Monday, October 26, 2009

Slog

I don't have time to write anything meaningful.

I'm not sure I have anything meaningful to say, anyway.

We're about two thirds of the way through the semester, but it feels like it should be just about over, already.

We're all tired.

We're frustrated.

We're close to tears (some of us are already there).

We're weakened by increasing demands on decreasing time. You don't have to do a single derivative to know that that's not a very good recipe for success.

Sometimes we all feel like the only way we'll make it is to start sounding like Clover the horse in Orwell's Animal Farm, who says to himself over and over and over and over "I will work harder," only to find himself on the way to the knackers' before the book is over.

If I'm at all short, if I'm at all curt, if I snap or snip or sound at all bitchy, please know that it's not with you.

We're all in this together, and, as I told my Calc I students in both sections today, all I want for you is for you to learn as effectively as you can. I sincerely hope that this is a goal that we share. Whatever you need from me in order to help you meet that goal, I'm willing to give.

Okay, that's all the time I've got right now for a pep talk...I'm off to the next time-demanding task. Just remember: you're not alone.

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