Keeping Up

I haven't managed to keep up with blogging -- my time seems to be so short this semester. I think I've figured out one reason why: all of my classes are basically still full. I tallied the rosters today -- 142 (our professional organization, the National Council of Teachers of English has a policy statement saying no more than 60 students in a term).

No wonder I'm tired.

This semester is unusual because all the students are staying in their classes. Usually by the fourth or fifth week, students have shuffled themselves around a bit, and my 28-person composition classes (13 more than NCTE's recommendation and eight more than their maximum) settle into about 22 or 23. That's a more manageable size, given all the writing I seem to ask my students to do.

In my literature/WGST courses, I begin with 35 or 30 and settle down to a more successful 25-30. In those courses, I assign essays, too, even essay exams -- what am I thinking!? Of course, I'm thinking that students show me what they've learned by writing. Radical idea.

Maybe I'm just getting old, or maybe too many students are named the same, or maybe I'm teaching too many variably-prepared students . . . but I'm having *such* a hard time this semester keeping up.