May 3, 2011
And it starts.
The inevitable.
Unavoidable.
Intensely frustrating.
Grade grubbing.
Students who feel that they have been wrongly evaluated.
Students who feel that they deserve an A grade for C work.
I typically don't get a lot of this, so when I do, I find it intensely irritating.
Not everyone is an A student.
Simple as that.
And no one should expect grades that do not accurately reflect the quality of their work.
Yes, I am a hard marker.
But, I am a fair marker.
There is a definite sense of entitlement among students.
The idea that they should get high grades "just because."
Just because they put themselves in a group with people who don't work and then they get upset with me, expecting that I can or am willing to do something about it.
I love teaching.
I really like my students.
But don't grade grub.
Because there is always the chance that instead of getting better, the grade could change for the worse.
And it is just ugly.
One of our fallen computers has returned home.
Whole and ready for work.
It was very, very stressful, on the one hand, not having an at home working computer this weekend.
I certainly didn't enjoy being at work from 10-5 on Saturday, and 10-3 and 7-10 on Sunday.
But there were positives to our state of internetlessness.
Especially noteworthy was that Stephen actually came to bed with me Saturday and Sunday night.
Normally, I go to be several hours before he does, as he stays up tooling around on the internet.
Much of which, granted, is work.
But much of which is also listening to and watching youtube videos of music from the 60s and 70s.
He was getting up early in the morning, awake, refreshed and ready to greet the day.
This alone is enough to make me contemplate getting rid of the internet at home.
But then there are the kids to contend with.
Maybe when they've all moved out.
I'll get rid of the cable and the internet.
Muuuaaaaahhhhhhhaaaaahhhhaaaaawwwwwwww!
Yesterday was crazy.
Morning class from 9-11.20.
Which had it's share of issues.
The lamp in the projector wasn't working, so we were forced to move classrooms.
And then the network went down, which meant no access to any of my word documents, powerpoints, etc, meaning class was interrupted again when I had to dash back to my office to retreive my jump drive hoping that my powerpoint slides were saved on it somewhere.
Queen of Organization, I am.
Right after class, home to meet with Annette-the-most-amazing-dog-trainer-in-the-world (http://www.barkbusters.ca/) in an effort to kickstart our flagging attention towards the atrocious and unacceptable behavour of the always formidable Frankie.
Frankie who almost ate our neighbour Sunday evening, as I was out, Stephen fell asleep on the couch and in his dazed and confused state didn't put Frankie in his crate before answering the door.
Frankie doesn't like the door.
Especially when there are people on the other side of it whom he does not recognize.
Our meeting with Annette was an opportunity for Stephen to vent his well founded frustrations with Frankie.
Frankie's incessant need to bark at every single thing that blows by, walks in front of, drives past our house.
His explosive reactions to any dog, cat, person, child, box, garbage bag, he encounters while watching the world go by from behind his dog gate in the back of the car.
Something must be done.
We have strategies.
Back to the university for my afternoon class, which thankfully suffered none of the technological difficulties of my morning class.
In fact, my Crime in Popular Film class went very well.
The day's feature was a little known 2005 film, Keeping Mum with Rowan Atkinson, Maggie Smith and Patrick Swayze as the greasy American golf pro.
If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.
Highly.
Immediately leave my afternoon class to pick up my laptop from the repair shop.
Home to change for yoga, collect Stephen and head downtown for a much needed hour and a half of stretching and bending and breathing.
Then off to Victory for meat and veggies, up the hill to pick Em up from Driver's Ed, and then to the polls to vote in yet another Federal election.
It was 9.00 before supper was over, the dishes done, dogs out and our bottoms were able to plant themselves on the loveseat.
I managed to watch the nauseating election coverage for 30 minutes before I had to leave the room.
Oh, Canada, what have you done?
A Harper majority government?
Don't come crying to me when it all goes to hell in a handbasket.
Title Lyric: Frustration by The Mamas and The Papas.
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