It's always bad. Just as bad. Whether you're a student with two sections or an instructor with four.
The pile never ends, you never get caught up. And after a round or two, you could almost assign grades based on the student's trend.
For those few times that someone surprises me, I read each and every word of each and every assignment, and even offer corrections (even though research shows that most students look at the grade and then toss the assignment without any effort at incorporating changes in the future).
And I can't even hope that they'll be grateful, since they're unaware.
Oh well. Three more teaching days, two more compositions, one more exam, then final grades. Then I get a break!
To write a dissertation chapter.
*sigh*
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Bee
I just have to say, I'm so proud.
She's downstairs singing with Petunia and Larry from Veggie Tales, and she's switching octaves depending on which one is singing.
Hooray for a 5-year-old with specific pitch distinction!
She's downstairs singing with Petunia and Larry from Veggie Tales, and she's switching octaves depending on which one is singing.
Hooray for a 5-year-old with specific pitch distinction!
Foretelling the future
In the interests of doing absolutely EVERYTHING I can think of to put off writing on the dissertation today(I already cleaned the whole house, complete with kids' rooms and closets, wrote Christmas lists, worked on Christmas lodging logistics for visitors, etc), here's a blog post.
No seriously. I'm glad for Thanksgiving, because it gives me a specific day to think about all the things that are happening in my life, both good and bad.
Last year we had not yet heard about Ben's job. I jokingly sent Christmas lists (which we compile to distribute at my aunt Pat's Thanksgiving gathering) that said "Ben: a job in Ohio. Me: a house in Ohio. Bee: a pig in Ohio. J: a dog in Ohio."
I had no way of knowing then that it would come true. Except the pig (Bee's favorite animal), but that's by design. It's been so nice to be near family, to have the kids get to play out at Gran's and T's, to be able to just drop in places for an hour or so, to do family dinners on Sunday with various people.....it's been a good year.
Finding a teaching job has been great, too. I've managed to keep busy and adjust to a new schedule, Bee is doing GREAT in a new school environment, and J is getting the hang of using words. I credit his time at the campus childcare center, because when he's at home his sister obligingly gives him what he wants when he does the "point and grunt" routine, despite my objections.
We've had some difficult things, too, but I think that's just life. I'm happy to be safe, healthy, near people I love, and watching my kids grow in very positive ways. That's not to say that it couldn't be better - there's always the wish list of things to come. But for now, we just couldn't be better.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
No seriously. I'm glad for Thanksgiving, because it gives me a specific day to think about all the things that are happening in my life, both good and bad.
Last year we had not yet heard about Ben's job. I jokingly sent Christmas lists (which we compile to distribute at my aunt Pat's Thanksgiving gathering) that said "Ben: a job in Ohio. Me: a house in Ohio. Bee: a pig in Ohio. J: a dog in Ohio."
I had no way of knowing then that it would come true. Except the pig (Bee's favorite animal), but that's by design. It's been so nice to be near family, to have the kids get to play out at Gran's and T's, to be able to just drop in places for an hour or so, to do family dinners on Sunday with various people.....it's been a good year.
Finding a teaching job has been great, too. I've managed to keep busy and adjust to a new schedule, Bee is doing GREAT in a new school environment, and J is getting the hang of using words. I credit his time at the campus childcare center, because when he's at home his sister obligingly gives him what he wants when he does the "point and grunt" routine, despite my objections.
We've had some difficult things, too, but I think that's just life. I'm happy to be safe, healthy, near people I love, and watching my kids grow in very positive ways. That's not to say that it couldn't be better - there's always the wish list of things to come. But for now, we just couldn't be better.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Childbirth
I've seen some hype in the media about the birth scene from the new "Twilight" movie.
As a disclaimer - all I've read of the books is what snatches I skimmed while pretending to read so that I'd have a cover for watching potential shoplifters at my old BYU bookstore job. From this I gathered that the story premise was pretty cool, but the simple sentence structure and the nauseating co-dependency of the hero and heroine completely erased the appeal of it for me. I don't mean this to be a review of the books, since I've not read them in their entirety.
