I just came to the realization that grading 2 1-page response papers per week from each student means reading 128 pages per week of student writing. I'm supposed to give a check if it's done but me being me, I can't do it. If I see something that reflects a great deal of growth or insight, I can't help but comment. If a student writes something funny or clever, I can't help drawing a happy face. If a student totally missed the mark, I have to say something to get them on track. If they invent their own punctuation (e.g. its'), I have to fix it. If a student shares something deeply personal (which happens more than I thought it would), I feel like I have to recognize that. I know that I'm here to do research and focus on me because that is what I was recruited to do, but admittedly I like reading these response papers and right now I prefer doing that to starting on a proposal for my methods class. I think this might be a hint that a pedagogically focussed career is for me? There is something deeply fulfilling about teaching and it's certainly nothing I felt while doing ANYTHING at a software company.
I'm just happy that I'm finally out of my holiday funk (God damn I hate Christmas) and that my friends are all coming to visit this weekend. Yay, drinking, eating and snowboarding!
1 comment:
i also find teaching to be a good form of procrastination. actually, i guess anything works for enabling procrastination.
but some friends and i were also talking awhile ago about how teaching can be kind of an ego trip. you know, in grad classes, i feel like the weak link, but in freshman comp, i feel like the smartest one in the room!
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