Dark Part of the Semester

This is what I call the "dark" part of the semester. It sets in around weeks 9 and 10 (our semesters are 14 weeks long). We are heavy into the semester's work. The grading is crushing. Student concerns, having received some feedback on their work, is heightened and anxieties run high. The days are darker and day light savings means that I need to exercise Drake by 4:30pm each day. It begins to get cold. At the end of this dark period of work, we will face finals, heavy grading responsibilities, committee work that needs to be wrapped up, and holiday madness. When the holidays pass, we face the spring semester with all of the activities that we planned throughout the fall.

It is a dark time.

Photo credit: Pictures to Pin.

The beginning of the fall semester is insanely busy, but it is warm, the sun is high, days are long, and we hold the promise of a new academic year ahead of us. Finals in December are endured because we can see light at the end of the tunnel (they may even be Christmas lights). The spring semester starts with renewed energy and a slight adrenalin rush to help us tackle the spring events. Weeks 9 and 10 of the spring semester we face antsy students eager to graduate; we, too, are eager for some of them to graduate. The days get longer and warmer and we know that summer break is coming soon. Summer break promises gardens and sunshine and time for research and writing.

But, weeks 9 and 10 of the fall semester is a dark time. Four more weeks of classes left. Endless grading, but still prepping classes and teaching. It's easy to become sleep deprived, to make bad food choices, and to carry a day's burden into the next and the day after that. Faculty talk nonsense in faculty meetings (even more than usual) and wander the office halls at 7, 8, and 9pm...looking like the walking dead.

It is a dark time everywhere in weeks 9 and 10 of the semester.