Students ... and freelancing

I only had about eight more discussion board threads to read, and I. Just. Couldn't. I've been wading through them for hours, and I got to the point where I simply couldn't see what they were saying any more. They all turned into meaningless noise--which isn't necessarily incorrect even when my brain is sharp and I can fully focus on their content, but in this instance, I could tell the problem was at least partially mine.

But here are today's causes for dismay.

1. Somewhere in the second week of class, a student tried to attend my online office hour--her first attempt at anything in the class--and I'm sure she thought that she was trying to attend the class. (I have since changed the name of that link from "online meetings"--what was I thinking??--to "online office hours: request required.") I emailed her. Nothing. I would have called her, but she has no phone number in her contact information. And since I had to do the first attendance census, I sent up a flare to Cathy, asking whether that counted as having attended the class. It did--though several of us agree that it shouldn't--and I was feeling terrible about that, because, poor infant, she did try, and clearly she just has no idea what to do for an online class. But I was grading quizzes today, and lo and behold, she did a quiz. She has, however, done absolutely nothing else. She did a great job on the quiz, but still: clearly she hasn't read any of the instructional materials--I bet she hasn't looked at the assignment schedule--and if she has been scrolling through the week's tasks to see what she needs to do, apparently she just skipped over the stuff she didn't understand and did the one thing she did understand: [Student, scrolling, thinks to herself]: "Some article thing, something about a discussion board forum, I don't get it so ... oh! a quiz! I know what those are. I'll do that." This despite the fact that the links to actually create a thread for each discussion board forum include detailed information about what students need to do.

I no longer feel sorry for her or bad that she's going to fail the class.

2. So, there I am, reading these posts about articles that discuss various topics under the general heading "college education," and I'm reading responses to an article that discusses remediation, why it exists, why it's a problem, what might be done about it. One student uses her personal experience to say that remedial classes are really helpful, and she explains that, last semester, she was in a section of 001, but she also attended 101... and I realize, she's talking about the Accelerated Learning Program, in which students register simultaneously for 001 and 101, and they are put in a cohort that also includes students who tested straight into 101. They get the remedial class, but they also attend the credit-bearing class and have to do that work, and do it to the standard required of all students. I quickly hustled to her degree evaluation and, yep, she already passed 101. Which, of course, begs the question what she's doing in my class. I thought, "Maybe she wants to retake the class for a higher grade?" Well, if she does, she'd be better off not taking it from me, because her grade last semester was a B, and she sure wouldn't earn anything better than that from me. I sent her an email telling her she needs to A. get herself to Academic Advisement toot sweet and find out what she needs for her degree and what she doesn't. (Half her course load this semester isn't progressing her toward graduation.) While she's there, she also needs to find out whether she can drop my class now without screwing up her tuition/financial aid, or whether she has to wait a while (as dropping my class would drop her below full-time status). And B. As soon as she can without it being a financial problem, she needs to withdraw from my course--and as long as she absolutely remembers to withdraw, she can stop doing any work for me.

My hunch is that she didn't fully realize that she got credit for 101 (though I'm sure Cathy explained that about a zillion times), and that--of course--she didn't go to Advisement before making her schedule but just signed up for what she thought she needed.

I feel a little sorry for her. But not very.

Meanwhile, I've stuck a fork in reading student stuff today, despite the fact that I just got a sizable job from the Met today and should turn my full attention to it tomorrow. It's going to be a bit of a challenge for me, because it's really too much to print (well over 100 pages, though there isn't much text on any single page and a lot of the pages are images, which I don't need to print), and I do not edit well on the screen. I could print everything at Staples--that wouldn't break the bank (and would be a tax-deductible business expense) but I think it makes more sense to just print the pages with text, even from my sloooooow printer, and work from there.

And yes, I need a new printer. That's an expense I keep kicking further down the road.

Further on the "things that frustrate me" front, I am once again clueless about the status of the job for the NYPL. I sent an email this morning asking whether I'm likely to see more materials or should submit my invoice and I have heard nada, zip, zilch. I know the little assistant person I've been dealing with is deep in a tangle of getting the exhibition up, but really, what does it take to answer an email? "Yep, you're done" or "Oh, yeah, you'll see the labels. Don't know when. Soon." Either would be fine; it just would be nice to get a fucking reply.

Writing for myself? Not happening. That will probably be sidelined entirely until the semester is over--and maybe further, if I keep getting freelance gigs, which would be a small disappointment but more a relief, as any revenue stream is helpful in what feels like a financial desert. Reading anything of substance--like the Antonio Damassio book I was so proud to have picked up again? Uh, not likely. I need enough brain to really think for that--in fact, to stay on top of what he's saying, I have to not only annotate but take notes--and I just don't have the brain to spare when I'm juggling the freelancing and thrashing through the weeds of student syntax.

But it's all good. Life is good. I wouldn't trade it for the alternative, that's for sure.