To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive

UGH. I am never, ever assigning this many homework assignments/papers ever again. I gave back a ton of crap on Monday, then got more crap on Wednesday, and have finally finished everything--except now I'm going to get another assignment on Monday, and yet another on Friday. They have their next paper due the following Friday.

Plus, while my brilliant plan of having the kids write responses to each other's proposals in class did get me out of having to talk for that part of class, I then had to read the things. I think it may have ended up being more work for me in the end. (Although I'm a freak and like grading more than teaching, so that was sort of okay.)

Anyway. Now I am finally, FINALLY going to get to work on MY scholarship, which I have definitely been neglecting over the past few weeks. Assuming I can stay awake long enough to do so after my marathon grading sessions, anyway.

Ugh. You have no idea how much I want to just say, "Thursday and Friday are October break. No one wants to be in class on Wednesday. Let's just cancel it," in order to avoid preparing for Wednesday's class. (It's not on a particularly challenging topic; I just don't wanna.) Of course, then I really would have no excuse not to grade the stack of papers sitting on my table. I got one section done this weekend, and I managed to power through their homework during my office hours, but I still have the contextual analyses from the other section to get through.

I finished my to-do list early on Sunday, and ended up taking a four-mile walk on one of Knoxville's greenways, which I'd heard of but never tried before. The one I was on was pretty awesome--it runs right by a railroad track, so I got to see two trains going by in addition to pretty trees and plants. I also ran across a shopping center I didn't know existed near me--I guess because it's hard to get to by car. It has two dollar stores, though, and a Subway. I should investigate more some day.

Then I came home and watched several episodes of Northern Exposure, because really, what better way to while away free time? Ah, Cicely. I wish you existed so I could live there.

That kind of free day usually leaves me ready to get back to work, but not so much this time. Bleh.

*

I worked on my daily schedule for 102 this weekend, and sadly, I'm going to have to dump The Sparrow from the reading list. It's just too long to fit comfortably into the course as-is; there is, technically, enough room for it at a not-horribly-brutal pace (for freshmen, anyway), but I also have teaching-of-writing goals that need to be accomplished, and some essays we need to read in that space in order for them to do their third paper.

I'm substituting The Forever War in its place, as I read it basically in one sitting Saturday after frying my brain grading, and thought it was most excellent. And I can do it in two weeks instead of the three-plus-spring break Sparrow would take. That, the aforementioned essays, and assorted short stories and TV episodes should do the trick. (I would really like to use Le Guin's "Paradises Lost," but that's ninety pages--the length itself is not a problem, but scanning in that many pages would take a long time, and I'm not sure how willing I am to put in the effort.)

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Anyone got Warehouse 13 fic recs? I can't believe I'm asking that, as I only managed to watch the first three episodes before giving up, and then this evening while I was eating dinner I tried to watch the season finale, and got through about two-thirds before I realized it was actually making me want to prep for my classes rather than continue. But I'm in the mood for lighthearted banter, and I've read all the good Castle fics. In fact, I think I've read all the good bantery fics out there in all my fandoms. (Note to self: find more fandoms where the canon isn't a decade old.)

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Now I really have no excuse not to be working. *mopes*

Oh, 101 kid. Somehow, when I've spent the past two months pumping out nearly 30 pages, and have the prospect of 40-50 more in front of me, your angst over a four-page paper fails to elicit any sympathy.

(Oh god, their next papers are due on Friday, and then I made a homework assignment due on Monday and an extra credit assignment due Wednesday, because I am an idiot. I guess I'll be spending my October break grading.)

In better news, I got the course time I wanted next semester. Woot! It's Tues/Thurs at 12:40, right before the class I'm taking (a Modernism seminar). Yes, this means I might very well be able to arrange my schedule so that I'm only on campus two days week, although with office hours and journal work, that...does seem unlikely. I can probably swing three days a week, though. Maybe I'll try and cram everything into Tues/Wed/Thurs so I can have long weekends.

Huzzah! Chapter 2 of my thesis is done and e-mailed off. I now have 26 pages all together, which is just about half the minimum page count. (Of course, given how this chapter ballooned on me, I have a feeling I'll be bumping up against a hundred pages before it's all over...) I'm not as thrilled with this chapter as I would like to be, but I think there's good stuff buried under all the confusion. I hope, anyway. We'll see what happens.

Tomorrow I get 44 papers to grade. Joy. I've had a few more students come by to see me in office hours, though (seriously, I think I hold the English department record for most non-mandatory office hours visits--woo!), and for the most part they seem to be getting it. My philosophy for this paper, since I'm having it count for less of a percentage of their final grade, is to grade a bit harder than I might ordinarily, so that everyone realizes expectations are higher in college without it hurting their final grade overmuch. Even so, I might still be giving out more than a few As.

I got told last night at class that I was "a legend among the first-year MAs." Apparently they think I have a complete draft of my thesis done already. I...am not sure where they heard this, because I definitely only have sixteen pages now. Which, yes, is further along than pretty much everyone else in my year, but it's not that remarkable. Nevertheless, I was rather pleased to hear that. :D

Teaching is less pleasing. It is getting easier, thankfully, but today I think I just confused my students while getting them to perform a mini rhetorical analysis in groups. I think they got by the end that they had to make a claim about the work rather than just restating MLK's argument in "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," but it was hard going. I'm glad I had them do it in groups, and didn't try to do it as a class, or have them work on it individually. Friday we're doing specifics of how to write a good intro, thesis, body paragraph, and conclusion, so I'll take one of their claims that they came up with and use it as a sort of running example--how to write a good statement of this claim, how to back it up, etc. Maybe that will make more sense. I guess this might be something where I just need to talk at them for a while, rather than trying to facilitate discussion of the topic that eventually arrives at answers. I try to stay away from lecturing, because if I do that, then why did I make them read the chapter in the book, you know? But this seems to be something that needs it.

