Stop talking about work!

I was convinced for most of the morning that my students were going to give me terrible evaluations.  Things kept going wrong in class today.  We had some technical problems I’d never encountered before, so even though I tried to handle it well, I felt like I came across like I didn’t know what I was doing, and then some students thought they followed my directions (they didn’t), and when they didn’t end up where I said they would, again, I’m afraid it looked like I steered them in the wrong direction.  And after THAT, they were all in the right place, the same place for once, and a button that has always appeared (and that they have to press to continue) wasn’t there. All before lunch.  But it was getting close to lunch, so I called it technical difficulties, said I’d check with my team to see if they were working on something, and sent them to eat early.  I sent a HELP email, found out there is a bug, got a workaround, and by the time they got back from lunch, we were ready to move past it.  I don’t think I fully recovered from that during the afternoon, but I peeked at the evaluations after they all left, and everyone said really nice things.  No mention of how incompetent how I felt or how frazzled I thought I looked.

What?  Don’t judge me.  Of COURSE I peeked.  Like you wouldn’t.

Yesterday, one of the guys in the class came up to me during a break to tell me how relieved he is about the system and how confident he feels about being able to use it.  He used an older version of it at another agency and hated it, so he wasn’t all that positive about having to use it here.  But he said the training was good, this version was much improved over the other one, and he liked my teaching.  He taught English in Kenya while he was in the Peace Corps, apparently.  Nice guy.  (Of course I think so.  He complimented me!  (I am that shallow.))

And I need to stop talking about work.  Let’s pretend I don’t have to work.  Gee, I have an awful lot of free time…

14 Comments

  1. I would’ve peeked also. I will peek almost anything if I think I won’t get caught. I almost peeked at an evaluation of another student. But am very proud that I didn’t.

    I did a complete double take when I saw your email address- that is CRAZY. Random-weirdness. Now I feel like I HAVE to read your blog, just because we have the same name, and our parents cursed us with having to spell it out to everybody for our whole lives. (just kidding about both- I don’t HAVE to- I want to) (and I don’t feel cursed- except when people start singing ‘Oh Susannah’….)

  2. Zannah

    SuzRocks – I’ll be spending some time this weekend on your blog, too. How could I not? The only part that feels like a curse to me is when people either don’t READ (or they don’t hear) the last syllable and they call me Susan or Suzanne. Drives me crazy! I’ve resorted to saying “It’s like the song” and then humming it so they get it. Embrace the song!

  3. momma betty

    When Inane Chatterer was in school–even as early as kindergarten–her teachers would often call her Suzanne. Not to ever be mistaken for anyone else, she would immediately correct them: “My name is SusanNAH!”

    (Yes, grammar critics, I just split an infinitive–which was foolish and unfounded rule to ever begin with. Heh, heh, heh. Another split infinitive plus a preposition at the end of the sentence. Also a foolish and unfounded rule.)

  4. Sandwich Stealer

    Mom, I am so proud to be your daughter. And despite the potential for sarcasm in this situation, you and I both know I am being completely serious. LinguaNERDS!

  5. I HATE it when people get lazy and shorten my name. Sue is the worst! I always correct them- and when people I just meet ask me what I go by and they throw out a Suzanne or susan- and I inform them that they can call me “susannah”.

    My good friends call me ‘Suz’, and my husband calls me suzie sometimes (even though I don’t completely love it)

    (sometimes I like it when people sing to me- I pretend that I don’t though….)

  6. Zannah

    I’ve never minded Sue, not that anyone I know calls me that, but at least it feels like a nickname. Susan and Suzanne are other peoples’ names. They’re NEVER nicknames, so I never let anybody get away with calling me that. Everyone close to me calls me Zannah, as has for as long as I can remember.

  7. Sandwich Stealer

    I just never understood why people always try to ADD length to my name, usually incorrectly. I say, “Hi, I’m Mel.” They respond, “Nice to meet you, Melanie.” WTH? Show’s what a bad guesser you are. . .

  8. Zannah

    That would have been funnier if you’d said, “Erran’t apostro’phes S’UCK.”

    So, you know, next time? Be funnier. 🙂

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