I’m skidding in near the end of the day (well, workday) here to get something up, because I like my posting streak and didn’t want to break it. Huh. Who would have thought?
Anyway! A few highs and lows from this week… but more highs than lows, I promise:
Highs
- It’s Friday, and I have a no-peopling weekend ahead of me.
- The sun was out today.
- I managed a WFH day today, which was much needed.
- The last 3 guest lectures (of 4) that I did this week went so well. The students were engaged, interested, and even approached me afterwards.
- More specifically, a student in one of those classes gave me the nicest compliment I have ever received as a teacher. Cue heart-eyes emoji.
- I’ve managed to stay awake every day. This is no small thing, trust me.
Low-ish things
- I am so completely peopled out and overstimulated, because of a tidal wave of emails, stressed students (and unanticipated issues), and endless meetings.
- I am dreadfully behind on everything on every list (see “endless meetings”, above).
- I did not sleep, essentially, for 2 nights in a row, making the end of the week particularly challenging.
- Guest lecture 1 of 4 was … not great. Disengaged (and almost rude) students. Sigh.
- Oh, and perhaps the worst… I am so far behind on NaBloPoMo and commenting. I may try to read and not comment the next day or two to try to catch up a bit.
Have a wonderful weekend, all. Here’s hoping I can keep my mini streak alive. 😉
I know you never officially signed up but I’ve been thrilled to see daily posts from you pop up 🙂
It sounds like you had a good, but long week and I am glad you’ll have a no-peopling weekend ahead of you and hopefully get some rest 🙂
Yes, a good but long week. Despite my no-peopling pledge, I do have to run errands today. I am planning to use self check out for sure, to avoid all possible interactions. 😉
Yay for 3 great lectures, which cancel out the “Monday” lecture (you didn’t say it was on Monday but maybe everyone was crappy because they were having a case of the Mondays). Boo to two nights of bad sleep. I’ve been there.
I always have time to read blogs, but not always time to leave comments. I trust that everyone understands that no comment means “wow that was a great post but I’m standing in line at the grocery store/doing 1000 other things/I just can’t hardly even right now” – it’s all good.
It was Tuesday but it was a Tuesday-that-was-really-a-Monday, if you know what I mean.
And excellent point about reading blogs and not commenting all the time – I love commenting on my favorite blogs, but sometimes it’s better to power through and get closer to caught up than to take the time. It’s good to have the reminder that people are not likely to be insulted if they do not see a comment from me. 🙂
No pressure to read, comment or write! Take the time you need to recharge, my friend.
And I can relate 100% to feeling peopled out!
The peopling has been out. of. control. recently. I hope you are getting time to yourself and with those you love (and actually WANT to spend time with…). (Note: this is one reason I am strongly against evening work-related get togethers. While I appreciate that others want to see and interact with their coworkers outside of work, I need that break or it’s going to be really hard to go back the next day…)
I was teaching an undergrad class once and I thought it went HORRIBLY. I did what I could, but the students never participated, stared at me with blank faces, and we just never connected all semester long. The evaluations for that class were absolutely wonderful, though. It turns out that they were just riveted by me all semester long and that was the look of concentration on their faces. Now, whenever something isn’t quite working out, I tell myself that the audience was just really focused. I’m SURE that’s what happened with Guest Lecture #1. Positive.
I love this story, Engie. Love it. I do tend to think that people are reacting negatively, when in reality, that might just be how they react. I’m a bit skeptical about the students who were talking to each other (2, in particular, stood out) but others really were paying attention.
I can so relate to being peopled-out! Hope you had some time to recharge this weekend!
I did – the most interaction I had was on a family Zoom (and my mom talked the whole time, ha) and then when I got my flu shot. I managed to escape the grocery store AND Target unscathed. 🙂 Hope you got some down time, too!
It made me so happy to read a student gave you the nicest compliment! Well deserved!
Trying to read and comment on everyone’s posts is impossible. I don’t particularly enjoy this LOL. It’s overwhelming. (I don’t mean that toward YOU, just toward the month and all the content!)
I hope you had some downtime this weekend!
It IS overwhelming, you’re absolutely right. I confess that I’ve skipped commenting on a few of your posts because I’ve already commented on 4 other ones. You’re allowed to skip – even mine. 😉
Right there with you on being behind! We’re all doing the best we can. <3
I'm sorry you didn't have a good lecture on Tuesday but so glad the other three were so positive and great! YAY!
Thanks, Stephany. I did another one Monday and was corralled by a student in the hall afterwards for 10 minutes. It was awesome. (And I so wish I had gotten their name!