The total paralysis of too much to do

I missed work time this week on at least two days because of the sprained shoulder/arm situation, which has meant my weekend should be filled with “make up” hours. Instead, I’m staring at this list of things to do, and I’m a little bit dazed and daunted. It just doesn’t seem possible, suddenly. To do:

+ Finish grading papers I’ve been carrying around for a week and a half. Of 40, total, I have 12 to go, but then I need to review them all to make sure the grades are consistent, and upload those grades. Update Sunday: These are mostly done but took even longer than anticipated because of a charming rash of plagiarism.

+ Comment on drafts (~40) of a new paper from that same class. These I received Thursday and they need to be returned on Tuesday.

+ Grade 15 new papers (3-4 pages each) from a technical communication class.

+ Grade midterms for my online class. I’ve done about 4. They’re taking me forever; they’re based on another’s teacher’s model, and I should have realized (but didn’t) that they would be a disaster to read and assess. Bonus: once I’ve read and graded them, the students all get a chance to turn them BACK in for a new grade. Update Sunday: These are worse than I thought, weighing in at between 5-8 single-spaced pages per paper and varying widely in quality. I have 12 left as of 1:30.

+ Read and grade two weeks’ worth of online reading responses (~120 individual entries).

+ Reply to panicked e-mails from students who have a new paper due on Monday.

I’m just lost here. I’m trying to work my way through, but even a few hours of progress seems to make so little difference at this point. It doesn’t help that sitting for any extended period drives my arm, shoulder, and chest back into “hey, we’re gonna spasm now, is that cool?” territory.

NOT COOL.

So, OK, back to work.

I think of this when I feel bad about not reading student e-mail on weekends

From an NYT Interview:

Q. What else is unusual about your culture?

Dan Schneider: I have a rule that I don’t want to hear bad news after 3 o’clock.

Q. Why?

A. With what we do, there’s nothing that’s really time-sensitive, so unless it’s a major fire that needs to be put out, I don’t want to hear about it until the next morning. Because in the last two or three hours of the day, we’re not going to be able to fix it, and then you’re going to go home with that, and you’re not going to enjoy the rest of your night. Within the different teams they can discuss it, but I don’t want that in my life unless it’s something that really is an issue that needs to be fixed. If not, just bring it up to me tomorrow morning. And it’s been working. Business is running fine. I’m fairly happy with my life.