Friday, December 21, 2007
Merry merry
Now my first semester really does seem to be over. I've marked all the final assignments and brought them in to the office so that the students who care can pick them up and look at their comments. The final grades were submitted last week, with only one or two complications. I now have to tackle the enormous pile of papers and books that accumulated while I was careening wildly through the semester with barely time to take a breath. I had a whole lot of really nice feedback from students, more than I ever could have hoped for, even from the ones I subbed for for a few weeks. The only dark cloud was an incidence of plagiarism so blatant I couldn't (and wouldn't anyway) pretend it wasn't there. This has caused me way more anxiety than it should have, but I'm now ready to enjoy the holidays. I'm about 80% done my shopping (hello debt!), and I have only one child and no husband this weekend, so doing the rest of the Chrismas prep is looking manageable.
I wish all my friends and family a holiday season and new year filled with joy and peace.
Now my first semester really does seem to be over. I've marked all the final assignments and brought them in to the office so that the students who care can pick them up and look at their comments. The final grades were submitted last week, with only one or two complications. I now have to tackle the enormous pile of papers and books that accumulated while I was careening wildly through the semester with barely time to take a breath. I had a whole lot of really nice feedback from students, more than I ever could have hoped for, even from the ones I subbed for for a few weeks. The only dark cloud was an incidence of plagiarism so blatant I couldn't (and wouldn't anyway) pretend it wasn't there. This has caused me way more anxiety than it should have, but I'm now ready to enjoy the holidays. I'm about 80% done my shopping (hello debt!), and I have only one child and no husband this weekend, so doing the rest of the Chrismas prep is looking manageable.
I wish all my friends and family a holiday season and new year filled with joy and peace.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Whewf!
Well, I made it to the end of my first term. Oh, I still have marking to do, and I haven't quite figured out how to come up with the final grades and submit them (help!), but that will all work itself out, I'm sure. The important thing is, I don't have to teach anymore for a month or more! I like the teaching part, really. If there's one thing that has astounded me about this experience it's the realization that I am completely comfortable standing in front of a class full of people. Well, I do get nervous, but it's a good kind of performance nervous that helps me, energy-wise.
The big, sweet, overwhelming thing is this: I will never have to do a first semester of teaching again. I did it, and while it may not have been perfect (it most certainly wasn't), I think I can say it was a success overall. So, although I'm looking forward to changing some of the things I did, never doing some things again and trying some ideas I've had in the last few days, I will now spend a couple of days just taking in the truly amazing fact that I DIDN'T COMPLETELY FUCK IT UP.
Maybe I shouldn't say that until I've submitted the grades...Oh, what the hell, let's live dangerously, eh?
Well, I made it to the end of my first term. Oh, I still have marking to do, and I haven't quite figured out how to come up with the final grades and submit them (help!), but that will all work itself out, I'm sure. The important thing is, I don't have to teach anymore for a month or more! I like the teaching part, really. If there's one thing that has astounded me about this experience it's the realization that I am completely comfortable standing in front of a class full of people. Well, I do get nervous, but it's a good kind of performance nervous that helps me, energy-wise.
The big, sweet, overwhelming thing is this: I will never have to do a first semester of teaching again. I did it, and while it may not have been perfect (it most certainly wasn't), I think I can say it was a success overall. So, although I'm looking forward to changing some of the things I did, never doing some things again and trying some ideas I've had in the last few days, I will now spend a couple of days just taking in the truly amazing fact that I DIDN'T COMPLETELY FUCK IT UP.
Maybe I shouldn't say that until I've submitted the grades...Oh, what the hell, let's live dangerously, eh?
