Due to my strange week, I've been able to get a lot of stuff done -- errands, shopping and the like -- that I wouldn't normally have time for until the weekend hit. Because of my short days this week almost all of those sorts of things were taken care of after classes, before I came home for the night. For example, there's already a fresh tank of gas in my car, and enough food in the fridge/pantry to last me another week or two -- as well as plenty of food and litter for the cats. Aside from grading my students' papers and performing a little weekly busywork for my poetry class, there's not a whole lot to do. I've seen most of my students' papers already, and for the most part they seem remarkably good, so I doubt it will take an incredibly long time to grade through them. There are, however, still forty of them. I technically started unit 2 on Thursday, but we're getting into the real readings/lessons of it this coming Tuesday, and they have their first quiz over assigned readings that morning as well.
I don't like to give quizzes in my class. I don't want to be "that guy" who expects his students to be perfect all the time, and know every little detail of their readings and assignments. I don't want to be "that guy" because when I was an undergrad at WVU ten years ago, I hated "that guy." While I try to hold my students to the highest standards possible in their work, as you know I try to be the most laid-back instructor I can be. Yes, I'm strict on many things, but I'm also fair and understanding whenever possible -- I'm not heartless. I know these students are engineering students with simply massive courseloads of work to do any given semester...but I also know they're some of the most intelligent, articulate students in the entire school, and skating the lines between departmental standards, my own standards, and knowing what they're capable of is, at times, quite difficult. I've always said that as a teacher at the college level, I learn just as many things about my students as they learn in my courses -- they're just different things.
Anyway, because all of my errands are pretty much finished, I have several small things around the house that I have time to do this weekend which I normally wouldn't. For example, I'd actually like to cook something -- a big pot of soup, or several days' worth of dinners, perhaps. I'd also like to make some more homemade laundry detergent (as much as I have the materials for, anyway) and work on a special tie-dye project I've been doing in secret for someone important. My allergies are killing me, too -- the weather's been alternating between cold and warm, and no matter what I do or what medicines I take, I've been fairly miserable for the past three or four days most of the time. I suppose spring is here -- my allergies become particularly violent in March until I get used to the weather shifts.
Ah, yes, it's March. It's that mid-semester month that seems like it will go slowly, but never does. In fact, March always goes really fast, whether I want it to or not. Not only are midterms during March, but so is the changeover to daylight saving time and Spring Break. My Spring Break is eleven days long, total and including weekends -- the first five days of which I will be in West Virginia visiting family and friends. There will also more than likely be a few days where I don't have my poetry class during this month, as our professor is on a month-long book tour (well, basically, that's what it is) where he's in and out of town a lot. Tenured, highly-respected/highly-paid professors can do that if they want to, and his book is fantastic, so I don't fault him in the least. I know I'll do the same thing if my work ever gets as highly-praised as his.
Of course, winning the department fellowship would be a good start down that path. Again, I don't think I will, but it would be nice. Several people I know think I have a good shot at it, at least, which makes me feel nice, but again -- while I may ooze confidence (and borderline narcissism) at times about everything else in my life, I am overly critical of my writing. Hardcore overly critical. And I tend to be pretty humble about it. I know a lot of people like it, yes, but it's really hard for me to look at it from an outside perspective.
I just took a picture of my cat Sadie, who on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, is laying in the sun on my Man Cave's floor and snoring. Yes, snoring:
See?I love this little cat. Aside from a few humans (like Andrea, Brittany, and Suri), she's the best friend I have in the world.
So, the slog forward continues for the rest of the weekend. I don't have a ton to do, but I certainly have enough. Once everyone returns from AWP next week and classes get back to normal, my regular workload will resume for about ten days or so before Spring Break starts and I get to visit home for a few days. While I'm not looking forward to another two weeks of the daily grind before I get a bunch of time off, I am looking forward to getting my important stuff done and to getting out of Kansas for a few days, even if the flight schedule there and back may be a hassle.
I'll keep you updated, of course, on how things progress on all fronts over the next few weeks. Depending on how busy and/or sleep-deprived I get, I or may not be writing here a whole lot -- but of course, I will try my best to keep everyone informed on my life's events.
Well, what I can tell, anyway...
No comments:
Post a Comment