...they're going to be pretty displeased with me when they don't get them back until sometime between November 14th-17th.
The problems with being a graduate instructor in a big school are these:
1. I can't devote as much time to them as they deserve.
2. I'm feeling increasingly less guilty about that, despite this being directly against what I want for myself as a teacher. I think things like, why do they have to ask so many questions?, and, the final revisions aren't due until December 12th, so it's not like they're going to actually do any revision until about the 9th anyway. Which in some cases is most likely true, but not in all of them; not everyone's as incurable a procrastinator as I seem to be.
'Cause I'm doing my usual ridiculous thing (my dad admits to having done this same thing all through his PhD work), this if I'm doing fifteen other work-type things, it's okay that I'm not doing the work that's actually coming due! So tonight I should have been researching for ESL-P or doing preliminary op-ed grades, or at least correcting my students' extra-credit assignments. But instead I started reading The Knight of the Burning Pestle for class (I have to have it all read by Tuesday), I got some exercise, I cleaned various apartment surfaces, and I made cornbread. (And I stared at the internet, as I do whenever I don't get enough sleep, both before and after watching Jeopardy!). And now it's nearing midnight, despite that I was hoping (read: lying to myself) that I would be in bed by, like, nine-thirty.
I lie to myself a lot when it comes to bedtime.
Oh, and about my pipe dream of applying to adjunct at Alfred State: um, let's hope this state-employee, until-further-notice hiring freeze is over soon, and that it doesn't apply to community colleges (technically owned by the SUNY system), or upon my graduation in May '09, I will be all manner of hopelessly unemployed. Unless AU wants to take adjunctive pity on a starving alum. I guess I should give them some money soon or something, huh?
10.30.2008
10.27.2008
Countdown
I'm going to Alfred for the square dance on November 7th. But apparently, thinking back to the DC trip, there's this rule that I have to spend a week or two in scholastic misery anytime I want to leave Binghamton in favor of joy and wonder. This time around, here are the things I have to do between now and then:
-By the 30th: finish my half of the Duchess of Malfi draft (it's a pair-written paper). I've been trying for two or three weeks to get Scott to explain the thesis to me in a way I can understand. I know that theoretically I should have come up with half this thesis myself, but arguing with Scott is not something I've done well until recently, and he had this big idea. So for the rough draft we'd divided things up so that I was giving background with my half and he was drawing whatever brilliant conclusion he was drawing with his. Predictably enough, when the draft came back, Dr. Tricomi had picked faults in Scott's half and more or less rejected my half outright because it didn't follow the thesis. So Scott has to be more articulate, and I have to start from scratch, and we've been trying to revise it, but we only have until Thursday. Every time I try to work on it, I end up having to talk to Scott, and ninety minutes later, I think for the nth time that this time I really do understand the argument we're making and what my half of the paper's going to entail. I keep being wrong, but let's hope I'm right ruddy soon, because my six-to-seven pages are due this Thursday. I'm running out of time to stare at Scott blankly or argue with him crabbily.
-By the 31st: have 111's extra-credit assignments graded and actually have my lesson plan wrangled together (heh, good luck to me on that one).
-By November 3rd, in theory (read: fat chance): have my students' op-ed drafts graded.
-By November 5th: have my ESL Pedagogy paper drafted (5-10 pages) from scratch, despite not getting to even start the research until about November 1st.
-On the 31st and the 6th: observe ESL writing classes with Natasha.
-On the 3rd, 5th, and 7th: teach for a (very small) audience again--Scott this time, 'cause it's for his ENG 589 class. He and I are probably going to be pretty sick of each other by the end of the semester, all things considered (see below).
In between all this: do my schoolwork, what else of it there is; teach my students; start planning the two classes that Scott and I have to also teach about Duchess of Malfi; actually, like, vote or something.
It's going to be an (over)eventful time, in which maybe God will do amazing-feeling things and I'll follow Him brilliantly and get all my work done successfully and relatively painlessly. May it be. In the meantime, I have stocked up on groceries and am going to bed, so's to get up around 5 tomorrow morning and take another hopeless-feeling crack at that Duchess essay. Pray for me and wish me the best.
-By the 30th: finish my half of the Duchess of Malfi draft (it's a pair-written paper). I've been trying for two or three weeks to get Scott to explain the thesis to me in a way I can understand. I know that theoretically I should have come up with half this thesis myself, but arguing with Scott is not something I've done well until recently, and he had this big idea. So for the rough draft we'd divided things up so that I was giving background with my half and he was drawing whatever brilliant conclusion he was drawing with his. Predictably enough, when the draft came back, Dr. Tricomi had picked faults in Scott's half and more or less rejected my half outright because it didn't follow the thesis. So Scott has to be more articulate, and I have to start from scratch, and we've been trying to revise it, but we only have until Thursday. Every time I try to work on it, I end up having to talk to Scott, and ninety minutes later, I think for the nth time that this time I really do understand the argument we're making and what my half of the paper's going to entail. I keep being wrong, but let's hope I'm right ruddy soon, because my six-to-seven pages are due this Thursday. I'm running out of time to stare at Scott blankly or argue with him crabbily.
