Request for Advice on How To Do Student Conferences in 15 Minutes Flat

The week after next, I'll be holding individual conferences for the two sections of my composition/argument class. In order to fit all of the students in (leaving time open for classes and all of my meetings for the ongoing college crisis), I've had to set the student conferences at just 15 minutes.

In the past, I have always allotted 20 minutes for conferences, and even 20 minutes often seemed too short.

I'm sure I need to approach the conferences a bit differently than I usually do in order to bang them out in 14-15 minutes. Before each student arrives, I will have read the first three pages of his or her research paper and an outline of the entire paper. I'll write some written feedback beforehand that students will be able to take with them.

For those of you who are good at finishing one-on-one writing conferences in 15 minutes or less, please give me some advice!

Taking Suggestions

I'm trying to thing about what novel(s) I want to teach in my comp/argument class next fall. For several years, I didn't teach any fiction in that class because the weeks spent on fiction seemed to steer us off course. But then I got frustrated that I didn't even feel like I was teaching and *English* class. So this semester, I brought back the novel. In fact, I taught two. But I changed my approach and connected the novels to issue-based articles that were circulating in the public sphere and it all worked really well.

In choosing the novels, I wanted high-interest books that were connected to current issues that we could write about and discuss. I chose The Hunger Games and The Help. For The Hunger Games, we read articles on many related issues: the spectacle of violence, the 99%, reality TV, etc. For The Help, we studied the criticism that the book has received along with arguments defending the novel and we explored the idea of being a resistant reader (we also read texts by authors such as Zora Neale Hurston). Anyway, I developed full unit on each novel, and they were great. But I want to consider different novels for the future. While I might do The Hunger Games again, I am hesitant since everyone will have read it now. As for The Help, for many of the students it was great, but for others, it was low-interest.To be specific, the guys had trouble getting into it. If I wasn't at a community college and wasn't so eager to get my students reading, I wouldn't care. But if I can find a book with broader appeal, that would be great.

I've thought about Fight Club, but I'm not sure that's really my thing. I've thought about looking into something by Octavia Butler, and I've thought about checking out Atwood's Oryx and Crake. But this point, I'd love to hear any suggestions.

GEW? GEW?

I just waved goodbye to the family as they pulled out of the driveway to hit the road. They are heading north to pick up my niece and nephew, and they'll all be back here tomorrow, and we'll have a houseful of kids for the rest of the week. It's a five-hour drive each way, so they won't be back until later tomorrow.

As they left, I got a bit weepie. I love family road trips. Family road trips are our thing, and this time I'm staying home. It's just for one night, but it feels really weird to see them take off without me. I'm usually there in the front seat, where I usually alternate between knitting, getting Cokes for Hubby, and providing the children with their snacks, notebooks, movies, etc. So seeing them go was sad and weird and just sort of wrong.

Now that they are gone, I'm going to work on the dissertation for two days. But I have to say, it's hard not to feel a bit like Ferris Bueller. It's spring break at my college, and I keep thinking, "I have almost two whole days!" Carpe diem, and all that, right? I've been so busy lately, that it's hard to make myself just sit still and do more work. So here are some things I'm tempted to do with my time:

• Go to the yarn shop
• Go to the bookstore
• Hang out at a coffee shop
• Take the dog on a hike
• Take the dog to the beach
• Knit
• Stream all kinds of goodies from the Roku
• Take myself out for lunch at the cajun place
• Take myself out to a movie
• Go clothes shopping (for myself, not the kids!)
• Nap
• Read novels
• Lay on the floor and stare at the ceiling
• and so much more . . .

And I might do one or two things. I might go to the craft store to get stuff for the kids and their cousins. I might go to Trader Joe's so the kids will have snacks when they get back. I might take the dog for a hike tomorrow if I get enough work done for today. But, otherwise, I need to exercise restraint. This is probably my only shot to finish up a decent draft of this dissertation chapter in the next month. But it Is. So. Hard.

It's all Material

Yesterday, while leafing through Oprah magazine, I came across quotatons of people answering the question, "What brings you joy?" So I asked the children:

Me: What brings you joy?
The Boy: Stuff
The Girl: Candy
Me:
Hubby: Clearly, we've done a bang up job of parenting.

Doing the Math

I was just looking over my calendar for the week, adding up the numbers. It turns out that I have 13.5 hours of meetings scheduled for this week. That's thirteen and one-half hours. Of meetings.

Add to that three classes, 60 essays, about 150 pages of prep reading, three assignments that need to be created, one 4-H meeting, one dance rehearsal, one Family Math night, and assorted other commitments, and I think I'm going to be a dollar short at the end of it all.

Oh, and I still have to do taxes.

Well, That's True Enough I Suppose . . .

Today, as we were in the check out line at the craft store, the Boy and I had this little dialogue:

Boy: Mommy, you know how there is a really smart lady on Bones?
Me: Yes, but how do you know that?
Boy: You told me.
Me: Oh, yes. And?
Boy: Well, I bet people would say that she's born to do the work that she does.
Me: Because she loves it and is good at it?
Boy: Yes.


Then, about 20 minutes later in the car:

Me: So, Buddy, at this point do you have any idea what you were "born to do"?
Boy: Reproduce.

Just Another Manic Monday

I thought I had it all together. I put a GREAT dinner in the crockpot this morning.

After a long day at work, I bustled into the house at 5:45, with hungry children waiting, took off the crockpot lid, prepared to stir, and was greeted with a charred mess. Apparently, I had left it on high rather than on low. Dinner and the pot were both burned to destruction*. But at least I didn't set the house afire!

*And at least it was my old pot.