Project: Overload

So, anyone who was taking bets on when I would burn out can call them in. I am officially wasted. Luckily for me, I don't have to go to my English 100 class at all this week and, because the students will be watching a movie Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I don't have any reading to do, either! On the other hand, my English 1100 class will be turning in their first papers on Thursday. That's twenty-one students with 3-5 pages, each critiquing a rhetorical argument made by an editorial of their choosing. Did I mention that I'm also taking three other classes, and am on multiple committees?

I've been reading a lot of theory about collaborative learning lately, and have been trying to get my students and mentees to help each other learn. A lot of theorists suggest that peers learn and retain information better if they hear it from someone who is their age. Mostly everything I've been doing has been in some form of a small group, which means that although I don't ever really stand in front of my class and lecture, I do need to come up with pretty clear instructions and guidelines so that people don't start discussing what they're going to have for lunch.

Unrelated to this, I have a woman in one of my classes that continually texts, regardless of what's going on. I have asked her to put her phone away and she hides it when I look at her. Don't worry-I'm not going to rip it out of her hands or anything like that. She's an adult. I'm just pet peeving.

Oh! AND, one of my students came in to my office hours today to have me "correct" his paper. I said "sure, have a seat and we'll go through it together." He said, "no, I've got to go. I was hoping I could pick it up later." "Oh, ho, ho, ho, no," I said, laughing. "I am not your editor. I suggest you take it to the tutoring center where they can help you better." I mean, seriously--I invited the tutoring center director to class to encourage everyone to get help with their drafts. I've given handouts on good writing, grammar, and editing. I even let them spend all of last Thursday's class wherein each person got to work in two separate workshopping pairs! Eighteen is such a tricky age...not yet adults, not kids anymore...I remember how young and dumb I was (just breathe).

In addition, I've got a memoir AND my thesis to write, a paper I have to re-write, a novel to read, peer drafts to comment on, a lesson plan for Thursday, a lesson plan for my theory class (I have to teach my peers about expressivism), a pile of reading for that class and a 750 word response--not to mention a reading IN PUBLIC I'm doing next week, another public reading I'm helping to organize, meetings for the committees I'm on, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Did I mention it's like ten kabillion degrees right now in the 808 state with absolutely NO breezy trade winds? I know, I signed up for all of it. I shouldn't complain. But, if I can't rant into the ether, where else can I turn?

So maybe I need a break. A long one. All alone. In the wilderness. With no clothes.