Nested deadlines
So I had my last visit with my intervention subject the other day. For our last session together, I brought for her a present of a pack of glittery pencils in various colors. (She chose a pink one. It was a good choice.) She has been a real trooper, with my inconsistent scheduling (thanks to administrative duties incurred as a teacher) and, frankly, my somewhat limited understanding of the task. I know what to do in terms of delivery, and the concept itself is pretty straightforward, but I feel as though I’m walking down a pitch-dark hall, groping my way along one of the walls with my hands and shoulders, unsure of when or where I’ll be able to find a door. Or if I’d even recognize the feel of it. But now I must engage in the Herculean task of writing all this collected data up into a report that is worthy of presentation, and give an oral summary on Wednesday.
In addition, we only have seven weeks of instruction left in the Wake County calendar. I have considerable material to teach before the end of the semester in both classes, and while my pace isn’t terrible, it’s also not as quick as I’d like it to be. This being my first full semester teaching, that’s to be expected, but I feel I owe them something more than my predecessor. But I am at least caught up in terms of entering grades. For that I owe a great and unpayable debt to the inestimable Sidhe, who has both a working brain and far better organizational skills. So together we plowed through the backlog of quizzes I had let fester. I have done much better this semester than last about that, at least; the week before spring break was when I let it get out of hand, and only because I was struck ill by the plague that had been going around. Last fall I was just abysmal about getting quizzes back, on the order of a couple weeks sometimes.
Well, back to the salt mines. This stuff won’t write itself–and the words must flow like a river now.