Sometimes they surprise you. At least for a while. But not for a whole class.

I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

Pass-back classes are a strange thing. We have 50 minutes to do 15-25 minutes worth of work. The rest of the time is spent babysitting. We’ve discussed with the powers what are at the school where I work getting a shorter class, but that involves paperwork and that one teacher who likes to fill the time. (We hate them; we really hate them.)

Usually, I’m entertaining myself during the second half of the class, but today my junior high school students kept me busy.

Several students in each class worked on their summer homework and kept peppering me with questions. I was then torn between helping them or telling them to shut up and waste time like everyone else so that I could work on my own stuff.

However, since four of my five classes today were lower level classes I decided I should probably help them out as a way to encourage them.

When I wasn’t helping them do their summer homework, I was smacking down attempts to get extra points. This also helped make the day productive.

I kind of miss having time to myself, though. Next term I may just refuse to help.

After two marathon marking sessions in two days I’ve finished marking all my final exams. I’ve also completed all the final marks. This seems like a good thing.

However, by finishing marking final exams days ahead of my usual schedule, I’ve done my psyche an incredible disservice.

One of the advantages of having work to do at home is that you don’t have to think about the  other projects  you’re not doing. You can always tell yourself “Can’t do that now, I have too much to do.” Then, the paid work expands to fill any available time so that you never have to do the other projects.

However, for reasons I can’t fully explain, I’ve already finished marking all the exams of all my classes. I’ve done this with a full weekend to spare. This means I’m now revising my weekly plans.

Complicating things even further, I’ve already finished exams that aren’t due until next Friday, which leaves me a third day to fill.

I’m now sorting through several layers of denial and excuses to formulate a new plan.

Marking may kill me in the end the same way it kills people in the cheap seats on airplanes.*

Because I’m in an atypical “Git r Done” mood I’ve done a couple things I usually don’t do. 1) I’ve decided not to attend this year’s International Stationery and Office Products Fair Tokyo and 2) I’ve actually sat down to work until I’m finished.

It’s the latter that may kill me.

I spent the day in my office chair marking student exams. I did nothing else (well, unless you count watching Marvel’s Iron Fist as background noise but that didn’t involve actually standing up.**)

I’ve made a shocking amount of progress, but I also skipped my usual evening exercise time.

Besides blood clot risk, I also run the risk of having what’s left of my brain turn to jelly as I read student writing.

*(Note: I’m counting the effects of sitting for a long time, not the effects of being beaten unconscious and dragged off by United Airlines staff.)

(**Note the Second: Iron Fist is better than I was expecting and has a great supporting cast but, like Marvel’s Daredevil, it suffers from having a shockingly uncharismatic lead actor.)

If I were smart, I’d stop doing this bit of blather for a few days.

The trouble is 1) if I get in the habit of not writing then this bit of blather will slowly fade away and 2) I’m not smart.

However, the end of term and exam marking time is fairly boring. All I have to report is that there’s nothing to report. I could mock my students’ exams, especially their long writing sections, but thus far the exams haven’t been entertainingly bad. Also, the long writing sections, at least on the second year junior high school exam, are fairly easy.

Eventually, though, my mood will turn and things might get more interesting.

Until then, I’d better get back to marking. Or at least to convincing myself that’s what I should be doing.

Today was the day of the exam I’m in charge of which meant I felt as if I was about to go on stage to do some acting. I felt this way because of past problems. Of course, there were delays which led to a minor mistake and then there was a delay that started feelings of panic and made the pre-performance feeling even stronger.

(Note: If you’ve never done acting or paced around in a locker room before a big match, the feeling you get right before things start is a feeling in your gut that leaves you confused about whether or not you need to pee, poop, or puke. You need to do one, but can’t decide which is about to happen. You therefore have to keep pacing, lest one of them happen immediately.)

The day started with a delay as a major train line was down and that pushed all exams back an hour. I misread the email and I thought mine would start at the regular time because it was after lunch. I arrived at the right time and panicked when the sound technician didn’t arrive. I was quickly informed about my mistake and then tried to relax for an hour until my exam.

Then, when it was actually time for my exam, the sound technician arrived with only a few minutes to spare, putting me in a panic again.

Luckily, he had time to do a sound check and the listening went off without any problems.

I’m only just now managing to relax, though.