I was putzing around on-line looking up the current French presidential candidates when I remembered I ought to check my campus e-mail. So I hop over to the ISU site and pull up the Portal which has pretty much everything on it: e-mail, midterm grades, campus announcements, class schedules, etc. The campus announcements are just headlines until you click on them, and I Continue reading →

It’s almost hard to believe that there’s only three more weeks (or so) left this semester. My beginning-level classes are behind and there’s little time for review let alone another complete chapter. They still have an oral exam (a sort of conversation/interview) which means more grading, and I’m already behind enough when it comes to handing back papers. I have three Continue reading →

It’s Thursday now and I’m back in the office. I’m half-expecting a student to come within the next fifteen minutes, so I don’t want to get into something just to have to stop it. Therefore, I’m posting. Go figure. At any rate, yesterday at work was something of . . . an experience. I can think of many choice words to describe it–after all, I did my thesis on insults, slurs and other such invectives. Continue reading →

Classes have been cancelled today until noon which means I miss two of my four. The sun’s out at the moment, but that’s not a good indicator of what the temperature will be or the condition of the roads. I’d say we only got a couple inches of snow last night . . . after having gotten freezing rain for several hours. It’ll make getting to work and getting around campus interesting, to say the least. Continue reading →

Today’s the last day of finals. I give my last exam at 10, so in about an hour from now. Then it’s grade, grade, grade, grade, grade until I have to turn grades in next Tuesday. I figure I can grade exams for the three previous classes today while my last class is taking their exam, or else I’ll crochet. I’ve just discovered the fun of crocheting with a teeny tiny hook and thread. Also along Continue reading →

Well, I just got out of my last class of the day, and today was the last day of classes for the semester. Now I’ve just got three days of finals next week and I’m done. Well, saying I’ve just got three days of finals is putting it rather mildly since I’ve still got stuff to grade; e-mails to reply to; a final to write; a study guide to write (I put these on-line so it’s OK that I’m not going to see them Continue reading →

No time for a TKT today. I figure that next week I should be able to get one up because I’ll have office hours but no lesson plans to mess with and just two classes’ worth of finals to grade that day. This week though is far too busy. I’ve got four stacks of papers to grade through before tomorrow; I’ve got departmental stuff I need to get done by tomorrow; I have a final to write for Continue reading →

Well, it’s 4:30 in the morning. I don’t plan on getting any sleep tonight. I’ve been grading papers/writing tests/working on lesson plans since about two yesterday afternoon and I’m still not done. Admittedly, there was laundry-doing mixed in there along with some time fixing food and the like, but still, it grows old. I plan on grading two more classes’ worth of work in addition to writing up Continue reading →

Well, this is going to be a long couple weeks. The French Film Festival is going on now, and I’m helping out with several of the days which means I’ve got to be on campus between a quarter of seven at night until after nine. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are always long days because I teach four classes pretty much in a row (three in a row, one wimpy hour break, and then the last Continue reading →

Well, I just got done reporting midterm grades for my four classes. I’d say that on average, my classes are doing about average. Except my 202. They’re doing really well. There are a lot of students failing, but that’s predominately because of attendance issues or the fact that they never turn anything in. Maybe getting an F will help wake them up. Then again, knowing some of these Continue reading →