Drowning

I am up to my eyeballs in stuff to be graded. At the beginning of the semester, it seemed like a good idea to have my students turn in a paper and a midterm right before Fall Break, because I would then have the extra time over the break to get everything graded, so when classes started up again, I would be free to do all the other things I've been putting off all semester.

Then the flu came along and ruined all my perfectly crafted plans. I didn't touch a single bit of grading until the Sunday night of Fall Break. And up until today, I haven't felt well enough to spend any significant amount of time on grading at all. Add to that the fact that I never finished grading a set of papers my students had turned in a week and a half before they turned in their final papers and midterms, and I am officially drowning in stuff to be graded.

Ugh. I'm sitting in the library, looking at these stacks and stacks of papers and tests, and dreading reading all their malformed sentences and poorly based ideas. Not that my students don't sometimes have great ideas and write really well. But sometimes they just don't. And that's disheartening. Especially when it happens over and over. And over.

It's a good think it's so dreary and wet outside today. There's no chance I'd get anything done if it were a beautiful, clear day.