I have two weeks left until classes start--two weeks from today is the first day.
If you count from when the internet platform becomes available, I have slightly less time (it comes up for student use on Saturday, 8/17).
And I am not ready.
I would have been, had I only been teaching Comp I--one class to prep for is much easier than two. I've already got that class's textbook ready to load. I still need to find the Course Policy Statement and revise it, and put together a course schedule that includes due dates.
Comp II complicates everything a bit. I need to revise that class's book, now that I have it rewritten, and find the CPS, and create the schedule.
Then, I need to load everything into the course enhancement sites, and write a welcome message. And instructions that they need to keep track of due dates and things, because they'll need to print their own crap and bring it to class with them.
And the kids are restless, unhappy, and LOUD--they've been either screaming in sheer joy of playing with each other, or screaming at each other for several days, now. I normally love the joyful screaming, but...it gets hard to concentrate on what I need to be doing.
Hopefully, I can get the class stuff done and loaded today, so that I can forget about it until Monday, 8/19. And get back to my everyday writing and blogging without having that sword of Damocles hanging over me.
1 hour ago
Don't worry, we'll get you back to being Sisyphus soon enough...
ReplyDeleteAre you comparing trying to keep up a writing schedule with rolling a giant rock up a hill?
DeleteSurprisingly apt.
My wife goes back to school this week for pre-planning. She's a special education teacher, she gets the severely mentally disabled. I taught for three years and then said to hell with that. I admire people who can do it. Somebody has to.
ReplyDeleteI teach college, so it's not really comparable with what your wife does. She's a saint.
DeleteTeaching at a college must be even more political than public schools. It takes some intestinal fortitude to do that. Or, I should say, to do it well. Seems to me you put a lot of effort into it. That's rare in my experience. Most people in education, whatever level, seem to just burn out. I did.
ReplyDeleteI avoid the political aspects. Which means avoiding my colleagues as much as possible. I teach in the library, and hold my office hours there. I write my own textbooks because all of the really good ones are so slanted to the left that they're nearly horizontal, and it's NOT OUR JOB to brainwash the kids in ideological topics.
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