Tuesday, Apr. 08, 2003
I need George Harrison to start singing "Here comes the sun", posted at 7:19 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com I wasn't excited about spring break, but, after today, it's the carrot on the end of the stick that will hopefully get me through this week.It's only Tuesday, but it's already been a long week. In the classroom, things have been great. My students and I read and analyzed Eugenia Collier's story "Marigolds," which is one of my favorites. My teaching of the story consists of a carefully planned set of questions that target critical reading, and focuses upon tone, mood, and theme. I remember the first time I taught the story, that the kids said stuff like, "Why'd that crazy girl mess up all those flowers?" Now, with my better teaching, they're not asking that question - which should be obvious if they have attacked the story like they should. Instead, they are making connections with their own lives, comparing and contrasting it to To Kill a Mockingbird (without even prompting!) and arguing about Collier's assertion that innocence and compassion cannot exist at the same time in a person, because innocence is ignorantly looking at the surface at someone while compassion - the true mark of adulthood - involves seeing the world from another's perspective.
It was great. My kids learned a lot, too.
But outside of the classroom, things seem in shambles. The weather is shitty, and we had to cancel baseball practice again today. Five of our six games have been cancelled, and the hideous weather is just a huge downer.
Secondly, I received this e-mail from my supervisor today, a woman I admire for her always positive attitude and immense prowess as a teacher. She also seems to really respect the things I do in the classroom, and I always look forward to our conversations. Anyhow, here's the e-mail:
First off, something I need to get off my chest. First, and importantly, if you were one of the people who remembered that milestones were this week, thank you and please disregard this paragraph and the next. To my other friends: I promised you all at the beginning of the year that I would never hold �memo meetings,� in which I run down lists of announcements that people could just as well read on their own � that we would use our time together for collaboration and discussion. I desperately want to keep that promise � but the apparent lack of reading of �memos� is of concern. (For example � no one took me up on the offer of a free beer I put at the bitter end to anyone who made it all the way through the strategic plan for English piece � a piece which contains decisions which affect our lives significantly!) Believe me, as much as it might seem that I write to you all, there�s a lot of extraneous stuff that I filter out. I try only to share key things that affect English classes or teachers.
This is the crux of it for me this week: I cannot convey how dispiriting it was to come to school Monday morning to have almost every faculty member in the English department say to me, �Oh, we�re doing that this week?� after staying late Friday, struggling with massive technical difficulties here, then staying up late Sunday to put out my own money at Kinkos to get the milestones ready on time for you. The milestones timing was put out there formally in the calendar of English Department dates I gave you in January. The dilemma is this: if I �overremind� or hound people with 2nd and 3rd notices about things, essentially the message I�ll convey is that the first message or a calendar I put out can be put in a pile and forgotten because people can rely on the reminders. I honestly can�t keep up with reminders � nor do I want to display an undermining lack of trust in your professionalism by assuming you need them. I need to rely on folks to get things down that I put out in a calendar or via emails � believe me, I am as overwhelmed by paperwork as the next person, so I empathize with the difficulties of keeping it all straight � but I am counting on people to be aware of upcoming dates that have been published and to take the initiative to check in with me or with mentors and colleagues when something is not clear. I rely on you for that two-way feedback, to make my imperfect communications clearer. Thanks for making the efforts required to make our communications work.
Yes, I was one of those people who didn't know about the milestones. I knew they were around this time, before spring break, and told her that, but when she brought it to me, I was a little surprised. Pleasantly, though. I'd been looking forward to them. But I was amongst those that contributed to the crux of her issue. I feel guilty. I feel guilty for adding more stress to her already stressful work, and even more guilty for missing the "free beer" comment on one of her memos because, hell yeah, I would have taken her up on it. Anyhow, even though I think she's making a bit of a big deal about it, I did/do feel bad about it.
Ugh.
In other news, I just feel totally swamped right now, unable to get a hold on all of the work on my desk. My body feels unhealthy, still fighting off the remnants of my cold from last week and horribly sore from a leg workout on Sunday that is making me walk like an old man.
Things will start looking up as soon as the sun starts shining, though.