Tidying up the to-do list

I have a lot of things to get done before November 1.  So instead of doing them, I’m writing about them.  (How typical.)

1. October Submissions.  Since April, I’ve been sending out a minimum of five short story submissions to magazines each month.  This month, I’ve only sent one so far.  I have the stories ready, but not the cover letters, which can be quite laborious, as each one has to be tailored to the individual publication.  The work is worth it, but not necessarily enjoyable.

2. Grading.  I have about twenty-five papers left to grade.  In a very good hour, I can grade ten to twelve.  But I can only do an hour at a time before I start getting zombie-brain, so I have to spread out the work.

3. Online Job Training.  I have to do a dull-as-dirt mandatory online training program and quiz about diversity or something like that.  It takes about an hour.

4. Class Preparation.  Before tomorrow, I have to plan the week’s lessons.  This can take anywhere from one to three hours, including textbook reading and writing handout materials or PowerPoints and so forth.  My dean might also be coming to visit one of my classes, so I have to make sure the lessons are extra good.

5. Work.  And there’s work, from 1:00-5:30 today, and from 8:00-2:20 tomorrow.  So with online submissions taking, say, two hours, grading at three, job training at one, and class prep at three, I have nine hours of extra work to squeeze in around my regular work schedule of the next two days.  No, I haven’t been putting things off (except the job training).  This is normally how busy I am, plus writing.

Goodbye, reading for pleasure.  See you in December.

Sad face.

I am here

I am here, just not blogging.  Except for right now, of course, when I am.

I’m reading The Company by K. J. Parker, which looks to tie or even surpass Parker’s other stand-alone novel, The Folding Knife.  Can’t wait to see how it ends, except I’ve got this irritating work to be doing.  Grading and whatnot.

(Am completely making up today’s lesson on the fly, by the way.)

This afternoon I plan to bake banana bread, not look at students’ homework in favor of reading a book, and spend time with out-of-state friends who are visiting for a long weekend.  Not a bad strategy at all, I think.

Apparently the term is “Spring Holiday”

My old university did not recognize Easter as a holiday.  I stuck it to the man by telling my students that while I was contractually obligated to teach on Good Friday, I would not penalize absences nor would I make a major assignment due.

I’ve been doing some general, large-scale thinking about next semester’s syllabus that caused me to investigate holidays for Spring 2012.  (By the way, I’ll probably be holding class on February 29, which tickles me for no particular reason.)

My current college, thankfully, is closed the weekend of Easter, from Friday to Sunday.  It calls the closure “Spring Holiday.”

Whatever works, I guess.

Lest you think all I do is read

Lest you think all I do is read, here is a post about What’s Going On With Me.

I’m teaching three sections of composition, two of which are dual-credit at local high schools.  It’s hard to realize, but this is Week 8 of the semester, the halfway point.  My students are working on their third of five papers, a research-based report.  They’re actually doing quite well, on the whole.

I’m also gearing up for NaNoWriMo, which I’m quite excited about.  For the first time since, yes, 2006, I’ll actually be able to participate in November, rather than the often-kinder months of January, June, or July.  I’m planning a young adult fantasy novel called Edgewood.  It’s a book I already intend to market for publication.

Speaking of publication, one of my short stories is forthcoming in ResAliens, a speculative fiction ezine.  More info when it appears, so you can all pledge undying support in the form of purchasing the magazine.

Lastly, I’ve been writing curriculum materials for the SAT tutoring center where I work–namely the essays and articles for the critical reading sections, off of which multiple choice questions are written.  I trot out my big vocabulary and try to make my sentences as complex as possible.  Perhaps ironically or perhaps not, it’s the best paid writing I’ve ever done.

So I’ve been working and writing.  And reading, of course.  What about you?

Poor students

My poor students can’t trust me one little bit.

Before they turn in an essay, I have them do a day of workshop/peer review in which they give each other structured feedback about each other’s writing.  For their first essay, I had them bring three copies, one for themselves to read, evaluate, and write on, and two for their classmates.  A student asked me, with a bit of panic in her voice, whether I was going to read their Essay 1 drafts before the final version was due.

“Of course not,” I said, affecting surprise.  “Peer review is a time for you to make improvements to your essay based on each other’s responses, not mine.”

So they worked really hard on their first drafts for nothing.

This week held the workshop day for my students’ second essay.  They wrote their first draft of Essay 2, believing that I wasn’t going to read it, and they trustingly brought three copies to class.  So I led them through the peer review exercise, in which they traded essays twice and gave responses.  And as they were packing up their backpacks to leave for the day, I told them to wait a moment more.

“I want the third copy of your drafts,” I told them brightly.

You should have seen the looks of horror on their faces.

They had been ready for me to read Essay 1 but I didn’t; they weren’t ready for me to read Essay 2 but I did; and from now on, they’ll always have to be prepared because they won’t know what I’ll do.

Gotcha.

On originality and the SAT

As most high school students are all too aware, the SAT has a writing component: one twenty-five-minute, opinion-based, argumentative essay.  Since I’ve been working as a SAT tutor this summer, I’ve read hundreds of student essays.  I have thus come to this conclusion about originality.

It’s not overrated.

I read so many essays with bland, dull, and repetitive examples that I can become quite bored while reading.  I try to keep my mind objective, of course, while assigning a student paper for a grade; but honestly, something that’s poorly written but interesting might receive a higher grade than something that’s grammatically precise but dull as dirt.  Examples that fall into the category of coma-induction are what I call the Terrible Three.

1. Guess what!  Christopher Columbus discovered America even though he thought the world was flat.
2. Did you know that Galileo Galilei said the Earth went around the Sun even though everyone else thought it didn’t and they all said he was crazy but he was actually right?
3. And about that Adolf Hitler.  I heard he was really evil.

The fact might be obvious, but it bears restating: it’s far more interesting to read examples and scenarios that come from students’ personal experiences or particular and even peculiar passions.  I would love to read an essay about, say, a student’s favorite novel or his or her trip to India or Japan instead of the Terrible Three.  An example that is personal, unusual, and something the writer cares about makes a much better read than a mundane or well-worn topic.

There’s nothing wrong with writing what you know, but there is something to be said for writing what someone else may not know.

Originality is just interesting.

How is it already almost September?

I feel as though I should and should not take stock of August.

Workwise, I had an enormously successful month, working overtime for the first two weeks of August at my SAT tutoring job and receiving my highest single paycheck to date, hooray.  I also got last-minute hired as a freshman composition teacher, and for the last week have been teaching three sections of “the rhetorical situation just means the circumstances that surround your writing.”

Readingwise, I’ve been far less impressive, having only read seven books so far.  I’m intending to finish up a collection of short stories today, but that still puts me lower than last year’s September, which had been my lowest book month prior to this one.  Why has there been such a dearth of reading in my life?  Because when I get home from work, somehow I always wind up staring at the TV, that evil, mindless, fascinating box.

Writingwise, I am even worse off than I am for reading.  I wrote a story of less than a thousand words one night on a lark, and since yesterday have written a couple of pages of a (gasp) non-science-fiction story that may or may not pan out.  I’ve only submitted two of my required five fiction submissions this month, so I should clearly spend some time on that.  (On the other hand, can I not give myself credit for a spectacular syllabus, which I wrote from scratch in six days?  Can I not give myself credit for unit plans and writing prompts?  Can I not give myself credit for assignment sheets and sample essays?)

Today’s plan involves writing, reading, and working goals: do submissions and play with new story, finish reading Best American Short Stories 2010, finalize tomorrow’s lessons, and teach SAT for a couple of hours.

I am a busy woman.

Who needs some tea.