in the weeds

It's awfully early in the school year for me to be this far behind, but I am. And here is an explanation; not an excuse, just an explanation. It's 4 in the morning, the air conditioner has broken for the third time this month, the stacks of papers strewn about my dining room mock me daily, and I am in the weeds.

"In the weeds" is an idiomatic expression that means overwhelmed, overdone, stretched to the max. We all hit it at one point or another. I've just never hit it in September before.

I do have a plan, and will be caught up with the grades and recommendation letters by Monday, September 13. But for the record, here is why I am in this sorry state right now, and why you (or your child) is getting a great education in room 313 each day (I think!) but not a heck of a lot of feedback just yet.

1. I missed pre-planning due to tonsillitis, and never quite recovered.

2. Found out I was allergic to penicillin, and never quite recovered.

3. That turned into the cold I currently have.

4. I am still way over class limits right now, and 99% of my students have turned in their work.

5. Due to budget restrictions, teachers are expected to do more and more with less and less.

Yes, this is self-pitying, and ranty, and I need to build a bridge to get over myself. But I just wanted to clarify that while I may be behind in grading, I am totally on top of my lessons, have written 17 college recommendations, graded 84 essays, tutored over a dozen kids, and offered community service hours. Hopefully, in the grand scheme of the universe, this balances out a little bit.

In the meantime, I have become a human weedwhacker and am struggling to get out of the weeds. Have a lovely day, everyone. I'm working on it!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Sorry about the delay in posting--I was reading a book on efficiency and lost track of the time. I was so wrapped up in learning how to be efficient and not procrastinate that I procrastinated on updating my assignment blog. Since the sophomores are learning all about irony this week, this little blip on the radar is strangely appropriate, but I'm still embarrassed to be so off-schedule. A thousand apologies. Well, that and I've been grading myself stupid with focus papers, make-up tests, and multiple choice practice sessions.

On to the lessons for tomorrow!!!

Sophys: Our Author of the Day resumes tomorrow with the incredible Toni Morrison, one of my favorite writers. Afterwards, we will go over the expectations for the final copy of the Stranger paper which is due Friday for many of you--and to that end, I have a neato handout to give you called Guidelines for Solid Writing. After we go over this, I'd like to go over some of this week's vocabulary words--#21-40 on your literary terms list, and assign AWESOME homework that I meant to assign yesterday.

APees: Yesterday, I watched in amazement as some of you twitched in fear as you took your first multiple choice practice session. Never fear! I will give you back your scantrons so you can monitor your scores, and then we will go over the two prose passages. One of the passages is reprinted for you to annotate as we go. It should be a fun time for everyone!