Teacher hell

Of course we're all familiar with Dante's inferno, but did you know that teachers have their very own?  See now, what would you want to deal with for the rest of eternity?

 Circle 1: The wannabes - Those poor souls that want to be teachers but have no idea about the grading, endless hours of lesson planning, curriculum writing, grading, planning, grading, student meetings, grading, grading, grading.

Circle 2: Committee work - You always think it's not going to really be that big of a deal and then before you know it you're banging your head against the wall because half of your day was taken up by writing new committee requirements or trying to chase down the right person to give you the right verbiage so you're not opening up your committee to law suits.

Circle 3: Stalker students - They come in many forms.  There are those that just don't realize they are only one of 200 students you see on a daily basis.  Then there are the ones that have little crushes on you and can't stay away.  Then there are the weird creepy one that just keep showing up and you're really unclear on why.

Circle 4: Study abroad - Yes, putting it together can be a nightmare.  Yes, schlepping 30 wide-eyed Texans can be challenging, but dealing with a system that changes every year is the worst part.  Especially when they change it, don't tell you, and then expect you to know what to do next.

Circle 5: Incompletes - Apparently students don't know why incompletes exist or why you can't even issue one until the last part of the semester.  Don't you love it when they ask you the day before the drop deadline for an incomplete for the semester?

Circle 6: Finals - You'd think this would be at the bottom, but no.  Finals are bad, but at least you don't have to teach the next week.  You just have to grade like the wind so you can get your grades in on time.

Circle 7: Drop deadline day - This is the day when every student who is on the verge of failing shows up expecting you to tell them if they'll pass the class (no matter you haven't seen them in days and assumed they'd dropped a month earlier when they stopped showing up, turning in hw, or taking tests).  And then of course, it's your responsibility to have drop forms and all the information on the appropriate offices to drop all of these things off.

Circle 8: Day after drop deadline day - This is the day when every student (who hasn't shown up at all since day 1) realizes that they're now screwed because although they're too irresponsible to drop the class they're not attending, you didn't email them to remind them to do it.  Therefore, they're screwed, it's the teachers fault, and there's no way you could ever understand how complicated, difficult, and demanding their life is.

Circle 9: Midterms - Here's why they're bad: they all happen at the same time.  This week I have to grade two sets of second year midterms, one set of first year finals, two sets of second year compositions, one set of first year compositions, one set of third year midterms . . . and teach normal classes on top of that.