Last paper graded, and mid-semester grades in, a solid 51 minutes before the deadline. Go, me. What I really want to do is thank the student whose paper I happened to read last, because it was a truly lovely piece, and instead of critique, I got to write suggestions about how she might develop it […]
Rewarding, But Challenging Read More »
Jeez, grading papers is somehow even harder than usual. I generally make a big stack, put it in sets of 4, and then give myself a break between every 4 papers. Today, I want a break after every paper. Which will make grading spread over three days instead of one. Nose, meet grindstone. C’mon, there’s
Breaks Can Be Productive Read More »
The discussion continues to rage in parent forums about whether we should be going back for in-person schooling. Apparently, many suburbs near us are back to hybrid already. If it’s true that Oak Park is staying remote longer than other districts, it’s interesting to me WHY that is. – one odd thing about Oak Park
The Discussion Continues to Rage Read More »
Spent three hours (!) yesterday recording another podcast episode with my co-host Benjamin Rosenbaum and perennial guest Jed Hartman. We’re getting ready to launch a Kickstarter VERY SHORTLY — I think on the 15th, if I can get everything together in time. It’s exciting! Also a bit nerve-wracking. We’ve recorded a full season, at least,
Made my way to the porch this morning; I’m listening to a gardening podcast and trying to wake up. It’s supposed to start raining in a few hours, and the air feels rich and moist. I kind of want to dig up some more irises and divide them — if I can get mine replanted
Maybe I Could Sit Here a Little Longer Read More »
In my post-colonial lit. class, I assign one of my own stories among the other readings in the first week, mostly so they can get to know me a little better, but it’s also pretty relevant to the course material and helps set them up for what’s to come. It’s always sort of interesting when
Most of my students are keeping up really well with the asynchronous teaching, but I have 4 students who participated the first 2 weeks but then stopped turning things in. I sent them queries last week, no response. I sent much firmer queries today, in the vein of: ‘You are failing right now, please let
Check Your E-mail, Kids Read More »
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
Not Much Joy in That Read More »
Very sad, and I’m really feeling for the parents who have sent their kids back, and are worrying even more now. This kid had a hidden disease that was triggered by catching Covid — none of us can know if our kids might have a similarly rare hidden condition. [Editing to note — I misunderstood
For anyone teaching post-colonial lit., Gastropod has two recent podcast episodes (both 45 minutes, I think) that I’d recommend, which you might want to share with your students (would be appropriate for high school as well as college, probably younger too): “Moo-Dunnit: How Beef Replaced Bison on the American Plains — and Plate” (9/15/20) “This
History Through Food Read More »