Back to the childbirth scene. Because I'm somewhat (you know, just a bit) fascinated by women's issues, childbirth and breastfeeding in particular, the headlines about the birth scene in the new movie caught my attention. Out of curiosity, I read just the chapters immediately surrounding and including the birth scene, and was shocked by the amount of blood, the overall tense feeling of the narrative, and the inevitable association of death with the childbirth experience.
There were things that resonated with my experience with birth - Bella wanting to immediately hold the baby, the "it doesn't matter what happens to me, save the baby!" feeling.
But. So much of it was so overwhelmingly frightening. And childbirth does not have to be that way. I've done natural (no intervention during...though the hospital where Bee was born made me have a saline drip IV to have a line in place just in case, and they did give me medications afterward to stop hemorrhaging) childbirth twice (and plan to have any subsequent children in the same way unless complications necessitate another course of action). It was an amazing, empowering, beautiful experience. Even though it hurt like nothing I'd ever imagined (including kidney stones), and in one case I lost enough blood to make Ben go white as a sheet.
The author of the books has said, of including the scene in the movie, that "I'd love to have the birth scene be every bit as awful -- I know it freaked people out, but for those of us who have been through childbirth a couple times, it is a scary, terrifying experience. This is just taking that to an exponential power, and I love going there."
I guess if you frame childbirth in those terms, that's the sort of experience you might imagine. And since this movie is marketed so rabidly to teenagers, maybe it's not an awful thing (hey, if that's what works as birth control for them, more power to the movie).
But. With proper mental and physical preparation, a good support team, and a cooperative baby (not much you can do about preeclampsia or breech babies and other such complications) , you can do it! And it can actually be a positive experience....I've never experienced any feeling like my last push when my babies were born. It's accomplishment, relief, excitement, love, "let's conquer the world!", and beauty, all wrapped up. And I've probably missed something, because that doesn't even quite cover it. And it's phenomenal. In the Kantian sense of the word, sublime.
Not scary. Not inevitably deadly. Not uncontrollable.
Of course, this is coming from a girl who runs marathons for fun. But for what it's worth. Terror is not the only emotion we can or should associate with the prospect of experiencing childbirth.
As a disclaimer - all I've read of the books is what snatches I skimmed while pretending to read so that I'd have a cover for watching potential shoplifters at my old BYU bookstore job. From this I gathered that the story premise was pretty cool, but the simple sentence structure and the nauseating co-dependency of the hero and heroine completely erased the appeal of it for me. I don't mean this to be a review of the books, since I've not read them in their entirety.
Back to the childbirth scene. Because I'm somewhat (you know, just a bit) fascinated by women's issues, childbirth and breastfeeding in particular, the headlines about the birth scene in the new movie caught my attention. Out of curiosity, I read just the chapters immediately surrounding and including the birth scene, and was shocked by the amount of blood, the overall tense feeling of the narrative, and the inevitable association of death with the childbirth experience.
There were things that resonated with my experience with birth - Bella wanting to immediately hold the baby, the "it doesn't matter what happens to me, save the baby!" feeling.
But. So much of it was so overwhelmingly frightening. And childbirth does not have to be that way. I've done natural (no intervention during...though the hospital where Bee was born made me have a saline drip IV to have a line in place just in case, and they did give me medications afterward to stop hemorrhaging) childbirth twice (and plan to have any subsequent children in the same way unless complications necessitate another course of action). It was an amazing, empowering, beautiful experience. Even though it hurt like nothing I'd ever imagined (including kidney stones), and in one case I lost enough blood to make Ben go white as a sheet.
The author of the books has said, of including the scene in the movie, that "I'd love to have the birth scene be every bit as awful -- I know it freaked people out, but for those of us who have been through childbirth a couple times, it is a scary, terrifying experience. This is just taking that to an exponential power, and I love going there."
I guess if you frame childbirth in those terms, that's the sort of experience you might imagine. And since this movie is marketed so rabidly to teenagers, maybe it's not an awful thing (hey, if that's what works as birth control for them, more power to the movie).
