I completely, utterly spaced it. Fortunately, he didn't wait around for me very long--and I apologized profusely, when I at last got his email and saw how remiss I'd been. I'll see him tomorrow instead--and I've set several reminders for myself so I don't space it again. It will be very pleasant to talk with him about it, and it could be an interesting project. Even if I don't get involved in it, it will be fun to hear what he envisions and what he thinks would be required to get the thing rolling. I'd probably be more useful on the technical side (copy-editing, proofreading, perhaps developing a house style) than on the academic side (because, really, I've never done any scholarship on mystery--just enough to teach it but not enough to have any claim to know the field, which is why I don't teach it any more), but at this point, it's all just talk, which I can do. Especially over what Scott calls an adult beverage.

Shifting gears again, I've signed up to attend some kind of workshop being offered on Friday by the Distance Education folks. I don't even remember what the topic is, but it sort of doesn't matter. I need a "professional development" event of some kind to fulfill my contractual obligations, and that will count. My only area of grumpiness about it is that it starts at 8:30 a.m., which is insanely early for me under any circumstance but especially on a Friday. My hunch is that, as soon as I can after, I'll head home for a nap (unless I have a riding lesson scheduled, in which case, I may find things to do to keep me occupied until it's time to bounce around on a horse).

And that's about all I've got for now. I'm getting things set up for the last day of conferencing with the 101 students (which will be easy as the proverbial dessert, since I'll be seeing so few students)--and I keep reminding myself that there is very little more I will need to do with them. The SF students are another thing entirely (not to mention the students in Nature in Lit), but no matter what, in three weeks, it's all over but the shouting.