I’m hitting a point where I just don’t want to work anymore. Grading, in particular, is more awful than it ever was, and it was never good.
I think it’s 6+ months of pandemic, aggravated by going back to teaching but not getting to be in the classroom. The work of teaching tilts much more heavily towards drudgery when I don’t get to see their smiling faces and enjoy the back-and-forth of quick classroom conversation, seeing those lightbulb moments when they make a connection and understand something they didn’t before.
I actually think my students are learning as much, possibly even more, with the discussion board conversations, but it’s much less fun for me.
I’m sure there are things I could do to inject more fun into it, but it’s a tricky balance to not make unnecessary work for the students, many of whom are also having a hard time right now. Mostly, I keep thinking of that saying, “walk lightly on thin ice.” That’s what it feels like right now, teaching. I’m on thin ice, so are the students, let’s do what we have to, to get through the semester with our learning goals fulfilled.
Not a lot of joy in that, though.