But. With proper mental and physical preparation, a good support team, and a cooperative baby (not much you can do about preeclampsia or breech babies and other such complications) , you can do it! And it can actually be a positive experience....I've never experienced any feeling like my last push when my babies were born. It's accomplishment, relief, excitement, love, "let's conquer the world!", and beauty, all wrapped up. And I've probably missed something, because that doesn't even quite cover it. And it's phenomenal. In the Kantian sense of the word, sublime.
Not scary. Not inevitably deadly. Not uncontrollable.
Of course, this is coming from a girl who runs marathons for fun. But for what it's worth. Terror is not the only emotion we can or should associate with the prospect of experiencing childbirth.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Competence
I'm consistently evaluated at work. By students, supervisors, administrators, even the occasional unrelated observer. All to ensure that I know how to do my job, do it right, and meet student needs.
If I did my job the way many people in other fields do theirs, I'd no longer have it.
Two examples:
First:
I received YET ANOTHER "failure to file" notice for school district taxes. From two years ago. In a state where we didn't even live. Called yet again to say "We faxed the information you requested (proof of residency and W2 forms) to resolve this on 5/31/11." They said "No, we don't have anything." And I said "Yes, it was sent to x number, attn: x person, and the date and time stamp." They put me on hold, came back and said "Oh, yeah. She got that, but we don't have it any more. Can you fax it again?"
Seriously? Unfortunately, the answer is "yes, I can, because you're the government and I will be fined otherwise." I hate that my togetherness is not reciprocated on their end.
Second:
I received a "Your child will not be allowed to attend school after 11/11/11 if you don't send us her shot record" letter about Bee yesterday. Huh? I gave them her shot record (both of them, actually) when we registered her. I watched as they made photocopies and put them in her file. So I called to check. They said "Well, it looks like she needs a, b, c, and d before we can let her keep coming." I said "You have a record of that. It's on letterhead from Drs. So-and-So, dated 5/7/11." And they said, "OH! It IS right here! We'll make sure the nurse knows."
Again, seriously? You threaten to kick my child out of school for lack of documentation, apparently without reviewing your files?
I don't know if this is a new phenomenon or if public institutions have always been this inept. I feel a teensy bit like an old curmudgeon in my "You young whippersnappers just don't do anything right!" attitude. But given that their ineptitude creates worry and extra work for me, I'm entitled to that frustration, I think.
If I did my job the way many people in other fields do theirs, I'd no longer have it.
Two examples:
First:
I received YET ANOTHER "failure to file" notice for school district taxes. From two years ago. In a state where we didn't even live. Called yet again to say "We faxed the information you requested (proof of residency and W2 forms) to resolve this on 5/31/11." They said "No, we don't have anything." And I said "Yes, it was sent to x number, attn: x person, and the date and time stamp." They put me on hold, came back and said "Oh, yeah. She got that, but we don't have it any more. Can you fax it again?"
Seriously? Unfortunately, the answer is "yes, I can, because you're the government and I will be fined otherwise." I hate that my togetherness is not reciprocated on their end.
Second:
I received a "Your child will not be allowed to attend school after 11/11/11 if you don't send us her shot record" letter about Bee yesterday. Huh? I gave them her shot record (both of them, actually) when we registered her. I watched as they made photocopies and put them in her file. So I called to check. They said "Well, it looks like she needs a, b, c, and d before we can let her keep coming." I said "You have a record of that. It's on letterhead from Drs. So-and-So, dated 5/7/11." And they said, "OH! It IS right here! We'll make sure the nurse knows."
Again, seriously? You threaten to kick my child out of school for lack of documentation, apparently without reviewing your files?
I don't know if this is a new phenomenon or if public institutions have always been this inept. I feel a teensy bit like an old curmudgeon in my "You young whippersnappers just don't do anything right!" attitude. But given that their ineptitude creates worry and extra work for me, I'm entitled to that frustration, I think.
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