Day 13 - Governor Newsom imposes new restrictions
The townhomes across the street…
11/28/20. Saturday
6:30 a.m. - No.
9:00 - 10:00 - B. and I lie in bed until around 10:00
10:00-11:00 - I take a shower and get dressed. Covid-19 uniform to include a hoodie, now that it’s getting colder.
11:00-12:00 - B. makes coffee for himself and I have hot water with some lemon slices that I brought over. We each have a chocolate cupcake.
12:00 - 1:30 - B. is attending J.’s (daughter) housewarming party at 3:00 and has to leave around 2:15. We watch the latest episode of The Undoing [I don’t have HBO, as you know] - then I leave.
1:30-2:00 - Driving
2:00-3:30 - Home and I unload the car, unpack everything, and put it all away. Kitchen duty, then I start a load of laundry.
3:30-4:30 - I make a plate with more Thanksgiving leftovers and read Wiving.
4:30-5:30 - Exhausted, I take a nap.
5:30-6:15 - I take the dog for a walk. More Xmas lights have gone up in my neighborhood, so it’s very pretty.
6:30 - 9:30 - Grade papers. If you’ve heard of the term “batching”, then you know that’s how I grade papers.
As a hobby, I’ve studied time management and productivity for years. This genre of literature used to be helpful for me until Covid-19 hit and being uber-productive went out the window, at least for me. Originally, BC, my goal was to complete all “paid work” as soon as possible in order to have time for a rich personal life of travel, cool restaurants, chamber music/quartets/concerts, and local theater. But, those things are either gone or severely curtailed.
So, what is my new goal? To complete all “paid work” as soon as possible in order to have time for what, exactly? Well, a few things…walking the dog, exercising, drinking more water, reading, gardening, and hopefully hiking (or at least walking somewhere outdoors) and biking. *As an aside, my reading page-count this month was abysmal.
So, “batching” is the act of putting similar tasks together and doing them all at once rather than addressing them sporadically. When applied to grading papers, it’s as follows: the students must answer 4 ‘prompts’ in essay format. So, I grade Prompt 1 for all students, one after the other, in that Group. I do NOT grade one paper (4 essays) at a time - just ‘Prompt 1’, one after the other, for each student. THEN, I grade ‘Prompt 2 for each student.’ Then, ‘Prompt 3'. Etc. While I believe this is the most effective way to grade papers, as a teacher, it often feels as if I am making no progress, UNTIL I come to ‘Prompt 4’, which means that each student’s paper is done, when that prompt is graded.
I finish 12 papers and listen to Martinis and Your Money and Casefile while I work.
10:30-1:30 - I start on the Group 2 - Prompt 1 papers. I binge listen to Dead and Gone - a series about two Grateful Dead fans/kids who were murdered 30 years ago.
I complete Group 2-Prompt 1
1:30-2:00 - Night time routine. Bed.