Friday
11:30am
Settle into a chair in the CTLE and begin brainstorming ideas for blog post
11:45am
Voice frustration over writer’s block
11:46am
Check faculty email
11:48am
Type 3 sentences
11:48:58am
Delete 3 sentences
11:52am
Check faculty email (again)
12:00pm
Reread suggested prompt and finally settle in with a general idea
12:35pm
Share progress with colleagues only to find my ideas didn’t transfer
12:45pm
Revise blog post based on feedback from colleagues
1:10pm
Grab ice cream reward for last week’s blog and eat it straight from the carton
1:45pm
Publish blog post
3:00pm
Read blog post…decide I hate it…wrestle with how to remedy the situation…decide that maybe it’s not as bad as I think it is
4:30pm
Read blog post again…nope…still hate it.
6:30pm
Read blog post again….my God, this is the worst thing I have ever written…how many people have read this already?…I can’t leave this out in the open!!
6:32pm
Delete blog post
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This whole process—procrastination, frustration, distraction, creation, submission— is similar to what some of my students go through when submitting their major writing assignments. Life happens, and before they know it, a paper is due. In a span of about 2 hours, they compose a frantic essay and submit it to Canvas—and then spend the next few hours (or days) stressing over just how bad it is.
But unlike me…they can’t just log back in, delete the submission, and start over.
They don’t get to experience the relief I felt when, upon clicking the aptly-named “trash” button, my subpar words disappeared. And maybe there’s a lesson for me here…
I’m not sure what it is yet, but it’s there. Maybe it’s a lesson in empathy…or expectations…and finding the balance between the two.
If I am going to be honest, I’m not 100% happy with this post either…but I do feel better about it than the one I submitted Friday afternoon; and I think I realize that this feeling is all my students want as well. They just want to feel ok about the work they submit, and maybe I could be more conscious of that fact and not deny them that feeling all in the name of a syllabus policy on late work.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not throwing out the policy. It’s important to have expectations and standards and consequences. It’s even more important to learn how to accept expectations and standards and consequences, especially when we have no other excuse than procrastination and lack of planning.
Me? I’m imposing my own late penalty for this blog. So if anyone who posted during week 2 wants to lay claim to my ice cream for the week, it’s all yours. You earned it!
Hi Tina,
I love to type in bullet points and lists, so your post spoke to me. They just want to feel ok about the work they submit, – that line from your post reminded me of something Oprah said. Commenting on her years of interviewing, Oprah remarked that almost everyone she has interviewed asks if they did OK when the interview is over. “Was that OK?”
I guess it’s part of the human condition. Thanks for your post. I can totally relate. My first week’s post was about writer’s block too.