Accountablogging

I'm finally on the upswing here with my cold. I knew I was on the upswing better when I was getting angry at being sick. That's usually a sure sign that things are getting better.

I made a good faith effort yesterday to grade all those things I took up before break. I got through four. Oh dear lord. These lit analyses were abysmal. And this was from the good class. I seriously wonder how some of the people made it past 102. The second essay I read was plagiarized. This put me in a seriously bad mood, from which I did not recover until the afternoon. At which point I was exhausted from back to back teaching and couldn't bear to read any more essays. So I didn't. I read 4 out of about 25.

However, today, since I'm feeling better (yay for the nurse finally calling me back and telling me about a better OTC medicine I could take!!), I am determined, come hell or high water, regardless of whether the essays continue to be bad or not, to finish those damn things during my office hours this afternoon. I'd be more upset with my teaching if a) the classes were actually keeping up with the reading; b) the students were paying attention (I see lots of cell phones out and texting happening in both classes); c) students showed up to class; d) the vast majority of the essays were not on just the first text we read of the quarter. As this assignment is a successful assignment, and as I have not changed my teaching, which has historically been very successful for this class, I feel like I'm upholding my end of the bargin here. It's probably time for a come to Jesus speech for them (something I've not had to do since the first quarter I taught here), but it seems that after four quarters of great classes, I've finally gotten some survey duds (not counting the abysmal 101 class from last spring, but everyone was struggling with comp last spring).

I'm thankful though that I've gotten the reading and the prep for the survey class for the next two weeks over and done with. And it will be easy to get ahead next week before their exams come in (the rest of th quarter in that class is cake for me--my favorite stuff and the stuff I'm really good at teaching--ironically, half of which is not in my field). So I'm happy for that.

Okay, I promised some accountablogging.

Now that I'm on the upswing with this cold and I'm starting to get a little more energy every day right now, I've got to take advantage of this. And I've got to get things organized. And I've got to come up with Financial, Academic, and Research/Writing plans for the next 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. I think I mentioned on my New Year's post that we were trying to buy a house. Yeah, that fell through, and we're not going to try again until next year. While in the long run it would have been nice to be settled into a permanent place, be able to paint a nursery, have a bit more space, trying to move, write, and stay above water during this quarter might have been too much anyway. So, since the goal is to try to get a house where our mortgage payment is lower than what we're paying for rent (entirely possible, even without a down payment), I am going to spend this year cleaning up our credit so that we can get a really good loan next year and refinance the car and get that payment lowered. But I need a plan. It sucks, but it needs to be done anyway.

I've got a conference paper and an article to write before the kid gets here, so I've got to come up with a plan of attack for that, too. And I've got to be more efficient with my office hours and force myself to get the grading done in there even when I'm grumpy, exhauted, and unmotivated. It will work out best for everyone, including myself. And I'm really hoping that I get a MWF schedule next quarter, too. I think that will make things significantly easier for me and my ability to work and get the rest I need.

And I've got to get organized. The ever allusive organization. I've got to take advantage of the J being gone for drill on Saturday.

So here's the to do for the next two days:

Today

• finish the survey grading come hell or high water during office hours today--I'm giving it my best shot. I've gotten through 18 already, but the task may be too large for me to finish during my office hours today. I may have to finish them up tomorrow before class, but damn, these things are TERRIBLE! Seriously! Some of them have things in them that didn't even happen in the text! I just don't have the energy for this! I have 10 left. If I can get through four more, just four, then I'll be happy, and I'll finish them up tomorrow. Sheesh! I mean really. I'm on the bad class now, the class that refuses to read, and it's apparent they're not as they're just making shit up about the text. I finally finished those damn things on Wednesday.
• set up gradebook for said grades (I know, I know, almost at midterm and I haven't done that yet)
• clean kitchen and make dinner I did that on Wednesday morning.
• read for novel class Finished that up on Wednesday.

Tomorrow

• Finish the novel class lit assignments during office hours
• finish Thursday's reading 
• work for one hour in the office cleaning/organizing That has yet to happen because I'm exhausted from the grading.
• easy dinner for dinner
• get readings together for the short stories for the novel class (I know, it's not really a novel class, but I guess it's just as easy to call it Lit class rather than novel class)

So that's it. Not a long list, but I feel it's a hefty one. Now I'm going to eat and try to get to campus early to grade. Yay!