I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving break visiting with friends and family, eating lots of turkey, and generally taking a few days to unwind. I had an enjoyable but very busy holiday, which included a visit with my sweetie to his sister's house in North Carolina, a ride through the Roper Mountain Holiday Lights in Greenville, and assorted grading, quiz writing, and manuscript/essay revising. Yet I know when I turn out the light this evening, I will remember something urgent that I've forgotten, and now it's too late to get it done by Monday. This is the life of a college professor. The work is never, ever, one hundred percent finished.
I think we're really lucky in the years when we have only one week between Thanksgiving and the start of final exams. One week is just enough time for in-class review and prep for the tests. When the seven day window exists, virtually everything that would involve extensive reading and critiquing (like term papers) are handed in before the Thanksgiving break. With a two week block (as we have this time) students are able to convince their pushover professors (like me) that they need all that extra Thanksgiving time to work and write the best research paper EVER! Then somehow, on Monday, they each just have a rough draft that needs reading over. And, oh, what about that letter of recommendation that someone forgot to ask for? And there's always someone who---for some reason---didn't get registered and now needs to be advised and guided through class signup. And did I forget to mention that we have a 'mini-session' of interim classes, and a faculty meeting, and all sorts of other administrative things going on in the fourteen days that divide Thanksgiving from finals?
It's not that I'm complaining (really!). A super busy time is to be expected in any occupation. I just hope students realize that, unlike Santa Claus, their college professors aren't made of magic. And just because students finish drafts of papers at 4 am doesn't mean we will be awake to read them! It may be crunch time, but just like kids, we need to eat, sleep, and occasionally visit the restroom.
So students, be patient with us. Remember, you can stay out all night and still do labs, write abstracts, and study Western Civilization, but we can't. We're OLD!
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