Tuesday, December 1, 2009

The work before me

Until the end of the semester, in two weeks, I will be engaged in a final massive flurry of grading and intensive conferencing with the students in my class. Inevitably, too many have ignored my warnings and left much of their work for the end of the semester, the researching, revision, etc., instead of doing it all along, as I intended, when I gave assignments that would have allowed them to do this. Consequently, a good quarter of the remaining students who could have received very good grades in the class will be just squeaking by, if they manage to pull off the work, that is.
Today and tonight (deadline: midnight) large causal research papers will be coming, and Thursday, annotated bibliographies for the combined research paper. Tuesday are drafts for part one of the final paper; next Thursday, drafts for part two and the works cited page. The following week (Tuesday for one class and Thursday for another) are the revised final papers and presentations. I will be very busy.
I am working on one more poem, but it isn't ready to show yet. After that, 5 more to go. Then I'll have to invent another excuse for writing poems every day, or nearly so.

2 comments:

Lou said...

This is a funny time in the semester. I feel like I wait around, then I get a trunk load of work, and then it is suddenly all over. Silence.

Robbi N. said...

I know what you mean. That's what I am experiencing now. And you get anxious for it to be over already because you need to get started on next semester. I'll be doing a whole new syllabus too!