It's late and it's been a long day, so I'll make this short and sweet. Or at least short. Today was disappointing in comparison with other days. I spent a TON of time - 10,000 hours, roughly - grading my students' papers and short writing assignments, and when I wasn't doing that I was reading for my classes or going to my classes.
I really love both of my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but there is a lot of pressure to do well on all the assignments, take fantastic notes, make profound comments, and sometimes I just feel inadequate. I found out today that my Western Culture teacher is teaching a class on the writings of Cormac McCarthy next winter semester and I REALLY want to take it! It took me a while to get on the McCarthy wagon, since he's dark and dreary and doesn't use punctuation, but after reading All the Pretty Horses, I'm on.
Civil War class is pretty much my very favorite history class ever (after American Heritage). We talk about politics, we talk about battles, we talk about economics, and I've never been so interested in anything in my entire life. That's how good my teacher's lectures are. And get this - I'm actually on top of all the reading and haven't failed a single quiz yet! Bad news though - I didn't do so great on the first test (the one I thought I did really good on). History teachers must just have a different mindset than me when it comes to writing! I've only taken two other history-based classes, and both of them were extraordinarily picky about my essays. Oh well, I can still definitely improve over the semester, and at least this teacher gave me some actual, concrete things I know how to work on to improve the next test (he took TEN points off because I hadn't known he wanted us to write introductions, conclusions, and transitions in between the "meat" of our main essay; other than that, he remarked that I had "covered all the essentials." So apparently, "covering all the essentials" gets you a B. Doh!). The last thing I want to do is have a repeat experience of my Fall 2007 semester (a B+!!!!!!!!! I WANTED TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), but I'm not feeling nearly as depressed as I was then. It could be because I really, really, really like this teacher, which means I really want to work super hard to impress him (rather than beat him over the head with a projector, like I wanted to do to my other teacher). I also LOVE his lectures (unlike those of the other teacher, which were more boring than the footnotes of a finance magazine). And of course, I love the material (and I probably would have loved the material of the other class, if we had ever gotten around to talking about it in English).
I stayed late in the American Studies office grading assignments and listening to crowds scream when it got late enough for all the volleyball/soccer/whatever games to start going. Apparently, there's a football game tomorrow, but I plan to spend the whole day reading/going to class/going to the International Cinema ("The Heiress" and "Crossing" are playing), so don't count on an update from me on that. The screams were a nice distraction from work, though.
I can't wait for the weekend! Although, wait, I have 17 poetry papers to grade and a zillion little assignments and Civil War notes to type up and several books to finish reading and library stuff to return before then. Will it ever end?
2 comments:
Short answer: no, of course it will never end, not as long as teachers keep cheating by having their TAs do all their work for them! Nothing annoys me so much as irresponsible teachers foisting off their grading duties onto a TA! You're a teaching assistant, not a grading drudge!
Sorry; does that sound too bitter? I have strong feelings about this, obviously. Hope you have a good weekend! (Enjoy HP!)
Kirsti is probably right in a purist sesnse but in the real world we learn that the boss is not always right but is always the boss. So I adapted to that unpleasant fact of life by deciding that as long as it wasn't illegal or immoral I would do the job required. With enough seniority you eventually become the boss; then you can do all the grundge work you want or you can assign it to the new slaves at your diposal!
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