End of the Semester

"Is yours done?"
"Just about."
-Katherine asking me about my teaching portfolio

By 5:30 p.m. today my semester is over, for better or worse. 5:30 is when my last project for Katherine's class is due, my teaching portfolio. Talk about frustration, I had to walk away from my computer for a while yesterday or else I was going to start cussing and/or banging stuff. I've tried in this class, I really have, but in the end my interest level was simply not equal to the demands of the course. Theory shmeory. Ugh. The teaching portfolio is the penultimate implementation of the course material, in theory. I've got it all done (paper revision, endnotes/works cited, assignment series, etc.) except for my teaching philosophy statement. I have no idea what the hell to do with it.

What is my philosophy of teaching? Writing is important. Um... then what? It's supposed to be 1-2 pages, single spaced (don't ask me why) and it's supposed to demonstrate my understanding/implementation of composition theory. I'm supposed to demonstrate, through this philosophy, whether I'm expressivist or social-constructivist and all that good stuff. It doesn't help that I'm trying to write this after finding out I didn't get the T.A. The thought persisting in the back of my mind is, "Who cares what my teaching philosophy is right now? It's not like it mattters."

I'm so burned out, the office is starting to smell like smoke.