-By the 31st: have 111's extra-credit assignments graded and actually have my lesson plan wrangled together (heh, good luck to me on that one).
-By November 3rd, in theory (read: fat chance): have my students' op-ed drafts graded.
-By November 5th: have my ESL Pedagogy paper drafted (5-10 pages) from scratch, despite not getting to even start the research until about November 1st.
-On the 31st and the 6th: observe ESL writing classes with Natasha.
-On the 3rd, 5th, and 7th: teach for a (very small) audience again--Scott this time, 'cause it's for his ENG 589 class. He and I are probably going to be pretty sick of each other by the end of the semester, all things considered (see below).
In between all this: do my schoolwork, what else of it there is; teach my students; start planning the two classes that Scott and I have to also teach about Duchess of Malfi; actually, like, vote or something.
It's going to be an (over)eventful time, in which maybe God will do amazing-feeling things and I'll follow Him brilliantly and get all my work done successfully and relatively painlessly. May it be. In the meantime, I have stocked up on groceries and am going to bed, so's to get up around 5 tomorrow morning and take another hopeless-feeling crack at that Duchess essay. Pray for me and wish me the best.
10.24.2008
::feeling like Sally Field::
I haven't read my second class's midsemester evaluations of the course yet, and they're probably going to be a bit more critical just because some of my students in there are generally more critical, but the ones from my first class, which I just read over lunch, are a huge relief. My class isn't perfect, of course, but most of them like it, or at least feel it's been worth their time, and are generally cool with my teaching so far. I actually had one student (and I think I know who it is, 'cause he drew a picture at the bottom with a figure in it that suggested his last name, which can be read as a noun) say it was one of his favorite classes ever. ("Serious," he added in parentheses.) One student compared me favorably to "other grad TAs" he/she's had (apparently my official status as "instructor" isn't fooling anybody, and I'm considered a TA in the same way I sort of feel like one).
One student called my class "1337" and told me to UrbanDictionary.com it, apparently not thinking I'd know. Haha, I wonder how old they think I am, even after my in-class references to Facebook and Lolcats.
'kay, well, off to go teach them. :)
One student called my class "1337" and told me to UrbanDictionary.com it, apparently not thinking I'd know. Haha, I wonder how old they think I am, even after my in-class references to Facebook and Lolcats.
'kay, well, off to go teach them. :)
10.22.2008
Since I'm (Inappropriately) Still Awake...
...some short takes:
1. You know those corners where buildings or building-wings meet, where the wind bounces off the walls in such a way that leaves get stirred into an upward spiral? If I stood in such a corner with long, loose hair, would it look kind of amusingly wonderful, or would it not work somehow?
2. Apparently I can apply at about any time, once I get my Master's, to adjunct-teach English at Alfred State. I'm pretty sure it's low on the pay-and-benefits scale, but SUNY enrollment is up in these hard times, and housing in Alfred is supposedly not that expensive. It's tempting. Very tempting.
3. Dear Price Chopper Supermarkets,
Roasted-garlic flavor or no, if that is your "mild" salsa, I am staying away from your medium.
4. My brother is apparently going to try out next year, with two friends, for the Winter Olympics in curling. They're not going to make it, but if they did, I would cancel all my classes and go straight to Vancouver and be as adoring a groupie as he could stand. I suppose that would have to involve my officially learning the rules of curling, though, huh?
5. I've come to a decision that took some deep thought. At this highly polarized time of year, it's a risk to take a stand on this at all, but I would feel responsible if people kept assuming my preferences--or lack thereof--falsely, since I grew up holding one position but converted to the other. That is, I've finally concluded that I do like pumpkin pie better than apple. I hope we can all still be friends.
1. You know those corners where buildings or building-wings meet, where the wind bounces off the walls in such a way that leaves get stirred into an upward spiral? If I stood in such a corner with long, loose hair, would it look kind of amusingly wonderful, or would it not work somehow?
2. Apparently I can apply at about any time, once I get my Master's, to adjunct-teach English at Alfred State. I'm pretty sure it's low on the pay-and-benefits scale, but SUNY enrollment is up in these hard times, and housing in Alfred is supposedly not that expensive. It's tempting. Very tempting.
3. Dear Price Chopper Supermarkets,
Roasted-garlic flavor or no, if that is your "mild" salsa, I am staying away from your medium.
4. My brother is apparently going to try out next year, with two friends, for the Winter Olympics in curling. They're not going to make it, but if they did, I would cancel all my classes and go straight to Vancouver and be as adoring a groupie as he could stand. I suppose that would have to involve my officially learning the rules of curling, though, huh?
