Oh, Screw It.

I tried. I really did. But NaBloPoMo is just not happening for me this year. Obviously.

So, today we are...

* finally finally finally finalizing our Thanksgiving plans. Holy crap, how I hate waiting until the last minute for stuff like this.
* doing football separately. Slogger will attend the football game, standing on the sidelines. I will be attending the football game through the lovely medium of television, while grading my ass off in preparation for said Thanksgiving plans.
* attending a girls' night out, separately. I tried to get Slogger to go, but he will be watching another football game on tv while I attend my friend AJ's birthday celebration.

Here's what I got her for her birthday (it's an earring and necklace holder, available at Ginny's Ear-Nest. (Just so you know, the name of that site always makes me think of the Twilight Zone episode where the guy has earwigs eating through his brain -- ewww. And yes, I know that earwigs don't do that.)

* doing housework: laundry, laundry, laundry, and more laundry. Plus raking leaves.

Fun times!

Oh, also? Thursday of last week, I came closer than I've ever come before to screaming "F^%$%$ off!" at my class and stomping out the door. Whew. I'll be glad when this semester is over.

NaBloPoMo '08 #1: No-Football Saturday

Normally, I like college football. Not as much as basketball, mind you, but it's ok. Slogger and I have season tickets to the football games, and normally I would go. But today? Today is a day for grading and cooking and laundry. I've got the crockpot chicken already slowly cooking, the second load is in the washer, and that brings me to my third event of the day:

Grading.

Today, I am planning to work through 14 sets of poetry that my students handed in last Tuesday. I know I should have graded more between then and now, but what can I say? I just didn't get to it. It's actually a fairly simple procedure, and more one of responding than of grading. I just read through their three poems, check to see that they have sufficient peer feedback and multiple drafts, read their reflection letters, and assign a letter grade. Then I record verbal feedback on strengths and possible revisions they might want to make, post them on the website, and go on to the next. I've been doing this audio feedback thing for a while now, and I have to say that I'm pleased with it. At least some of my students like it -- the ones who don't haven't been too loud. I believe that I can be clearer with my feedback, and it seems that my students get more clarity on what they need to work on as well. I wish I could do this with reviewing for journals!

And then I've also got some sets of smaller assignments to grade -- reading responses and the like -- which I will probably do while watching a football game on television.

Good news on the basketball front, because the women's season begins next Tuesday. And really, women's basketball is SOOOO much more fun to watch than men's. I've always liked women's basketball better, since I started teaching high school in California and was the 30-second clock keeper for our women's team. I think that women's teams tend to do team play more than individual, and that's the kind of sport I like to watch.

With the first game being election night, I wonder if they will announce election results at the game? Or ignore it alltogether?