Anyway, we're doing the body paragraph as a hamburger thing, which should be good for some laughs, especially since I can't draw on chalkboards at all.

And at least most of the kids are trying and willing to struggle with the material. I do have a few who are obviously completely uninvested and will undoubtedly fail out by November (the one who's missed three days of class already comes to mind), but on the whole, I have a good group of students.

And now I have to go read, because ILL finally got a book I need to me, but I only get it for FOUR DAYS. Grrr.

Finished Spaced last night. I knew what to expect this time, so it was a lot easier to fall into the rhythm of the episodes. Plus, Tim and Daisy are just so freaking cute. Eee. (Plus? EPILOGUE. Awwwwww.)

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I'm writing the proposal for my 102 class, and I've gotta say, I'm really thrilled about it. 101 is kind of exciting too, but this class is going to be awesome. With some help from a doctoral student (who coincidentally happens to be the other person in the department doing contemporary Irish poetry), I figured out how not to have to cut anything from my mammoth potential reading/viewing list! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm going to make each of them sign up for three extra readings per semester, and have a Blackboard discussion-board conversation among themselves in the small groups that result for each reading. Then they'll have to present on the text and their discussion for a few minutes. It'll be GREAT! And I won't feel guilty for leaving, say, Asimov off the syllabus for the entire class in a sci-fi course.

The paper assignments are going to be pretty cool as well, if I do say so myself. One of them is on fan culture in general (observe a message board/LJ comm/whatever and write a paper about what you see), and for another, one of the options will be analyzing how some fan works of the student's choice interact with/transform their source material. It just occurred to me that there's a slight possibility someone might stumble across my fic in the course of doing those assignments, which would be incredibly weird, but I guess I can live with it. (I have yet to decide what my answer to the inevitable question of "Do you write fanfic?" will be. I have no intention of telling them my nom de plume ever, but I'm not sure whether to deny everything, or just say, "Maybe I do, maybe I don't; if you're still curious after the semester ends, I'll give you a straight answer.")

Now that there are fewer than two weeks until classes start, I'm FREAKING OUT busy preparing for the semester. I've been skimming the flist, and replying to comments, but that's about it. Once the semester gets underway and things get less crazy AND I STOP FEELING LIKE I'M GOING TO HAVE A HEART ATTACK, I'll be around more.

Wish me good psychiatric care for the inevitable nervous breakdown I'm about to have luck!

ETA: My director loved my thesis intro. :D Of course, now I feel bad that I've only written two more pages on it since I mailed the intro off. Er. One more thing to add to the pile!

UGH. I think I have finally finished my syllabus for 101. At any rate, I've completed the schedule, including reading, paper, and homework assignments, and banged out a set of course requirements I think we can all live with. All that remains is to crib and personalize the course description from the department. (Well, and I haven't written the final paper assignment yet, but...I'm hoping the syllabus workshop next week will give me some ideas, because I'm out of them.)

I also have six pages on my thesis, yay! I realized about four pages into it that what I thought was my "introduction" was actually my "critical/historical background" (note to self: if you haven't mentioned the poet you're writing about by page five, ur doin' it rong), so now I have about a third of an introduction I like much better. My goal for tomorrow is to complete said introduction.

But now, I am going to write fic and read the Millay biography I got from the library the other day.

Urk. How is it July already?

However, I have two paper assignments down. I stole my assignment for the contextual analysis nearly wholesale from one of the PhDs who put hers up on Blackboard for that express purpose. The internet is for stealing!

Now, if I can just write the other two assignments over the next two days, all that will remain is to flesh out the reading schedule (I have not quite half of it down) and come up with a few homework assignments. I think I'm going to have to get one of those "Best American Essays" volumes and look for good material in there, because I've already added the ones from their reader that aren't utterly uninspiring.

I'm also about to start actually getting some words out on my thesis. I think that'll be next week. I told my advisor I'd have ten pages by the end of the month and twenty by the time the fall semester starts in mid-August; hopefully this was not overly optimistic.

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In addition to working like a dog, July means corn. I've never had much of an opinion on corn on the cob--I like it and all, but I don't wait for summer with baited breath because of it--but I got some ears at the farmers' market last weekend, and they were delicious. Yum. Plus, at this point in the year, you can get them for as little as ten cents an ear at some places.

(Query: Am I the only person who thinks a partially-shucked ear of corn, with the casing and silk all pulled down but not pulled off yet, looks like weird representation of a hula dancer?)

Hooray summer for feeding me well, healthily, and cheaply, and also for giving me entertainment with my food. Even if it does mean I have cornsilk all over my kitchen floor now.

I finally got around to watching "Blink" (hooray for Netflix's streaming video), and...that was pretty good. Much better than the other two Doctor-lite episdes I've seen. Has it made an entire generation of children scared of statuary?

I think I could probably use it as an example of both time travel and SF's intersections with horror in the class, so onto the list it goes! (I'm probably gonna have to pare down this list before next semester...)