Intense day

Yesterday, I gave my 9th grade midterm (a traditional, seated, 2-hour writing and multiple choice) from 8:30-10:30, then conducted oral commentaries - 8 of them - for much of the rest of the school day.

Today, I had no 9th grade midterms scheduled, so I conducted the oral commentaries from 8:20-3:20, straight through. It was an intense day, complete with the highs of students who come in with pitch-perfect preparation and lows of students who clearly didn't read the book. There were also a couple of freeze-ups, including one with tears that I'm replaying in my mind. It's so wonderful to have a student who cares that much, and I'm sure she'll look back at the experience as a learning one, but it still was painful today. There are, unfortunately, do do-overs.

I came home today and, after a much-needed nap, have been grading all night. And watching Lost. I honestly don't remember ever working so hard.