It’s been a long week. It was a normal 5-day school week, but with vacations looming and report cards coming out this week, the kids seem to think it’s time for a mental vacation. I kind of agree with them, in some ways. Maybe we should have a week off in between trimesters to just chill? Of course, teachers wouldn’t chill. We’d work. That’s the problem. In fact, I’ve been doing an awful lot of that.
Last Friday was cell model day.
It’s actually only about 2/3’s of my students…
And it took 2 hours plus to grade…
That was Monday and Wednesday. Yes, the other 1/3 handed nothing in.
Then on Tuesday, I got about 144 powerpoints, which I still haven’t graded. Have to do it on the Mac for compatibility reasons, and I don’t like working on the laptop. Not sure when I’m doing it…maybe Sunday.
Today, Friday, I got this.
This is 150 cell tests and about 140 cell booklets. Yes, some kids turn in NOTHING. Scary. Scarier still when they see their grade.
I’ve already warned them that they won’t all be graded by Monday. They are not good at waiting. On Tuesday, I spent a few hours dealing with errant powerpoints (user error, not mine), and the next day, those same kids who couldn’t even SEND me their file were complaining because I hadn’t graded all the powerpoints that night. I sense badness in the future as these kids approach credit-card and employment age.
So that’s probably 5 hours on the cell booklets and another 2 on the tests. Maybe 3-4 hours on powerpoints. I don’t want to talk about next week yet, but it’s going to be hell. And that’s without the grading load.
I purposely timed the cell unit so that I would have more free time in the first few weeks of the month to pick out fabrics, because I have to do that at home. I can’t do it at my parents’ house in Arrowhead or on a soccer field in Vegas. I CAN however grade powerpoints, cell booklets, and tests in those two places, so they will be traveling with me and the moody girlchild next week. Yee ha.
I finished tracing Wonder Under for Q2 on Wednesday night.
I started cutting pieces apart last night at quilt class, and I plan to finish tonight. Tomorrow, in between the post office and two soccer games, I am somehow going to iron all the pieces down on fabric. I’m estimating 4 hours. No problem.
Deep breaths.
I was mapping my part of the Sightlines exhibit. I have measurement phobia. I’m convinced mine will be the only quilts that are TOO BIG.
I think it will be OK. Yes, I did it by hand. I might have a program that could handle this, but if I do, I don’t know about it. So there. I also draw by hand. Mousing just doesn’t fly for me and those drawing pad thingies like my mom and son have? I don’t like them. I keep running off the edge. I’d need one that was about 14×17″…and a whole ‘nother desk and room to put it in.
I’m reading another book on creativity (don’t know why…because…stop asking me) and it comments on letting other things go so you have time for creativity.
Like I’m not already doing that? I wrote that. I think the boychild assigned the dusting job to his sister. Silly boy. I have plans for y’all this Sunday.
A drawing.
When there’s room for three eyes, why not draw all three?
The girlchild is still in art classes. She did one pencil study before moving on to watercolor pencils this week.
It’s much better in real life…very subtle. Hard to photograph well.
My brother and SIL were in Turkey in the Fall…right around all the flooding, which they avoided. But they got me this in some antique book store.
Awesome. My family loves me. Wish I could read the writing. Probably one of the aides at my school can. But do I feel comfortable enough to ask them??? Um. No.
Speaking of that, a few at work know that I make art, but none have seen it. I was trying to explain what I’m working on to another teacher who was asking, and it was really difficult to explain that I essentially work my butt off at work and then go home and work my butt off at making art. She seemed to get it, but this is why I usually don’t bring it up. My last school was more of a family/friendly atmosphere. This school? Not so much. Maybe after three or four years it will get better, but at the moment, it’s fairly isolating, especially since a lot of my friends from last year were laid off. Last year, we had teams, so you had common students with those teachers and it fostered more of a sense of community and working together toward a common goal. This year, we have collaborative meetings with other teachers in our department, but we have been given an assignment to complete during that time, and that assignment gets in the way of any REAL collaboration. Which sucks.
OK. Off to Wonder Under World. Expect ironing in the next 24 hours. And maybe even screaming and pulling-out-of-hair.
Posted by Kathy 
Posted by Kathy 
Posted by Kathy 
. Pretty please.
