I was observed this week. The director of the program came to watch me teach. I was nervous. Then I was terrible. I blame my students. Under normal circumstances, it's difficult to keep them from talking the entire time. But when I needed them to participate in class discussions as part of my displayed lesson plan . . . dead silence. It's discouraging, but I'm trying not to dwell. There's always next semester's observation.

Deadlines pile up at the end of the semester. I'm currently trying to stay at least a couple of hours ahead of them. My day today has been spent watching scenes of violence from American films and attempting an amateur dissection of the film techniques displayed. Hurray for the study of Medieval British Literature? It's the most random final assignment ever.