midquarter posting

My time and my sleep has been gobbled up by midquarter reading, presentations, teaching, grading, meetings, and season finale viewing (well, Gilmore Girls at least). In the last three nights, I have had about 12 hours of sleep; TGI(almost)F!

I'm frustrated with some of my students. My lack of sleep last night was mostly due to my commenting on an entire set of drafts in one day. I wanted my students to have the chance to work with the comments before the final drafts are due next week, so I forced myself to finish reading them all. (This probably wouldn't have been too bad if I hadn't started grading so late, but that's my own fault.) However, SIX of the 17 students who submitted drafts were absent today; i.e., they didn't even bother showing up to pick up their drafts. Six absent students = app. two hours more I could have slept last night. Grr.

On the brighter side of things, my students seem to be really enjoying Sister Carrie, which is a pleasant surprise. I'm really proud of the ones who are keeping up with everything--spring quarter is so exhausting. I hope we can find the energy to remain enthusiastic over the next few weeks! Perhaps I will look into bringing sugary things to class. (That went over well last time.)