Set our sights on a new land / one that's kind of strange
When I saw the new "spring" banner across the top of the LJ homepage, I thought for a second that my retinas had reversed. Yikes.
Today was the last day of class. I only actually had to meet with my RW students because the entire program went to a presentation during the CS block. It was more emotional than I thought it would be. I baked cookies for the class to eat while we watched the movie, and before we got started I told them that I appreciated everything they'd done this term and how hard they'd worked. I told them that every student and every class was special, but that they were going to stick with me for a long time; they were, after all, the first group of students I'd ever really taught, and I learned just as much from them (if not more) than they did from me. I'm fortunate that I'll see most of them progress through the program over the next year, so "goodbye" was not really goodbye, but it was the last time I was going to be in a class with those students and that dynamic. It felt really good. Bittersweet, but really good.
I've finished all of my end-of-term paperwork and grading, so all that's left for me to do is attend graduation tomorrow and maybe sit down with my boss to discuss how the term went. After that, I'll be heading back to Valpo, then to Fort Wayne, for some much-needed vacation time.
Also, I got my diploma in the mail today. It's...smaller than I thought it would be. (Just did some research online: apparently all diplomas, excepting those given to graduates of law and medical schools, are 8.5"x11".) I will just have to buy a spectacularly large frame to make the $50k I paid for it seem worth it.
Today was the last day of class. I only actually had to meet with my RW students because the entire program went to a presentation during the CS block. It was more emotional than I thought it would be. I baked cookies for the class to eat while we watched the movie, and before we got started I told them that I appreciated everything they'd done this term and how hard they'd worked. I told them that every student and every class was special, but that they were going to stick with me for a long time; they were, after all, the first group of students I'd ever really taught, and I learned just as much from them (if not more) than they did from me. I'm fortunate that I'll see most of them progress through the program over the next year, so "goodbye" was not really goodbye, but it was the last time I was going to be in a class with those students and that dynamic. It felt really good. Bittersweet, but really good.
I've finished all of my end-of-term paperwork and grading, so all that's left for me to do is attend graduation tomorrow and maybe sit down with my boss to discuss how the term went. After that, I'll be heading back to Valpo, then to Fort Wayne, for some much-needed vacation time.
Also, I got my diploma in the mail today. It's...smaller than I thought it would be. (Just did some research online: apparently all diplomas, excepting those given to graduates of law and medical schools, are 8.5"x11".) I will just have to buy a spectacularly large frame to make the $50k I paid for it seem worth it.