Work is going OK. There is an ebb and flow of workload. I made some good headway over the past weekend and into this week. I'm taking a break from grading at the moment because my brain feels fried. I can't be fair and accurate if I can't think straight. I'm surprised I'm making sense in this blog. I am doing some different things in my health classes at ISU. The big change is that I no longer have a midterm exam or final exam. I'm only using quizzes throughout the semester. Both are methods courses and I thought that more interactive and pedagogical-based activities would be logical in class time and for grading purposes. I wrote some quizzes today too and that's another reason why my mind feels like mush. DMACC is going OK. Many of my students aren't doing squat in my online class so they aren't going to like the midterm grade they earn. Plus if they haven't been active in weeks, I can still remove them from the class. I have to finalize all that over the weekend. I taught a few weeks ago for the Red Cross but I'm not doing much for them. I have an online training with them next week. I was told I was needed to teach some classes in November but they are no listed on the assignment calendar. Shrug.
Things with Dan are going very well. They are going very well with little to no work. It's been an odd mindset because I spent years thinking like this:
"A, B, and C are wrong with this relationship. What do I need to do to fix those issues?"
It's an odd mindset because I'm not in continuous repair-mode. It was bad enough back in the day when I was the only one putting effort into repair mode. Not having anything to repair is dandy. I've spent more time with his kids. I'm still nervous about my presence with his 13-year-old son but interactions so far have been fine. Hanging out with his six-year-old is a piece of cake.
He's been working a lot...I'm talking major over time which is great for his financial needs. It works out well too because my hours can be intense on some days too. It's been fantastic seeing someone that enjoys their line of work too. He's passionate about what he does. He enjoys helping others and is selfless about it.
Needless to say, my relationship status will be changing soon on my Facebook page. I'm taking my time with the process. I am honestly tempted to change it on November 4 since that is officially a year since a difficult but necessary change happened with the previous relationship. (Dan suggested that and it's growing on me.) Either that date or on my birthday. Shrug.
Today is Gavin's last football game of his sophomore year. It's been an up and down season. He's been decent in most games. The team as a whole struggled with their offensive line and defense for much of the season. He'll continue to practice into November with varsity but it's unlikely he'll play in any remaining games. He got another academic award for his high GPA and surprisingly lettered in academics too. The assembly was during school this year which bummed me out. He acted like it's no big deal anyway.
I think that's it for now. I need to teach in 30 minutes. We are doing a mock "Pharm Party" in my health class. Yes, I'm officially one of those weird health teachers. Weird teachers are more memorable anyway.
Glad you finally blogged. I might shoot out one tonight. October can be a great time of year. It usually goes too fast. I don't like how early it gets dark though.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya about work. However, middle school students are better about doing their work. I think for some students it just gets worse as they get older. Luckily, I have a couple people in the building who nag students that are failing or missing work. I have very few students failing. And, as we already talked about, I have been somewhat negligent of my work because of my beau. That's on me. I hope to do some catch up tonight. I'm not horribly behind.
It's good you have a much better relationship now to see how f'ed up the last one was. Dan does sound really good for you. I'm glad you're taking it slow, but at the same time, you see each other enough to keep things going well. I hope I get to meet him before winter or the end of 2015.
Sucks I didn't get to see Gavin play this year. I'd like to see him play basketball, but we both know that won't happen. Is he wrestling? Or, will he try get another job? Yay for his academic awards. I'm glad those Smith genes are still going strong.
Yes, weird teachers are more memorable. I know my students think I'm weird. :)