Snow Day!

Well, it's not really a "snow day" per se, but there was legit concern yesterday about the interstate icing over (parts of it were closed down yesterday), and the weather was to continue last night through noon today in some parts around here, so the campus is closed today! Yay! I needed this extra day off this week. I was going to use to it start grading the midterm exams that are coming in today, and I did actually start on them bright and early (about 6:30 am), and I've already given up. I'm annoyed with them and with that class.

For example: When I went over the take home exam a week ago, I said, "don't turn in two separate essays. Put it all in the same document. The submission system only allows one submission. If you break the midterm into two different essays and two different documents, you won't be able to do both. Does everyone understand?" Class: "Yes." Then every class period after that, I reiterated this point. "Write part one. Then double space, put 'Part II' and then continue all in one document." Last night I get several emails from my problem class--"I don't know what to do! The system will only let me upload one of my essays, and I don't know how to get the other one up, and please help me now!" ARGH! I have no patience with this class whatsoever.

I think I had mentioned that only five of the the thirty students had read Douglass, right? I don't have the time or energy for quizzes, so for their midterm essay, I required that they all write on Douglass as part of the exam. On Monday a student asks me to go over how Douglass fits into the exam question. I said, "No. I will not go over that." Another student (the super annoying one) says, "well, the reason she's asking is because there are a lot of us in the class that are really struggling with this." I said: "Yes, I know you are. You know why? Because most of you did not bother to read Douglass during the time it was assigned and when I went over it in class. I spent over a week discussing *exactly* how Douglass fits into the exam question. I even pointed out quotes in class where some of these moments happen. Had you read it when it was assigned you would not be struggling. But that ship has passed. That unit is gone. Find someone who took good notes then. But I'm not reteaching Douglass because you didn't read it when I taught it when it was assigned. Good luck." Four whole days I spent on Douglass.

I graded six exams. And truthfully, I told myself I'd grade for an hour, and I did. Now, I'm not going to blow off my lucky school closure day. Don't worry. But I think I really need to compartmentalize my work and actually stick to grading during office hours. Grading at home makes me grumpy, and I told them not to expect these exams for a week. Sure, maybe I should then spend the equivalent of what I'd spend in my office grading today, and perhaps if I'm feeling motivated I will, but what I'd really rather do is spend this lovely wonderful welcome mid-week day off reading for next week's Lit class. That's where the action needs to be. And this will do more for my sanity and making sure that I can use my office hours for grading only if I get all that stuff read. My ultimate goal for the day is to get at least Tuesday's stuff read and then spend an hour or two cleaning this madhouse. It's a mess, but I've been trying to focus on staying ahead in class so that I can keep my stress level down (and grade in a timely manner during my office hours), so that I can do things like, I don't know, get enough sleep so I can work out, stay on top of the house work, things like that. We just finally took the tree down and put the Christmas decorations away last night! I teared up a little. I don't want Christmas to be over. But alas. I can wait 11 more months.

So anyway, I will spend this much needed day lollygagging around with my book and enjoying the solitude of the day to spend most of it reading. Unless I read today, I won't be officially "ahead" any longer, so I need to get ahead and stay that way. But what I was going to say is that now that I'm ahead, which is the first time this academic year, I am enjoying reading for class. And maybe it's because I'm feeling better. Maybe it's because I'm doing stuff in my field and I'm discovering new things, but this is the first time in a while that I prefer to spend my time reading anything than loafing on the couch. And again, maybe it's because I'm finally feeling better. And maybe it's because I'm not stressed out by the prep work right now. But I really wanted today off to read and clean. So forget the midterms. I have plenty of office hours tomorrow to get to them. And I'll have time during the students' in-class midterms to work on them. So I'm not going to stress about that. But right now, I'm off to my chair by the fire to enjoy some great stuff!