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Defeating AI with a handwritten final exam...

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Wednesday-- Seniors have one more day after today, then it's grad practice and done on Sunday. Amen. The emotions are running high; no fights, but kids are a little wound up. I get it. And today, both softball and baseball have the first round of playoffs. There's a lot going on.  That all said, the best decision I have made in a while (educationally) is to have my AP Lit seniors hand-write their final exam essay. I bought blue books (big ones), pencils, and told them they could bring notes/materials, but NO computers. And they are writing it all in class in front of me. They should also share their draft with one peer for input on content, another for editing suggestions, and show it to me for a conference before it's done. (All three reviewers must sign the blue book, too.) They have been given approximately three class periods to get the essay done-- 5-7 pages (not too much), and they could choose either one work of fiction or 3-5 poems we have studied and write a convin...
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Theatre is not the only medium that has "hell week"---

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It's "hell week" at school, at least for those of us who have seniors. I spent almost two hours last night, tired and fuzzy-headed, grading essays. Normally I don't do those until the weekend, because by evening time, I'm not in a good head space to read/assess student writing. And they were marginal at best. I think they are as ready to say "chuck it all" as I am.  That said, today is a relatively "easy" day for me: work, at which both classes are working on final stuff, then home to do a little more planting of seeds. I researched it, and it turns out that carrots are good friends with peas; I have room in front of the peas to put in a row, so I will. And beets, too. I planted both yesterday in their assigned box, but hey, they can go visiting, too. And G and I will be going to get the rest of the plants I need when he gets home, because there is no other time this week, and I want to get them in the ground over the weekend, probably after gr...
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All hail (well, we did)--

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Well, hail. We had quite a boomer/hailstorm come in yesterday around 4pm. Luckily, G and I gave up the garden project when we were getting soaked with rain around noon-- but I did get the strawberries weeded (I think I need to move them to another location later this year), and he got the new garden box assembled and the boxes weeded out for me to plant. I hope today is the day to get seeds in the dirt! It's supposed to be pleasant (mid-60s), so when I get home, I'll figure that plan out. Likely Holly will be helping me. =) I am not so foolish as to have put out tomato plants yet-- we had a full moon (always cold), and the weather didn't look plant-friendly. I have to purchase a few more, and get some hard-shell squash sets as well. Maybe a couple of cucumber sets. But those will not get in the ground for a little while yet. I bought three lovely tomato plants from our church plant sale on Saturday, too. I will not buy as many as I did last year-- I was inundated with tomat...
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Too wet to plant, but not to weed. My course is set. =)

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It's 35 degrees and wet. I am trying not to lose patience, but the garden boxes will not be planted today-- too wet. I'll weed the strawberries though. I'm sure I'll find other forms of huswifery to engage in (fold laundry, likely).  That said, I am off rom-coms for a bit; a friend recommended Shakespeare and Hathaway on Britbox, and it's funny. It's another light-weight detective series with dear and recognizable characters, some witty banter, and so on. I'm good with that. And the Sox won yesterday! And I slept last night! Some dumb dreams, but nothing fraught.  So it's Sunday, and we'll head off to church and then find breakfast somewhere. Maybe the diner. G is going to add some new enrichment (soil, composted manure) to the boxes and (I hope) build the new one today. And do some string-trimming. Thus, I will be able to plant the seeds as soon as it's not mucky in the boxes. We sure did get a lot of rain. And it's cold. I'm grateful fo...
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Long week. Lots of admin/academic stuff. Time for a rainy Saturday.

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The overwhelm continues, as aided and abetted by Mother Nature and a really lousy night's sleep. I'll be doing garden stuff tomorrow. Today, it's 45 and rainy. No thanks. It is not safe for me to be shlepping about in wet grass in the cold while no one is home. To be honest, I'm okay with it. I slept very poorly, and I am entirely sick of these busy, stupid dreams where I'm in charge of situations that are absurd, but in the context of the dream, are dire as well.  Enough already.  It was an exhausting week (who am I kidding, month-school year-decade), and I dearly wanted sleep. So today, I'll putter about the house, get groceries, and grade papers, all while laundry churns despondently.  I don't know why the laundry would be despondent. I'm probably projecting.  I'm usually super excited about the last two weeks of school, but this year, I just feel like it's been enough, I want it done, and heaven help the next person who poses yet another pape...
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The mad, mad rush of it all...

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I am truly feeling the end of the school year tired. There's so much to do, too many loose ends to tie up, and of course, there's the added "I need to get my garden planted but it's supposed to be stupid cold and rainy" thing, and the "O my goodness, Holly has no school after 12:30 next Friday who is gonna watch her" thing, and the "dangitall, my book is delayed a little but should be here sometime mid-June and I want to schedule a launch party" thing.  I need a little breather.  So, I watched another rom-com last night, and it was actually super good, had some interesting twists in it, and yeah, if you are feeling super overwhelmed like I am, I'd recommend Love at First Sight currently on Netflix. I know, the title is... yeah... but the movie is based on a book, too. It was fun to watch, had some serious moments, and it was altogether satisfying.  The Red Sox blew chunks. Sigh again.  Today is Friday, we'll finish both Othello and St...
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All good things, and shifting literature-- I get bored

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I did not watch a rom-com last night. Instead, I invested in watching the Red Sox--and they won, handily, convincingly, reassuringly! This is after I watched Jeopardy, got 28 right, and got the final question right as well.  I was feeling pretty good, truth be told.  My Creative Writing kids are doing a great job reading Othello aloud; they all predictably despise Iago, but they have no inkling what's coming (we are only in Act III). Fun stuff. And the APLit kids are watching Streetcar Named Desire -- and they all sense that things are going to get really awful (we only got through the first 36 minutes so far). How depressing, really, to bring the school year to a close with those two plays. But still, it's good stuff.  I spent some time yesterday revising syllabi, and I think I'll put Richard III in APLit next year instead of Othello . And Fences (film version) instead of Streetcar . I need a change. I'm even going to cave and teach Frankenstein in Brit Lit. Suffice...
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