Steady as She Goes

I don't really have anything to say that relates to the title, but I heard this song on my way home from work and I like it. It's by the Raconteurs, which is a pretty cool name for a band -- and also one of Jack White's many collaborations. I find his work delightful; it's as if everything he touches turns to gold. I really liked the band Dead Weather, but I think they had one album before finishing up. I suppose this song relates more than I thought at first, as my semester is coming to an end and students are pressing on my last few nerves. Even though my current classes started at different times, they're all ending at roughly the same time. One student in my class tonight told me she won't be around for the final. She thought class ended on November 30 as opposed to December 7, which is really dumb (sorry for saying so) because both the college calendar and our very specific class calendar have December 7 down as the last day.

Not to get all "when-I-was-in-college" about it, but my professors would never have considered allowing me (or my peers) to take a final at a different time for any reason other than death or possibly dismemberment. Now we are expected to bend over backwards (and maybe forwards too) to accommodate students. Online programs have expanded to the point that if we want to remain competitive, we have to do a whole lot of things my professors wouldn't have been asked to do. Another example -- also from today -- is a request from Student Support Services (which used to be called Disability Services). A note taker for one of the students in my developmental composition class just stopped showing up, and the coordinator of SSS wants me to send notes to her to give to my student's tutor. Oh, sure, I'll be happy to do that, while I'm teaching three other classes and have roughly twenty students, along with all their essays to grade. Let me just stop what I'm doing and recap my class for you. Seriously! I always try to help my students, but that seems above and beyond what I should be doing.

So, steady as she goes, indeed. I have two classes tomorrow, one class on each Friday and Monday, and then I have nearly a full glorious week off! Classes will resume for a week or so, and then I'll have a few whole weeks off! My mantra: I can hang in there; I can hang in there.