Toothpaste and Orange Juice
You know the litany of world's worst combinations? Toothpaste and orange juice, neon and spandex, T&A, heat and humidity, Whitney and Bobby, etc., etc. I'd like to add to this list my own, most-hated combo: writing and grading.
I knew, this semester, that it was going to be a problem. I have an article due at the end of March (eep!!), a conference paper due at the beginning of April (double eep!), and another article due at the end of June (too far away to worry about). That double whammy in March/April, however, coincides with the run up to the end of the semester, which is always the prime grading moment before the deluge of final papers, exams, and projects. I did my best to work my schedule around those dates, with the knowledge that it was just going to suck. But I'd forgotten that I'd have to deal with the mid-term grad-age right at about the time that full-scale writing panic sets in. Which is yesterday.
So, the good news is that my co-writer and I got a decent start on the article Friday and Saturday, and I mapped out an idea for my conference paper that will draw on some work that I've done before. (Somehow, the online conference program has me listed without a paper title, and I'm taking full advantage of that fact to write a slightly different presentation than the one I had planned. Which sounded awesome when I wrote the abstract----in May. But sounded less do-able when the paper was accepted at the end of September. If they'd just told me in July (a reasonable two month turnover rate), I could have actually written that paper, but c'est la vie, bitches!) The point here is that I've gotten a good amount of writing done this weekend, or at least enough to hold off the 4 a.m. "I'm going to move to New Mexico and run a goat farm because I'm about to be drummed out of the profession" panic attacks that I know and love.
The bad news, of course, is that I should have been spending this weekend working through the grading backlog that I promised my students to return to them on Monday. I have a set of early portfolios and a set of exams, and cranking some mid-terms grades to do, and that's just for one class.
You know that screed about "teaching and doing research simultaneously is hard"? Yeah, well. I think I'll brush my teeth and have some citrus for breakfast.
I knew, this semester, that it was going to be a problem. I have an article due at the end of March (eep!!), a conference paper due at the beginning of April (double eep!), and another article due at the end of June (too far away to worry about). That double whammy in March/April, however, coincides with the run up to the end of the semester, which is always the prime grading moment before the deluge of final papers, exams, and projects. I did my best to work my schedule around those dates, with the knowledge that it was just going to suck. But I'd forgotten that I'd have to deal with the mid-term grad-age right at about the time that full-scale writing panic sets in. Which is yesterday.
So, the good news is that my co-writer and I got a decent start on the article Friday and Saturday, and I mapped out an idea for my conference paper that will draw on some work that I've done before. (Somehow, the online conference program has me listed without a paper title, and I'm taking full advantage of that fact to write a slightly different presentation than the one I had planned. Which sounded awesome when I wrote the abstract----in May. But sounded less do-able when the paper was accepted at the end of September. If they'd just told me in July (a reasonable two month turnover rate), I could have actually written that paper, but c'est la vie, bitches!) The point here is that I've gotten a good amount of writing done this weekend, or at least enough to hold off the 4 a.m. "I'm going to move to New Mexico and run a goat farm because I'm about to be drummed out of the profession" panic attacks that I know and love.
The bad news, of course, is that I should have been spending this weekend working through the grading backlog that I promised my students to return to them on Monday. I have a set of early portfolios and a set of exams, and cranking some mid-terms grades to do, and that's just for one class.
You know that screed about "teaching and doing research simultaneously is hard"? Yeah, well. I think I'll brush my teeth and have some citrus for breakfast.
Labels: academentia
posted by kfluff at 9:38 AM
2 Comments:
"The bad news, of course, is that I should have been spending this weekend working through the grading backlog that I promised my students to return to them on Monday."
Um, ditto. You know, when you get right down to it, I think it's probably a good thing that we don't live closer together, because the enabling hat would go on would be legion.
Perhaps true, mon amie, but maybe the enabling would be in the form of leaving the house, rather than online. So feel free to move closer to Urbania, whenever you like!!
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