Today was an exhausting day. The first day back from Spring Break is never easy, but today was more brutal than similar days in years past. I was already tired from having spent much of the previous week grading student papers, so I needed the students to take on their share of the burden. I wasn't too lucky in getting that to happen.
By the way, what you see above is the stack of essays that I graded during my "week off." (I put it next to my briefcase to give you a sense of scale and/or proportion.) Anyone who thinks that all teachers have the luxury of Spring Break never had to lug 186 essays home and try to parcel them out so that you can enjoy yourself a little bit during your alleged "vacation." I managed to finish them all, though, at about 9:30 last night. I even returned four of the eight stacks today, so I'm already halfway done with letting students know where they stand in my class at this (late) point in the semester. That, at least, has been a success so far.
The trouble with today was that the students in myfirst two classes were not ready to come back from Spring Break. A lot of people were absent, and only 17 of the students in the first class submitted their final drafts today, and only about three people had done the assigned reading for the quiz. The second class was even worse. Only 12 papers submitted, but at least five people had done some reading. These are both developmental writing classes, and I'm starting to get worried (more than they are, obviously) that a lot of them will have to repeat the class because they just aren't doing the work. Yes, I know it was cruel of me to expect them to do work during Spring Break. Have I drawn your attention to the picture above yet?
The freshman composition class this afternoon was also filled with too many people who hadn't done the reading. This is a book we're going to talk about for the next two weeks, and many of them haven't started it yet. It's going to be the focus of their final research paper of the semester, and a few of them didn't even have it with them today. Sigh. Trying to get them to talk about the book--the ones who had read, anyway--was almost a futile effort until I forced them to sit in a circle and confront each other. Surprisingly, they did better once they had to face each other. I may have them sit in a circle for the rest of the semester.
A good night's sleep will, undoubtedly, make me feel better. I'm hopeful that Tuesday's classes will run more smoothly. The students tomorrow will, at least, have had an additional day to prepare themselves for the return to work. Otherwise, these last four weeks of classes are going to be quite an excruciating ordeal for them and for me. Wish me and them both luck.
1 comment:
I love sitting a circle, even though it means I get to talk less than usual, due to the unusual amount of people that start to enter into discussions. I get to present tomorrow, which is usually a mixed bag, because I get to hold court, which is fabulous, but there are also the blank looks, the texting, the whispering, the reading in class, and the people who didn't read and look guilty. This time, I actually know peoples names, and I'm not afraid to use them.
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