I Have Some Awesome Students

To the ladies who included me an invitation-to-the-dance plot; I had fun.

To the student who stayed to help me with paperwork; I am grateful.

To the student who forgave me for forgetting the club meeting in my room today; I thank you.

To the student who wrote this in her metacognition: best laugh I've had all day.

"This was definitely an essay I never wanted to behold again, but alas the world does not turn with the twirling of my fingers."

I do indeed love my job today.

Lies In My Inbox

Le Sigh.

On 12/3/09 9:16 AM:

Ms. OKP,
I'm really sorry I woke up this morning feeling really sick and my mom wanted me to take a day to get better. I will get all of the notes from Best Buddy Classmate and will be prepared for class Friday. Thanks so much!

Sincerely,
Sneaky Little Bugger

>>Quick check in attendance because of discrepancy in absence code on computer<<

Thanks for the heads up, SLB. I sure hope your illness doesn't impact your USC interview today. Feel better.

Ms. OKP

The next two weeks are not going to go fast enough.

Workshops

There is definitely 'work' in workshops. For the past two days, I have returned home completely drained because I have spent the day working on essay writing with my sophomores.

I faked them out on Monday; they thought they were coming into class for a prepared in-class essay. And technically, I suppose that's true. They did come in, choose among three prompts (that they had seen before), and write for the entire period.

Tuesday I told them that we were turning it into a process paper, and didn't they all feel just super great that they already had a complete draft finished? You can imagine the applause. If you can't imagine the applause, then you have correctly imagined the amount of applause this announcement received -- did I mean they were going to have to continue working with what they'd written?! Horrors.

These last two days have been about introductions, thesis statements, body paragraphs and being willing to really rework material to make it better -- not just make cosmetic changes. I typed up some of their actually intros and theses into PowerPoint so all could see and respond. I did the same thing with body paragraphs. Lots of prep, lots of talking, lots of answering questions...lots of work.

I hope, I hope, I hope, that all this front-loading will make the final drafts better.

And now, back to fifty or so senior essays that I'd like to finish tonight. Yeah, I am crazy. Why do you ask?

And So Ends November

Hm. Well, let us see...

It's not a competition, but...

I wrote 22/30 possible blog posts for NaBlaPoMo. That is a C-.

My husband wrote over 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo. That is an A+.

Despite this discrepancy, I am quite happy with my C-. It's more posting than I'd done in the last few months, for sure.

And there's still more to write! Huzzah! Here comes December!

Sickness + Breakfast + Sunshine...

...equals a good day so far.

Turns out it's not a cold, it's another sinus infection. I had two almost back-to-back last month; I have now learned to recognize the difference.

The thing I've noticed about they work in my body is that I wake up distressingly early -- two and three a.m., when the high-octane Sudafed wears off. Now that I realize this, I will take care to a) take the non-drowsy stuff when I get to school in the morning, which will take me throughout the day, and b) find the drowse-inducing stuff to take at night, in the hopes that I can sleep for the duration of it.

My stress over planning and grading and not bringing my A game to my kids this year is the impetus, I think, for my body's weakness. I do so much, think it's not enough, put things off, and plow through others...my body decides it will give me the perspective I so obviously lack. I resent the constant runny nose (and my inability to blow it), and the pressure in my head and around my eyes. I told a friend that it feels as if I have one of those alien face-huggers on me sometimes.

But all is not the depths of the dumps. I rose early, showered, and spent the morning at one of my favorite indie coffeehouses (the only one, actually, that I know). I drank delicious hot vanilla chai tea and ate a hearty breakfast while listening to the the early morning vocals of Norah Jones, classical guitar, and some French chick.

I also read, commented on, and scored almost a third of the senior essays I have. And I enjoyed them. Even the ones that clearly missed the mark and made me croon, "No, no, no" under my breath didn't get me down.

I changed venues and went to work, where I handled some department correspondence, cobbled together a study guide for Antigone (thank you Interwebs; I did give the proper credit to my sources), decorated my room for Christmas, sent out alerts to my students, and entered grades. Not everything is done, and I'm sure I will feel overwhelmed by everything I've forgotten tomorrow...but today, today was (and continues to be) productive on the work front. Home front is another story for another day.

It's weird; I'm weak and exhilarated at the same time. Who knows what further feats I can accomplish today...after my nap!