That week. The week where there is so very much to do and the ever-swelling sea of requests from colleagues across campus to send my students to this talk and to come myself to this performance and I just want to start screaming "Do you know what week this is? Do you? Because it is THAT WEEK!" That week when the Deanlet for Student Content sends a helpful note about some article in The Crampicle about how we all should be doing INSERTFADHERE to really be effective in the classroom and you know you shouldn't open the e-mail, but you do, and you have to restrain yourself from replying - Really, when was the last time you taught a class of freshmen? It's that week.
It's also the week with Election Day. Dr. Amelia voted early in hopes that she could stop paying attention to the festering insult war that the US has apparently become. Didn't work. Should have voted for the meteor.
You guys be good to each other. And to me. Because it is that week.
Yes, that week where we feel like a fire hydrant at a dog convention. For me, it was actually last week. If a student misses a midterm, I put the weight on the final. I don't get many absences as a result of this policy. Usually. With interview season upon us, one skittle pooping unicorn told me he was going to skip my exam so he could better prepare for an interview. That put me in my place.
ReplyDeleteA nasty bug has gone through my campus. And one kid managed to concuss himself slipping on a step. And today, I get to go to mandatory data security training. It'll be an hour of my life I'll never get back. It's glorified common sense, but we have to do it every year because, um, oh hell I don't know.
I voted early. I forgot to write in the meteor. I'll watch the results Tuesday but I may not be entirely sober before I turn in. Good luck with the little ones getting used to the time change!
That week was last week for me, too, but it started the week before and will extend into this week.
ReplyDeleteThe students are doing what they always do. What's surprising is that my colleagues seem to be actively trying to out-snowflake the students.
This semester can't end quickly enough. Some nights, as I lay me down to sleep, I contemplate the pleasure of medically-induced coma.
We stand together, fellow Miserians.
If none of you are using the meteor, could you direct it towards Batshit U? Preferably on my day off, of course.
ReplyDeleteFor obvious reasons, I don't get a vote, but I'll be watching from behind the sofa.
I feel like we should all hold hands until this week----and very especially this election is over. I feel we are standing on the brink.
ReplyDeleteAmen (to all of the above, and especially anything we can do to be kind to and supportive of each other, and our real-world colleagues).
ReplyDeleteI like EC1's choice of observation post, though I'm inclined to favor crawling into the bathtub and pulling my mattress over me. I'll most likely settle for crawling into bed and pulling the covers over my head, at least until it's all over, or maybe just disconnecting from media for most of the day (after voting, of course).
I teach on Wednesday, and, in addition to it's being THAT WEEK (or more like the beginning of THAT MONTH -- the one where I hold an individual draft conference with each of my c. 90 students, while trying not to completely lose track of other aspects of teaching, let alone the rest of my life, and trying to be both kind and realistic in dealing with the hopelessly-behind students who periodically pop out of the woodwork -- or, more often, up in my inbox, and seem to expect me to be as focused on the almost-certainly-impossible task of helping them catch up as they, at least briefly, are), I should perhaps give some thought to how frightened and upset some of my students might be by one possible outcome of the election. I guess I'm still hoping that it isn't really possible (or at least isn't going to happen), but if things don't go well (from my point of view, and the point of view of many of my students), I probably need to be prepared to be the somewhat-calmer (or at least calm-appearing) adult who says "I understand why you're worried, and you've got reason to be, but we've still got a constitution and a judicial system. Let's wait and see what happens."
I hope to be celebrating a milestone in American democracy the symbolism of which I can fully embrace (even as I hold my breath a bit about how well things work out with the real-world, all-too-human candidate), but I suspect that, at least on many campuses, the true teachable moments (or at least the ones that will require many of us to be the adults in the room) will come if we elect one more white male (with some, um, unique qualities).
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ReplyDeleteEVERY week is THAT week here. If you think YOUR students are bad, remember that MINE were caught fucking a sheep.
ReplyDeleteWhat horns me off MOST about INSERTFADHERE is that, if you point out its ineffectiveness/untested nature/unscientific premises/logical inconsistencies/contrariety to experience/complete nonsensicality, the pundits pushing it will give you a LOOK like you're some kind of U.F.O. enthusiast. They THEN will give each other LOOKS with that SMUGNESS that says, "We IN THE KNOW alone are IN THE KNOW, because we're IN THE KNOW."
IT MAKES ME WANT TO STAPLE THEIR DICKS (and Janes) TO THE FLOOR!
All of my children have four legs, but they don't understand daylight savings either.
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