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.
No comments:
Post a Comment