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Well, the end of another week is here. The weather is turning towards the Grey Waking Lingering Death. Perhaps the best indicator of that transition is that the Pondering Tree lost all of her leaves a week after Trinity and I took this photograph.
We’ll have to swing by the tree for a winter shot a bit later.
For the most part, things are busy here on my end. Another batch of tests are coming up for two of my three classes. My Western Civ kids will do well enough. They are a true blessing for the most part, sharp, attentive and open to the material. I feel as if I am underteaching that class.
The other two classes? My American History 120 class is starting to thin out. I’ve got pretty heavy attrition in the ranks and their attendance is slipping. If I could lose the dead weight in the back of the classroom, I suspect things would go better.
In my eight week? Too early to say really. I gave them a rare pop quiz yesterday and for the most part their performance was substandard.
Tonight Trinity is giving me some time to get caught up on some of my work. Yeah, a Friday, I know. I’m a bastard. However, tomorrow is Pay Day Activities and we will be out taking care of chores all day. There will be no time for any reading, lecture writing, story writing or test prep. Ninety percent of Saturday is pretty much lost to things which need to be done.
Hopefully I can get Sunday for work.
Speaking of Trinity, she is looking into studying abroad for a semester. Personally, I have mixed feelings about this. The rule in my life is that when someone leaves me for more than a month and travels to another part of the planet, that person ends up leaving me for good. It also seems to send a very subtle message that perhaps it isn’t so much about traveling to another part of the planet but more about traveling to someplace yours truly is not.
On the other hand, I would never begrudge someone the opportunity to travel. I can’t go myself. Someone has to stay and pay the rent, maintain the teaching career and the like.
Well, back to work. There won’t be any fiction writing today I suspect, nor tomorrow and probably none on Sunday either.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
The Teaching Front
I gave exams back in American History 120. There was a marked improvement in many of the essays but I still had a pretty high fail rate. Maybe I can whittle them down a bit more.
In Western Civ we saw a film on the Battle of Actium and the political events surrounding the battle. I went over what I was looking for on their essay and spent time on individual conferences.
In my American History 121 I’m dealing with some disruption issues so I deployed a pop quiz. I rarely do this but it just seems like they won’t get with the program. I read over the quizes and the results were abysmal. Hopefully it will serve as a wake up call for the weekend since their first true exam is next Tuesday.
So it goes.
Check out Birmo’s blog for a bit on what killed Science Fiction. I argue that boring everyone to death is probably part of the problem.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
The Teaching Front: Tuesday Post Mortem
Running on four hours of sleep and an early wake up, I rolled into my American History class and began to slug my way through Thomas Jefferson. We’ve entered a period of history that I have never found interesting on a personal level but I was doing my best to get through Jefferson.
Oh, I like Jefferson well enough and I would like to read more about him.
In any case, the lecture went well enough until about 0850 when my lecture stride suddenly crapped out on me. My ability to focus, what little there was, went out the window and I started to have one of those dreaded “Falling Down the Stairs” lectures.
I got out of there roughly on time and proceeded to the Western Civ class. A better topic, finishing up the Fall of the Roman Empire, was on tap. I managed to get through most of it in tolerable order until again, right at about fifty minutes in, my lecture stride crapped out again.
A brief digression. We’ve been talking about killing off various Romans leading up to the eventual demise of the Triumvirate when someone asked this question.
“Are we going to learn about the lives of ordinary people?”
I said, “You mean the lives of the fishmonger, or the bricklayer?”
“Yeah.”
“No,” I responded. “In a thousand years, nobody is going to care about the life of a burgerflipper in McDonald’s.”
Social History. Blah. I did that in my class. We covered Roman family structure, marriages, the patron client relationship and I even talked about baths and togas.
Strangely enough, my eight week class went better. Well, better for me if not my students. They seemed hell bent on sleeping through the lecture yesterday. No one is taking notes and I suspect they really don’t have any idea what is lurking round the corner next Tuesday.
I predict a high fail rate.
On other Teaching Fronts, I’ve got sixteen tests left to grade, one test to write, and a lecture on Augustus to cover.
