On Surprises, Big and Small

I finished grading this week and have been busy querying my database. Doing so has been easy, but organizing everything to be able to analyze the results  consists of lots of copy and paste commands to organize the data into analyzable chunks. As the week has progressed, so have my frustrations.

I am trying to write an abstract for a competitive conference. I submitted an abstract to this conference two years ago and it was rejected. This year, I'd like the organizing committee to accept my work, so I have been concentrating on writing the best summary of my work that I can. I need to query my database so that I can provide data for the general trend resulting from my research. I thought that this would be easy, until I started over-analyzing the whole project and realized that I am making too many assumptions to clarify in a measly 20-minute presentation. Thus, this was the beginning of my frustrations for the week.

Copies of student papers were due on Monday. I clearly specified the due date for each of my courses to the minute, but two students were late. I accepted their work, gave them the 100% they earned, and wished them a merry Christmas and a relaxing break. In general, I enjoyed reading my students' final papers. They were clear and to the point, and many added personal touches that made their essays much more exciting to read. I was amazed at the high mean for class grades and thought maybe my courses were too easy. But, wait, no semester can end without complaints of final course grades! I do what I can to appease students, but some just leave me with a sour uneasiness that sits with me for a few days. It's always the same thing:
Me:  Here is the breakdown of your grade again. I will not and cannot change your grade. You knew my grading policy and I clearly communicated your progress with you all semester. This is the grade you earned. If it makes you feel any better, I really liked having you as a student and would be happy to write a letter of recommendation on your behalf, which in the long run, will do you more good than a slightly higher grade on a transcript unless you are applying to med school.
Student: Yeah, but I really wanted to X, Y, and Z/ you ruined my GPA/ now I don't get retro credits/ this hurts my scholarship.... blah blah blah... You ruined my semester.
Me (to myself): I take back that offer of a letter of recommendation. The only thing I would recommend you for is a slice of humble pie.

End result? More frustrations. I read my student course evals today since I had submitted grades and am not changing any of them. They were overwhelmingly positive: my favorite instructor/ super energy and enthusiasm in the classroom/ very clear/ made an otherwise dull subject interesting and enjoyable/ very approachable and friendly. Wow, thanks everyone! Unfortunately, it's the three or four negative comments that stick with me: She taught the whole class time and never let us go early (Well, I think that still reflects positively on my teaching)/ attendance shouldn't be mandatory for a college course (it's not, you just don't get discussion points when you don't add to the discussion, which happens when you're not in class)/ I stopped working hard after the midterm because it was a joke (ouch!). I know I can't make everyone happy, but after months of planning, grading and trying to make a general required course as interesting and useful as possible, it still hurts to read that someone thinks the class sucked (and wanted you to change their grade since it's obviously my fault that the class wasn't of a high enough caliber to feed their unstimulated intellect.) This really shouldn't have been a surprise, but it was. *sigh*

On a positive note, Hubby and I unexpectedly received a box full of cool, old German books in the mail yesterday. Hubby is excited about the Goethe and Eichendorf tomes to add to our personal library, whereas the science journal from 1889 caught my eye. Yay for thoughtful friends with unwanted treasures.

Finally, my other frustration of the week was with Indy, who e-mailed me to see if I would be around and then never responded when he wanted to meet with me. Finally, I marched up to his office door today, knocked and was pleasantly surprised with him opening the door, smiling, giving me a present, and saying, "Merry Christmas, let's meet in mid January. I take back my frustrations toward him. Maybe he's just really shy and I've misunderstood him these last 5 years. Thanks for the headphones and German candy, I needed those in my office.

On Ending Another Semester

I taught my last class of the semester today and am starting to remember everything I have to do other than upload grades before next Friday. I have stacks of books that I need to return to the library (only to check them out again on January 2nd). The books are either in my office or in my study carrell (which I haven't visited in about a month). I have to make gifts for my committee members by Friday so that I can continue letting them know how much I appreciate their help. I figure any positive reinforcement I can provide will work in my favor and this is my last chance to suck up without it being completely obvious before my actual defense. I still have to grade finals, which are slowly trickling in. I am 1/5th of the way done. I used to prefer receiving everyone's final exam on the same day, but like being able to grade some "early" now that I gave students a take-home version. Their responses have been great so far and I have enjoyed reading their essays.

It's strange to think that I won't meet with students for another 6 1/2 weeks. I enjoyed both of my classes this semester and am sad to say goodbye. Two students stayed after class to shake my hand on Monday night and this afternoon, a student hugged me goodbye. I don't think anyone at the university has given me a hug before! All three students thanked me and said I was their favorite instructor. Aw, shucks! Thanks, guys! Even better compliments have been "My friends are taking your class next term because I told them how great this one was" and "What are you teaching next semester so that I can take that too?" Time to look forward to reading course evals and hope that I'll have something good to scan as a .pdf for job applications.

In general, I have a hard time with endings because I focus on whatever is next. I've occupied my mind with research to-do lists for the break and paper work for the start of next semester. Once the spring semester starts, I have two weeks to apply for graduation. I met with Indi yesterday who agreed that I can apply for graduation (YAY!). I just secured my 5th committee member for my defense and am ready to apply. Wow. I even scheduled my next dental cleaning for May 16th, given my anticipated May 19th graduation date. Most semesters end with long blocks of grading, exams and lots of beer, but this semester is ending quietly. If it weren't for advertisements reminding me that Christmas is in two weeks, I think I'd end up in my classrooms ready to teach next week too. Instead, I have extra time to work on my to-do list. Between now and Christmas, I plan to write my literature review and a conference abstract. Writing the abstract involves querying my database for patterns which I hope will make up 1/4 of a chapter I plan to work on in January.

Yesterday's impromptu meeting with Indi went well. I submitted two chapters last week and he hasn't had time to read them. Nevertheless, he assigned me the task of brainstorming lists of anything that people can attack me for as far as my research is concerned and said I should aim for spring break as a deadline for having a complete draft of Geraldine.

Another semester down and one left to go. Looks like I'll have a good transition into 2013.