Ouch

I haven’t been posting much lately, and some of you know why, thanks to Facebook: I have grading-induced tendonitis in my right forearm.

My right hand, wrist, and forearm started really hurting about ten days ago. At the time, I was in the middle of a seven-day span where I was grading three different sets of papers. While I spend a lot of time at the computer for my job, thanks to email and writing, it’s the grading that sent the problems I have with my hand and arm into overdrive. I have a slight case of carpal tunnel as well, thanks to clicking with a mouse, but it’s the tendonitis that is causing me so much pain–pain that has even been waking me up at night.

Thus, I’ve been trying to refrain from typing as much as possible. Of course, it’s impossible for me to avoid it completely, given the nature of life as a professor. I’ve greatly reduced the time I spend on the computer for any reason other than work, which means blogging has been paused.

A former colleague recommended that I try Jing as a way to reduce the time I spend typing comments on students’ papers Jing allows me to not only make audio comments, but also screen capture the document and show the students the specific thing I’m looking at as I talk about their drafts. I tried it for the first time last night, and I think it’s a good option. The student whose draft served as my trial attempt with Jing (this young man, incidentally), emailed me back and told me how much he liked it. Hopefully, using Jing will really help my arm rest and recover.

I’m going to do a password-protected post in a little bit (same password as before), but don’t expect regular blogging for a while. The next four weeks will demand the heaviest grading of the semester, and I need to finish final revisions on one article and finish drafting another. I have to save my hands/arm for that. I will check in during this time, but know that I’ll be keeping things short.

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