#back to grading

[rose-red-ink]

Definitive list of the worst things about teaching

1. Answering parent messages (80% of the time. 20% of the parents are lovely)

2. Grading One Billion Papers

[thatfrenchacademic]

Trying to get grade 70 essays while one day away from a [sports] competition and making sure the other TAs are not having a meltdown which would result in my having to also grade THEIR 70s essays,all with the 黒猫のタンゴ stuck in my head on loop is what hell feels like.

[renee-walker]

I’m pretty much just pretending that last night’s twd didn’t happen, but everyone who is mad at Khary for shipping reasons can come and fight me. He does not write the scripts omfg. *screams into void*

[cyndaquillt]

Nothing worse than writing out detailed feedback on an assignment and all of it getting deleted before I could save it 🙃

[wingedbookworm]

oh my god

he was supposed to be a joke

this can’t be reality.  it just can’t be. because i cannot believe that people support this buffoon who lies and cheats and attacks, who has no credentials whatsoever in the job he is seeking.  I cannot believe that people are so dumb or nieve enough to think that voting for an independant would magically make the problem go away.  

I know i’m not alone, but i just want to throw up. and cry and scream. because this is just wrong. Even if Hillary can manage a win,  how the hell do we come back from this? how can anyone heal this?

[slothquisitor]

....

My life is currently unending piles of grading, emails begging for As, and so many essays.

[sothinky]

What class are you teaching? Just curious of the project you are grading

Sorry I forgot to answer this earlier! I teach FYC: first year composition. So it's the basic writing sequence at our college. The second semester is our heavier research-based writing course. 

Because my students have 5-paragraph essay forms grilled into their brains before they get to college, I specifically don't assign any, opting instead for "real" genres? That said, my case study project isn't exactly a true case study, but it introduces the concept of research study writing, where there's a research question in mind, where there are sections to the piece, and so on. 

But our actual project is more pop-psychology based. They pick a circle of friends or their family circle (or circle of co-workers, even), and personality-type everyone. The goal is to study the relationships they have with individuals in the group, using source materials that describe the personality types in detail. We preface the unit with some explorations of personality and other factors that could influence that . . . so in some ways the study has us questioning the idea of personality typing at all.

Anyway, what I like about it is that rather than students finding quotes from sources to plunk in to go along with some three-point argument they're making, they have to synthesize some things—they really need to read the source material, see how it matches up to their experiences, and so on. They need to think about those relationships, and have some specific examples from their lives with the people they study to share, in order to elucidate the observations they make. Plus they need to be focused, and pinpoint a small number of observations about the relationships that they can then explore in depth; they can't just make a laundry list of ways they are similar and different from a friend (that's what some would like to do). It's definitely not something you can plunk quotes into easily, either. 

They end up enjoying it, because they find it interesting, and even if typing isn't hard science by a longshot, it gets them thinking about key differences they have between themselves and others, regarding how they process information, make decisions, order their worlds . . . So it ends up being a good starting point for their considering how they get along (or don't) with various people. They also like writing in a genre they never have, or at least feeling like it's a genre that exists outside of school.

Also interesting is how much they write. It's a minimum 1,400 word thing, but that's there mostly to get some of the struggling students at a basic quantity. Most of them end up writing 7-10 pages, because they get into it. 

[heykkkkatie]

I know I've posted so few things since, like, ever, but here's a quick list of what's up:

Three+ preps is insane. But you already know ;)

I think--I think--I'm winning over the seniors. They're a tough crowd with attitude for dayyyyyys, but after school on Friday I had a classroom full of them working on their English assignments/hanging out. It is a tremendous privilege when 17 year olds opt to dedicate their Friday afternoons to hanging with a teacher and completing her assignments--one that I will never take for granted.

Back to School night was last Thursday and, although it was a longgggg day (i.e at school from 6am-9pm EW), I got so many hugs from sophomores and their PARENTS thanking me for last year. Aweee.

I haven't been able to leave school in under 11 hours a single day this year so far. And that's just keeping up with everything current! I am NOT getting ahead AT ALL! How some of you balance planning/grading/teaching at this level is awe inspiring to me.

I have to keep reminding myself to not ignore my freshies this year--I am placing A LOT of emphasis on my seniors and, as a result, I tend to overlook planning and grading well for my sole English I class. I totally have to not do that.

Justin and I bought a juicer a month ago and, seriously, I have no idea if this is mental but I totally don't care: I haven't felt this good in like, ever. Although school is stressful and long and I'm sleeping just as little, everything seems a bit more managable when I start it with a weirdly green juice of kale, spinach, apple, and lime. (+coffee, which completely might cancel out the juice but WHATEVER no me importa).

I decided against my natural inclination to hermit myself up every weekend and stress out about school and have committed to driving to Michigan in October to celebrate my sorority sister's wedding! Another sister lives here in DC and we'll be driving together. I'm wayyyyyyy excited :D

We have a late start on Tuesday for "Professional Development" but in classic my school style this will not be helpful to my development as a teacher at all. The topic is dedicated to a particular saint that my school is named after and his educational approach. For two hours. All of which I learned about last year at extra new teacher PD meetings. Ughhhhhh.

We are still without a librarian, a College Writing teacher, two Theology teachers, and a Heritage (Spanish-speaking) teacher. And--as many of you know--my school doesn't have any outside substitutes, so SURPRISE! I have become a College Writing teacher sooooooooooo I'm down a planning period indefinitely. Sigh. 

Although everything is just as stressful (if not more) than last year, I'm trying my best to stay positive. I do love these students. I absolutely do. These ones are going to test my patience a bit more than any other year I've taught, I think, but I adore them nonetheless. There is a lot of individuality, creativity, personality, and thoughtfulness in this class--I can't wait to help them realize it :)