The Month of May

Last week, I posted the last section of grades.

So far, all of the grades have been posted for:

14 days,
12 days, and
9 days.

No e-mails from indignant students. No complaining, no snarkiness, no confusion. Well, at least none directed at me. I no longer cringe and squint when I sign into my e-mail account. I breathe easier every day.

As most any educator will agree, grading is the worst part of teaching. And not even grading in the sense of writing comments for revision and guidance, but slapping a letter grade on a final draft. Sometimes, though, certain students make it very, very easy to slap grades around.

I've had several full days now of not being in the classroom. It's been a bit quiet. And when it's quiet, I think. So, much to your delight, I'm totally in my head and tangled up in feelings of worth (and worthlessness) in the classroom. I second guess, I wonder if I should take a career where I get to leave work and truly leave it until the next morning, I worry and fret and rationalize.

But that's kinda lame. Here's the short version: if you come into my classroom, and you are at least over the age of 22, and you've at least held some sort of service job, and you at least know you want more out of your life, and you at least want to think and analyze and debate and argue and laugh and speak, and you at least want to confront, defend, or become aware of your own ideas of all the -isms, (right, Lennon?) then I'm the teacher for you.

This will be the last post for awhile about teaching. I'm now in summer vacay mode. I'm going to do some writing, lots of walking, immeasurable amounts of swimming and laying out at the pool, ridiculous pages of reading, and perhaps I'll find time to squeeze in some class prep work. Perhaps.

In other news:
I had lunch with 2 fav ladies.
I scored big at an auction in town.
I planted all my annuals in my funky pots.
I just got back from my 5 mile walk.
I ate some chocolate from New Zealand.

A super fab day, indeed.

My 301st post.

The end of the fourth full year of teaching.

Bor- ring.

I've only one more section of final essay exams to grade, and then I am done with the teaching and the grading for a solid few months. I would write that I am done with the lesson planning, but I get to teach a new class in the fall, a survey class, an American Lit II survey class! I check my class roster for this survey almost compulsively and am pleased to see many of my oldie, but goodie, studs on it. It should make for a really fab group.

So, why haven't I graded that last stack yet? Well, to be honest, I kinda just don't have the ambition to do so. I took all day yesterday off from grading and then kinda forgot I wasn't really done, but also maybe don't care kinda. My other four sections have their grades entered, so maybe this is why I am so willy nilly and fancy-free. This is the first semester in history where my grading hasn't taken up every single day until the deadline. This is because of much better planning and scheduling on my part, as well as the lucky, much-needed break I got from 101 this entire year.

Overall, a tough teaching year, my toughest one yet. But, still, I left the classroom with accomplishment and satisfaction. The studs who wanted to learn, who were engaged, and who revised their little hearts out did very well. I taught them; they taught me.

Enough with the teaching talk, though. Even I am boring myself, which I thought was nearly impossible.

A cold snap this week. A few limbs of my bleeding hearts didn't make it, but the plants themselves are okay. We turned the heat back a few nights, as the thermostat read 58 degrees. Yowza.

B and I have settled, for the most part, back into domestic bliss. The house is clean and bright, the bed gets made every morning, the lawn and gardens are weeded and thriving, mostly, the dishes are done and put away, we are pleasant to be around once again.

B graduated on Saturday and it was lovely. The girl is racking up more degrees then I have fingers to count them on, but hopefully, her dedication and hard work will pay off big. Soon. A very exciting opportunity is on the horizon. Keep fingers crossed. Please and thank you.

One exciting thing: me and 3 Bffs from my younger college days have put together a team for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure. I need to do some mega fundraising and training and am starting right now:

My Donation Page

I am excited, nervous, and excited. And nervous. :)

Headed to the farm this coming weekend. Prolly should grade that last stack before I go. Prolly should do it right now.