Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2003
Where was I when you stopped loving me?, posted at 10:58 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Today was such a long day. I am in such a desperate need of a revival at school. My alternative assessment which worked so great yesterday was also good today but horribly boring for me.After one group discussed their topics, we were out of time and I thought I had heard enough from each of them to assess the depth of their knowledge of the topics assigned. So I said, "Okay, I think I've heard enough of this group now."
One kid looked over at me and said, "Gosh, Mr. E, you sound so bored."
Yup, kid, when you hear the same damn discussion six times through, it's tough not to.
But this isn't me. I'm just in a surly mood. My planning period was really needed today, and it was taken up by a meeting that was not very helpful.
Finals are tomorrow, and I haven't even wrote my students individual letters. I suck. I have a foot of papers to grade and I'm thinking about just not grading them. Is that horrible? I don't think it is. My philosophy on grading is using them to help students with their work, and if they're not even going to get it back before grades are due, it's not going to help them any in my class, right? I know which kids are passing and the ones that aren't. The latter ones aren't even close. I know what my students deserve, what skills they have acquired as a result of my class.
I'm justifying not completing all my work. But I'd rather just focus on next semester. I need it.
I don't know why I have been so overmatched by my workload since my return. I am satisfied with my work and my performance in front of the classroom. But I feel like I am spending way too much time on stuff that I don't want to spend time on. I am so disinterested right now in that stack of papers from weeks ago. I have less interest in them than anything in the world right now.
Ugh. I hate to be so whiny. I am looking forward to the new semester. I am excited about my new ideas, like my "word a day" and my plan to tape record my comments on student essays. I am excited about teaching Freshmen Seminar through the Avid Program, and using those methodologies to enhance my teaching in my other classes.
Life is okay. Really.
Oh - I saw Chicago tonight. Excellent. I was so pleasantly surprised with this movie, in that I enjoyed it far more than any other movie musical I've ever seen. Not that I've seen a whole lot of them, of course. But it was a nicely performed, solidly entertaining, and masterfully produced and edited musical.
This will make the Oscars very interesting. To me, the performers that stood out were Catherine Zeta Jones and John C. Reilly. Both of them should be nominated in the supporting categories, and both should contend... but I don't think either deserves to beat out the Meryl Streep / Chris Cooper tandem from Adaptation. Either way, the categories for both will be strong, and the races will be interesting. Best Actress looks like it'll come down between Kidman and Moore, while Best Actor will be Day-Lewis.
Back to Chicago... I don't know if I'm with Biensoul in saying it's the best film of the year. It'll make my top ten, but there just wasn't enough emotion in it, not a whole lot of pathos behind the spunk. I thought the two leads - Richard Gere and Renee Zellwegger - did fine, but their performances weren't, to me, Oscar-worthy. Both of them obviously worked really hard, and it shows; they look like they're working hard, whereas Catherine Zeta Jones is a natural at this. It was even interesting to watch Tony-Award winner Christine Baranski next to Zellwegger and Gere in one musical number; she just sort of had something that the two of them didn't have, something that just made singing a song in the middle of life seem more... natural. I do think they were good, don't get me wrong.
John C. Reilly's solo number was so neat. He's not the most nimble guy, but his dancing was done in a way that really suited him - almost like Claymation. He is such a good actor, and I wouldn't mind seeing him get a Best Supporting nomination after great roles in Boogie Nights, Magnolia, The Good Girl, Gangs of New York, and now this over the last few years. Queen Latifah was also good, but I admit I was a little disappointed with her solo number; I wanted something more bawdy, more like Etta James. I hear a very entertaining number between her and Zeta Jones was cut, and I'll be anxious to watch that on the DVD.
So... overall, I really, really liked Chicago. Fun stuff.
Look, I'm going to bed in a better mood. That's what a Wednesday night trip to the movies with Boston Betty does.