Other Fronts
Payday comes though it is already spent for the most part. Otherwise, I have nothing to add.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
Had my first “Falling Down the Stairs” lecture in nearly a year this morning. I call them that because it feels like I am falling down a flight of stairs forty stories high. Nothing works, my brain can’t focus, I can’t answer student questions in a fashion that makes any sense, etc.
Hopefully 0930 will be better. It can’t get any worse.
S. F. Murphy
The Teaching Front.
Created frames for two lectures in my American History 120 course for the third quarter. I also revised and printed out my Slavery lecture, which covers the period from 1793 to 1860. Hopefully I can fill the frames for my two lectures out later this week.
Now it is time for a trip to the gym. I have Body Building so attendance is pretty much required.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
The Teaching Front
Lectures written: One.
Time to complete lecture: Two hours.
Tasks Remaining:
Tests graded: Zero
Tests remaining: Thirty
And I’m so tired, I can’t remember the other tasks. That means they’ll float around out there until they crack me in the back of the head at the last minute.
Just great. I’m going to go get lunch.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
The Teaching Front: Taskings
Now that I am behind, here is what I get to do. Namely jump through my ass and get caught up on this list.
First I have to write at least ten to fifteen pages of lecture notes on the Fall of the Roman Republic by 0930 hours tomorrow morning. If you figure that I’ll have to do this again for Thursday, you might as well assume that I have the equivalent of two undergraduate term papers due this week. A grand total of twenty to thirty pages of notes in just one class is the first order of business.
Second, I have to find time to grade thirty exams from last week. That is nominally a weekend task but there was no time this weekend to do that. So my American History One kids will get their tests back late. Again.
Third, I have to find time to write a test for Western Civilization. That will take anywhere from four to eight hours of my time if I do it properly. As it stands, I’ll probably be rushed due to other obligations on my time.
Fourth, I have to begin writing lectures for my American History One class since yours truly is about to run out of written material. I have a gap which runs from the end of the War of 1812 to 1846 which I used to skip in order to get to the Civil War. That means I have maybe two or three classes worth of lectures left before the quiver is empty. So now my writing load has expanded from a previous maximum of thirty pages a week to sixty pages a week.
For those in undergrad land, imagine doing two term papers due every Tuesday and Thursday for the rest of the semester.
And somewhere in there I have to find time to get some fiction writing done for Terri’s class. That is another thirty pages at least.
I sometimes think that the only person who truly understands my situation, aside from my fellow instructors, is the Client of RPN-02 to RPN-04. As a full time novelist, columnist and blogger, he understands the issues of deadlines, page count, productivity and how the Rest of One’s Life conspires to interfere with getting anything done.
I really don’t think anyone else gets it. And on top of all of that, I find that I am practically exhausted. I’m not getting anywhere near enough sleep to remain optimal.
Well, I’ve done my bitching. Now I’m going to knuckle down and start with my Western Civ notes. Easiest task first, get an early success in, then maybe I can move onto something else.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
I didn’t get a single thing done this weekend.
Tests graded? Zero.
Lectures written? Zero.
Fiction written? Zero.
Totally unproductive.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
Remember the Uniguard Era when, even though I was somewhat vague, I could blog about things which vexed me?
Well, that era is long gone.
I’m aggravated about the following issues.
1. The Stereotypical Treatment of Veterans on College Campuses. (We’re the modern day equivalent of Nazi Stormtroopers. Didn’t you know that? And better yet, we’ve all got PTSD and have endless issues adjusting to civilian life. We’re DANGEROUS.)
2. The rare example of veterans who behave badly which reinforces point number one.
3. The fact that I have to scrape up time to do anything because I am always driving my car somewhere.
4. The Education System in general.
And while I’m at it, I’ll just toss in my aggravation with the American Science Fiction Short Market Community.
Now I’m going to go pick up Trinity and buy groceries. The Pod is low on all supplies and we are in need of a restock.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
Got a new blog icon here for the Autumn Season. Trinity is standing there with a big grin, which gives you some sense of scale.
Here is the summer tree for those wondering about that.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
Those that done said stuff