Wednesday, April 5, 2017

"What day is it?!" Adventures in frenzied librarianship...

Wow. Where to start...You'll notice that today is usually Book Club Day. And well...I forgot the book. 😱 When you hear about my past 2 days you'll understand why.

Let's start with Monday. Grab your coffee!

Monday morning heralds a string of text messages from my colleagues. Our students have an automated quiz to complete this week, and there's been a problem with the course management system not granting them partial credit like we had intended. They are receiving either a 100, or a 0, and as you can imagine, this is generating some angst. I start class at 9 am on Mondays, so I rushy rushy at home to get into work and fix this before my first class begins. When I open my email I already have a half dozen questions about this problem, and I'd rather not accumulate more to have to deal with. The issue when we encounter a problem like this is that we're all teaching 10 sections of this same lab. When we have to change something in class #1, we have to change it in all 10. That's a lot of mundane mouse clicking for a Monday morning, but I manage. It makes me run a few minutes late, but I finish, and rush off to class in the other library building.

Immediately upon my arrival, my colleague that I teach with in that time slot informs me of yet another problem: there's a troublesome question in the quiz. She thinks we should remove it. I look at it and agree with her.

*long suffering sighs are heard throughout the land*

We have 3 classes in a row for this Monday stretch. Between each of them, she and I are on laptops, our fingers moving at lightening speed to eliminate that quiz question, and re-set up the partial credit option. For all 10 sections, it takes a LOT longer than we wanted it to.

Class 1 comes and goes with just some questions about about quiz problem #1. While the students are working on something, I send out emails to the other sections, alerting them that the problem has been fixed. Class 2 begins, and I immediately pick up on a vibe: there is tension and dissension amongst a table towards the back of the room.  They had a group project due last week, and there is apparently strife with regards to what was turned in and who did what. As the other students are working on something else, I hear shouting coming from that table. I.KID.YOU.NOT. They were in my colleague's section, and she had to EXTRACT them from the room to deal with the problem out in the hallway. We never signed up to be K-12 teachers, y'all. Good grief!

By Class 3, we were both emotionally drained and just hanging on to make it through the morning. This group was confused when we mentioned that they (assumedly) had to write a paper for their English class, and we were here to help with that. A paper in an English Composition class? This was shocking news, apparently. :0

After that, I headed to my regular fitness class, though every muscle in my body ached to just go back to my office and build a hermitage to live in for the remainder of the week. After that, I stuffed my lunch in my mouth while answering emails and dealing with assorted other work issues. I left at 5 pm totally exhausted.

Yesterday, I had the day off from work, but it was jam packed with social outings. If you've known me for any length of time, you know that I am an introvert, and that socializing, while I very much enjoy it, isn't exactly on my list of activities that induces *relaxation.* 😅 I visited with an out-of-town friend, and we walked to Canada (long story :0). We had lunch and did lots of lovely visiting. After a rushy trip home to shower, clean up the house and tend to the children, I had a date to go out to dinner and to see Swan Lake with my mother-in-law.

*collapses*

Again, lovely, but by the time I dragged myself home at 10 pm, you could have blown me over with a wisp of wind. Today, I'm back to my regular class schedule and feeling like a nap may overtake me at any moment. And of course, I forgot our book club book. :0 And I have to prepare for a dance performance this weekend. And a small gathering we're hosting for some friends to watch the Masters golf tournament. Hermitage, anyone?

Sooooooo, tomorrow we'll have book club! And Friday we'll have Tea Time!

How was the beginning of your week? Was it as frenzied as mine?

4 comments:

  1. Monday had frenzied start. Before the story starts I should note I work at 2 different locations on Mondays and have to drive between them. I did not want to get out of bed on Monday morning and so I got up later than I should have and then tried to do one thing to many before I went to work. Therefore I left the house Monday with just enough time to get to work. Once I am out the door and it is locked behind me I realize that I left my keys (car keys and house keys) in the house. So I get the spare key, go inside, and then put the spare away and go to work. While I'm at work I realized that I forgot my laptop at home and I need it for work at location number 2. So after leaving location number 1, I go home quickly and grab my laptop and head to location 2. Thankfully, I live close to location 1 and wasn't more than 5 minutes late anywhere that day.

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    1. Melanie,

      The spirit of your day sounds VERY reminiscent to mine. :0 It's not like it's any one thing, or that any of those things are all that bad. But they all add up to *chaos* in the quiet of our minds. Solidarity!

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  2. Hope the week improves. I can so relate, a funeral for an old friend of mom's, mass, family lunch and the mall to buy Easter clothes for some of the nieces and nephews. Drag myself home, work on some contest entries I signed up to judge. Monday tried to pull house together, errands, Tuesday a long day at dentist. Started he had car issue, wait for help, no time to stop at home before nephew' s wedding reception. This morning had to be up at 6:30 to make chiropractor appointment. Home, fixed lunch for company, more guests and my brother dropped in. Had to shop for groceries and now we are :) having a hail, thunderstorm. Living in a cave sounds very appealing! Only two days until Saturday. Oh wait I have a big book festival that day!

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    Replies
    1. Donna,

      I am heaving a long suffering sigh on your behalf. :0 Is it our stage of life, is that it? I don't ever remember being this busy when I was younger! It's like there's no time to breath on some days!

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