Formal Lectures Over

Today I finished the last of my formal lectures for this semester.  Y-A-Y-!!!!!!  🙂

On the whole this winter has been less panicky than last fall-quarter, but I’ve been very busy juggling two classes simultaneously, one of which was brand-spankin’-new!

The schedule dictated that I taught four days per week (no teaching on Tuesdays).   On top of that I had both classes turn in weekly homeworks (that had to be prepared, solved, and graded), one on Mondays, and the other on Tuesdays.  I’ve had a horrendous turn-around-time, with the Monday submissions returned on Fridays (sometimes Thursdays, sometimes much later), and the Tuesday submissions returned on the following Monday.  I get no Speedy-Gonzales awards, that’s for sure!

I think what has been most draining is the knowledge that this schedule would go on for 14 weeks (!!), with the same tasks needing to be done every particular weekday, on repeat.  Another sticking point has been me needing to work evenings and weekends, just to get everything done in time.

I’ve decided that it must be a vicious cycle.  One starts out with high aspirations, and easily finishing tasks on time.  As time wears on though, one gets tired, and the tasks start taking a longer time, meaning one works evenings, which means one is more mentally tired the next day, which means less gets done, which means working in the evening/weekend, etc. etc.

It’s not all been misery though.  I’ve had some good times in class, seeing the occasional light-bulb go off, here and there.  That’s always fun.  I also had reason to play this at the end of class today.  Good times! 🙂