5. I've come to a decision that took some deep thought. At this highly polarized time of year, it's a risk to take a stand on this at all, but I would feel responsible if people kept assuming my preferences--or lack thereof--falsely, since I grew up holding one position but converted to the other. That is, I've finally concluded that I do like pumpkin pie better than apple. I hope we can all still be friends.
10.17.2008
The good news...and the bad news
Got this e-mail just now. Yay for the assignment! But agh, look at these times!
You are scheduled to teach two sections of WRIT 111, Coming to Voice, in spring 2009. The times of your sections (16 students) each are: [days here] 8:30-9:55 a.m. and [days here] 4:25-5:50 p.m.
You are scheduled to teach two sections of WRIT 111, Coming to Voice, in spring 2009. The times of your sections (16 students) each are: [days here] 8:30-9:55 a.m. and [days here] 4:25-5:50 p.m.
10.16.2008
Also Not About DC Yet
The third presidential debate was much better than the second. But I never want to hear about Joe the Plumber again.
10.14.2008
Season's End (Not About DC Yet)
Weather high today: low 70s (warmer than usual for this time of year, right?).
Tomorrow: high 60s (early-fall usual, what we've been getting for a while now).
Thursday: high 50s.
The next whole week after that: mid-to-low 50s and, one day, high 40s.
And I forgot to bring my fleeces/hoodie out of Syracuse. Heh.
Tomorrow: high 60s (early-fall usual, what we've been getting for a while now).
Thursday: high 50s.
The next whole week after that: mid-to-low 50s and, one day, high 40s.
And I forgot to bring my fleeces/hoodie out of Syracuse. Heh.
10.12.2008
More to Come; For Now, I'm Back
I have triumphantly returned from our nation's capital (not to mention, indirectly, capitol). Photos and anecdotes to come. Sometime. Soon, I think, but we'll see.
10.06.2008
Almost There
My computer's fritzed again. The maintenance people still never see it fritzing.
I finally made the apple crisp tonight that I've been meaning to make for, oh, weeks. It's delicious.
Non-negotiable activities for tomorrow:
-Bible study (9 AM)
-Finish my paper draft (by 1:15)
-Finish the readings/response for ESL Pedagogy (by 5 PM)
-Have dinner with Chung Eun and Dawn (yay!) (at 6 PM)
-Pack(!) for DC(!) (after dinner, etc.)
Should also:
-Hit up Weg-a-mans for a couple of things
-Mail a couple of things that should be mailed
-Find a couple of things that I've misplaced
-Go to sleep right now. Okay, I'm off.
I finally made the apple crisp tonight that I've been meaning to make for, oh, weeks. It's delicious.
Non-negotiable activities for tomorrow:
-Bible study (9 AM)
-Finish my paper draft (by 1:15)
-Finish the readings/response for ESL Pedagogy (by 5 PM)
-Have dinner with Chung Eun and Dawn (yay!) (at 6 PM)
-Pack(!) for DC(!) (after dinner, etc.)
Should also:
-Hit up Weg-a-mans for a couple of things
-Mail a couple of things that should be mailed
-Find a couple of things that I've misplaced
-Go to sleep right now. Okay, I'm off.
10.04.2008
Mini-Update
This week has been a long waking bad dream ("nightmare" is a bit too strong a word, but it was definitely still unpleasant) of schoolwork, particularly because the attendant dearth of sleep made the term "waking" still more apt. My students got their drafts back (see previous entry); perhaps the less said about those, the better. It turns out that I didn't teach the unit as well as I should have. At least the grades are only artificial; they get infinite revision opportunities until semester's end, and anyway, even the lowest grades weren't below C-level (<-weak pun).
I still have assignments to do until Tuesday night, but I'm on break until tomorrow night. I think I'm going to make apple crisp somewhere in there (not a la Tom, but a la the Alpha-Bakery Cookbook, since its recipe is much simpler and--heh, don't tell the Twin--possibly superior).
Oh, and my computer's back to only working when it's downstairs, which's why I haven't been online much. This time I really am going to get the maintenance people to come.
Once Yom Kippur break hits (instead of one midsemester break, we get two mini-breaks; this Monday-Wednesday was for Rosh Hashanah, next Wednesday-Friday is for Yom Kippur), I'm going to DC to see Kristin. That'll be nice. (But I'll be home in time to see you on Sunday, Jo.)
I still have assignments to do until Tuesday night, but I'm on break until tomorrow night. I think I'm going to make apple crisp somewhere in there (not a la Tom, but a la the Alpha-Bakery Cookbook, since its recipe is much simpler and--heh, don't tell the Twin--possibly superior).
Oh, and my computer's back to only working when it's downstairs, which's why I haven't been online much. This time I really am going to get the maintenance people to come.
Once Yom Kippur break hits (instead of one midsemester break, we get two mini-breaks; this Monday-Wednesday was for Rosh Hashanah, next Wednesday-Friday is for Yom Kippur), I'm going to DC to see Kristin. That'll be nice. (But I'll be home in time to see you on Sunday, Jo.)