Now What?

I've posted final grades and submitted them to my respective departments.

So, what now?

When someone (me) is used to working 18 hours a day, an unstructured day can be a curse. Last night, after I averaged my grades, I picked up my knitting needles and knitted a scarf (big needles, chunky yarn), then began another. I can knit a skinny scarf in an evening and can make scarves in many colors for gifts or for myself. I'll do more knitting because I've ignored it this semester. I won't ignore my writing, but knitting can be just as therapeutic.

I need to start planning my Christmas baking. I usually bake chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies, but I may try something different this year. Still need to make the CC, though; people in my family depend on those.

But, I think, for the next few days, I will just hunker down and do as little as possible. That might be difficult for me, but I'm going to do my best to work less.

Finished!

Except for posting the grades in Compass...

I just finished reading the worst set of essays I've ever read.  It's as though they universally forgot everything I told them about writing essays--no thesis statements (or lame ones), no proofreading--you name it.  And I told them that.  I believe in truth.  And I let them know why I thought that, too.

Well, at least I'm done for now.  I don't have any more papers to grade for the semester. 

After I post the grades, I'm going to write for a while, maybe take a nap, maybe bake some banana bread.  I don't know.  I think I'll just wait a while before I jump into the "getting ready for next semester" mode, though I did sneak into that yesterday in a desperate attempt to NOT grade those essays.

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Yesterday, I did manage to grade an entire set of finals for my Intro to Fiction class.  That was one of the best classes this semester.  My students were funny.  I always have to overcome the "I don't think fiction is important" mentality--a challenge--before we get down to business.  By the end of this semester, though, some of my students were writing 14-page papers (and they're not English majors!); they still need help with thesis statements, but at least they're thinking and developing opinions.  And they'll disagree with me and one another, which is fine as long as they can support their ideas.

I'm just ready for a break.  Teaching five classes--four of them writing classes--is not a picnic.  I taught a freshman comp & lit course online for the first time this semester and that was a challenge, too, though I automated most of the quizzes so I didn't have to grade a ton of papers--just a couple of writing assignments each week.

In the spring, I'm going in two days a week (I hope that doesn't change), and teaching two on line classes; in the fall, if I get the freshman comp (part 1) on line, I'll be prepping four classes and teaching three on line.  I must be crazy.

I do like teaching on line, but I like face-to-face interactions, too.  On line teaching allows me the freedom to work from home, but I like seeing my students and talking with them.  If I could only get more of them to use Skype, that would be good. 

Well, time for more coffee and to tackle a novel.  Later....

The Semester Careens to a Close...

As much as I like my students, I'm always excited when the semester ends because that means a new semester is about to begin. And, somewhere between the two, I might actually have a couple of days where I don't have to do ANY coursework, though I will be setting up my spring courses, making out schedules, etc. But I can glean several days where I'm not tied to the computer grading papers or answering endless frantic emails about why someone didn't submit an assignment, or how I just HAVE to pass someone because he/she NEEDS to pass the class to keep his/her scholarship, financial aid, job, whatever.

I think, over the holidays, I'm going to work up a Word file of standard replies. Then, when I get these kinds of emails, I can just cut and paste my responses. It will cut down on the time required to respond to emails.

Another thing I think I'm going to do is make a list of "Ms. Smith's Acronyms" so I can just use initials instead of spelling things out, kind of like text messaging abbreviations. For example, "NMM" stands for "Not My Monkey," which, translated, can mean several things, depending on the context. It could mean "Not my problem," or it could mean, "I don't know what you expect me to do about it," or it could also mean, "I don't care why you didn't submit the work; I'm not grading it." See what I mean?

And "NSS" stands for "No S**t, Sherlock," meaning that the statement (usually the thesis statement in an essay) is so obvious that it doesn't need to be written. An example of this is, "William Shakespeare is considered one of the greatest writers of all times, and that means that 'Othello' is one of the greatest plays of all times." Trust me, I get these all the time. [I have to credit my friend, Nicole--she uses this in her classes, and, when she mentioned it, I thought I'd borrow it.] A good translation, and a more polite one, would be "Duh."

Another of my favorites is "SOL." The polite translation is "So out of luck," but it really translates to "S**t out of luck," which means, of course, that the student's goose is cooked. It's one of my favorite acronyms, really, and I try to use it whenever I can.

That would be fun for me, but I hope my students have a collective sense of humor. And, even if they didn't--my class, my rules.

Now just to get all of these assignments graded, grades posted and turned in. Just a week to go. Whoo-hoo!