Totally Overwhelmed: Student Conferences

Sorry I haven't been around nearly as much this week. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoons, I am meeting with students from my Intermediate Writing Course at Class Day. Their MLA research papers are due on Thursday, so I met with one student last week for a couple of hours, and then spent an hour each with three students on Monday and for well over an hour this afternoon (Tuesday). I have one final student I'm meeting with tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon, and then classes on Thursday in which my Advanced Class will be bringing in their rough drafts for a read-around and the Intermediate Class will be turning in their final papers. Then I have three weeks to grade their papers and also hold conferences for the Advanced Class; I just hope that more students show up for the conferences than the Intermediate Class -- only half of them made appointments which is unlike any writing class I've ever taught. Usually I have students and parents queueing up like crazy for the chance to have their rough drafts corrected by their teacher BEFORE it's due so they can make the necessary revisions and turn in a much better research paper. And, unfortunately, their grades will reflect not having me go over their essays with them, and they won't learn nearly as much compared to correcting it before the final papers are due.

Immediately after Class Day, we'll be driving up the mountain and heading to the Wellness Council Fair at the junior/senior high school. We'll be displaying the art contest entries at the Mountain Empire Creative Arts Council tables as well as the winning entries. At 6 PM, we'll be announcing the winners and giving out prize ribbons and prizes for Grand Prize, and then First, Second, and Third Place for K-3rd and 4th-6th grades. It will be a very long afternoon, but last year the boys walked away with their art prizes plus other drawing prizes including a scooter and a mountain bicycle! I doubt they'll win prizes like that this time, but they'll still have fun with the healthy snacks, the prizes and activities at different tables, and the climbing wall, as well as the art contest results, ribbons, amd prizes.

On Friday I have church early in the morning, then a chiropractic appointment, and then a tentative lunch date with my dear friend Kitty, then taking the kids home and finishing up school in the afternoon. We're starting the Reformation right now, and I'm having a hard time teaching the events fairly as almost every source I have on hand writes from the Protestant point-of-view. I sure wish that I could find a source for late-elementary to early-junior high level readings of the Reformation that covered the opposing side of the event. I'm using a book used in Sonlight 200 with lots of color and informative sidebars that seems fairly balanced. But it's still a lot to cover....

So that's what's up right now, and that's why I'm not posting much. It's 2:30 AM, and I just finished posting three new posts on the BraveWriter forums for the great moms in the class, and I'm heading to bed right after I soak in the spa for a few minutes and get my pain levels down a bit before bed....