I have finally finished all the things I need to do for tomorrow for the two classes. My ass is kicked. If I had not taken today off to finish the last four items, I would be up until midnight, which would not bode well as there is a presentation tomorrow as well. This is what my to-do list looked like.
TO-DO LIST – End of Summer Term
[CLASS ONE] Draft Confidentiality Memo, Due Sunday, 7/27 Review and send Confidentiality Memo via WebCT, due 7/27 Draft multiple choice questions re presentation (Conflict of Interest) via WebCT email, due 7/30 Circulate multiple choice questions, due 7/30 Submit multiple choice questions, 7/30 via Web CT email Revise/review PowerPoint, Presentation on 7/31 Conflicts II Memorandum, due in class 7/31 Meet with team re presentation, ____? Finish and save PowerPoint, presentation on 7/31 Discussion posts, initial post and reply, due Tuesday 7/30 Quiz 5, due 7/30 at midnight Continue draft of Term Paper (Lien Release), due 8/7 in class Review and print out Term Paper (Lien Release), due 8/7 in class Study for last in-class quiz (8/7) [CLASS TWO] Homework 4, Product Liability, due 7/31 Extra Credit for Midterm, due 7/31 Quiz 5, due 8/2 at midnight Final Exam, Material from mid-term on, 8/7I went and had coffee at 7:30, came back and got back to work at nine. I had one major break–I was so ticked off that I had to do something, so I plugged in the mower and mowed the lawn. Yes, It was 100+ degrees! Yes, I was madder than a wet hen! Yes, I was doing the lawn in my golf shorts and knockoff crocs! Yes, they were so knockoff I only paid three dollars for them at Michaels!
Oh, that damned presentation! Cursed from the beginning. That was what I was mad about. There’s mellow me, a type A/OCD type, and a non-contributor. Type A and I were communicating back and forth after the break; she has definite ideas as to what should fly; she’s so controlling she was trying to tell me how to do my part of the powerpoint. Non-Contributor–we’ll just call him “No-C”–did not say a word or contribute one iota. The weird thing is that Type A, while not happy about my laconic approach, was perfectly content to put everything together and just hand No-C his slides without his participation. Type A was happy to let him slide; I disagreed and politely said so. We discussed this on the phone.
I was going to get all specific, but you know things are not going well when Prof said: “Many instructors approach team presentation evaluation with ‘it’s a team grade.’ I do not. While I do not expect complete equity, and appreciate that there’s usually a ‘lead horse’, I do not accept “zero” as acceptable contribution… Let me know if you meet and who attends, please.” Yikes.
Things resolved themselves in that regard. On Monday, Prof emailed to me, “I know that you and [Type A] will do a great job. [No-C's] decisions are his and his alone and it’s nothing either you or [Type A] did.“
So Type A and I are splitting the presentation. She’s started to get all nutty on me earlier this week, and started to act as if I hadn’t contributed anything. I stated that I would do the copies for the class handouts; she arbitrarily decided to do them herself. She insists on doing the powerpoint. That’s fine, but refused to take any suggestions for changes to a particular slide that is important. She put the note sheets in PDF form, which I thought a little too anal. She also sent me the presentation in read-only–that is way too anal retentive.
Whatever. Two more class sessions and I’m done for the summer term. Two weeks off and I start my last semester–I’m suicidal, I guess, three classes including legal writing and family law. Gadzooks.
Shoot me now.
