Where to start??

Man, today has been all over the place.

Didn't get everything marked for the 101, dammit. I now have a huge, steaming pile of stuff to mark for them. Since they're my last class in the sequence, they've been getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop, but I really do need to move them to the top of the triage stack ASAP.

That said, I really want to knock off the assignments I have for tomorrow's 101 before class, if I can. I think a student from the 102 will come to see me at 11, but I want to be in the office as early as I can stand it. I tried to burn through a few more assignments tonight, but I just ran out of steam. (I know; I know. If I didn't assign it, I wouldn't have to mark it.) Fortunately, there's no burning urgency for me to get things marked for the 102, as on Thursday, they'll come in with their essays. And there are so few of them at this point, I really won't have to tear myself to shreds getting their essays read and commented upon before their conferences. (Doing two sections of 101 will be quite a different story.)

Oh: completely random memory, but I didn't say: it finally happened. A student actually wrote in a self-evaluation that she's struggled with writing "from the gecko." Those writing assignments given my little lizards are the worst.

(And by the way, I suddenly cannot spell at all. I've had trouble with spelling all my life, but there was a good stretch in there when I did pretty well. Now? It would be more embarrassing except I do tend to catch myself. Not always, but usually.)

So, let's see: I got to campus after my doctor's appointment and did some marking of assignments--but of course the appointment kept me later than I'd hoped, so I didn't have much time before my 102 class. That class went well: I did some talking about the writing process, and they talked about the story they'd read with real intelligence. But there are several students who are freaking out for one reason or another. One is upset because I keep telling her she's summarizing and she thinks she's including her thoughts. (Come to see me with one of your assignments and we'll talk it over when we can look at an actual example.) One is upset because he got the "early warning" that I distribute before NCC's official "Academic Progress" reports go out. "Am I failing the class?" "Not yet; that's why I'm warning you now. But you'd better button it up." Another isn't upset but realizes he's missed a lot and wants to talk to me about it. (Good plan.) I got an email from yet another who has missed the last two classes (I thought three, but I haven't checked). She wanted to know what she missed. Granted, she didn't ask if she'd missed anything, which is a step in the right direction, but what she missed? All the discussion, all my lecturing, all the handouts. The handouts she can download from Blackboard. She should know what assignments she's missing, because they're detailed in the assignment schedule. As for the rest? There is no way I can--or will--give an overview of all of it. Sorry you missed it, and I know you couldn't help it, but ... that's how it goes.

Anyway, with all the students wanting to talk to me after class, I was running late to P&B; I quickly printed up the minutes, then tried to catch up with whatever was being discussed (an overview of the main issues brought up in today's Academic Senate meeting)--and there was a lot of information about programs and changes and who's doing what with the changes to department structures (mostly having to do with all the remedial/developmental courses), most of which I missed. We made so many changes to the schedule for the work flow of sabbatical and promotion application mentoring that we all have to trust that Cathy got it all and that what she distributes is right and makes sense.

I had to leave the meeting before it really wrapped up in order to get to class. I took time to attend to a very simple biological need, grabbed my stuff and went--only to discover that I'd neglected to load the handouts I needed to distribute into the class folder. Whoof. Well, I did a little of the Breath-Body-Mind stuff with them (which went much better than it did with the other class, not to my surprise), talked about quotation and paraphrase, and then turned them loose on an exercise in identifying plagiarism while I dashed across campus to get the stuff I'd left behind. Of course, as soon as I was walking outside, it started to rain--and my new fancy umbrella was still in my pack in the classroom. Fortunately, I have a spare umbrella in my purse (I keep umbrellas and glasses all over the place), so I could get back to class without the handouts--or the professor--getting soaked. And to my delight, the students were diligently working on the plagiarism exercise, though I seemed to have timed my return well, as most of them had finished.

Anyway, as was the case on Monday, we didn't get to talking about the article they'd read for today, so I told them to keep it until Thursday; I just collected their "reflection" assignments, which I do need to get back to them on Thursday, so they have an idea of what they need to do for their first versions of their big, formal essays.

After class, again, an onslaught of students wanting to ask/tell/explain things. I finally got back to the office and have pretty much been working on grading since. I got up to K in the alphabetical order of students in the M/W 101--not far enough, but all I could manage.

And I just remembered that I have to run an errand on my way home (or I won't have breakfast tomorrow). and tomorrow, I have more rushing around to do--in order to get on a train with Paul at 5:30, heading into the City to have dinner with William and Kristin. That will be a delight--but it again cuts into the time I have to mark stuff, so... Well, here we go, right? The nuttiness has set in. Life is bananas flambe. And tomorrow is blah blah blah...