Bitching & Oreos

Obviously I haven't made it to the grading part of the evening. I did eat dinner (2 baked red potatoes) and returned the exploded books to their respective shelves. I have spent the previous two nights approving copyedits and meticulously re-checking sources for an article to be published soon, and Husband spent the last two days preparing a presentation with lots-o-theory in it. Needless to say (so of course I must) there were books on every (and I actually do mean every) surface in our apartment. The pile of books next to my laptop actually fell over and spilled into the floor shortly before I finished last night and went to bed.

But the article is finished! Yay! Now all I have to do is take the GRE again on Saturday, find time to study for it, grade the rest of the god-damn-mother-fucking-essays my students keep turning in (you'd think I was teaching a writing class or something), go to Husband's art opening, plan my classes for next week (last week of class, so easy - final exam already made), copy the final exam, and write a draft of a 10-15 page essay (which is still in the Elysian fields) - all by Tuesday.

Ok, so maybe Elysian fields isn't the right metaphor. But you get the picture - I haven't written the essay yet; it's all etheral or ephemeral and shit. It's in my head, I think. So of course, I'm blogging. Damn it. I'm going to grade now. I have to get these essays out of the way.

I just hate grading them because I keep writing the same things over and over:

• You need a clear statement of your thesis.
• Why?
• What is your reasoning behind this?
• Explain your thinking here.
• Do you have any evidence to support that claim?
• How do you know?
• Actually, that assumption is false. A more accurate statement would be . . .

How about just once, the majority of my students go hmm, I got a C on this essay because I made wild assumptions without supporting them and at no point stated my thesis. This time, I think I will actually write out the point I'm trying to make and give evidence to support it.

I mean, they're supposed to be learning how to write. Doesn't that mean they should pay attention to previous comments I've made and to what I say in class?

Ok, enough bitching.

Ooooooohhhhh. Husband just walked in the door with oreos!