Post-Christmas Update

Mark and I are back in Tucson--we left Albuquerque on Sunday morning and got home around 3:30 on Sunday afternoon. The drive was completely uneventful, so that was good. I think we came back with about twice as much stuff as we took out there with us! (It's a good thing we could get it all into the car...) Needless to say, we certainly feel blessed by the generosity of our families at Christmas. We got lots of things we needed (like some new jeans for me and some percussion books for Mark) and lots of things we wouldn't have purchased for ourselves (an abundance of new entertainment). It took me the better part of the day yesterday to find a place for all the new stuff, but the apartment is pretty much back in order.

It was really nice to have a more leisurely stay in ABQ after how hectic our Thanksgiving was. We stayed with my grandparents for a few days then spent about a week with Mark's family. I think we were able to spend a good amount of time with both families, and we saw a few friends, too. I am thankful that our families live only a couple miles apart, because we did go back and forth a lot! I had lunch with some former co-workers and spent a couple of hours at the church office visiting, too. I also went to part of a worship service at H-town, but had to leave early to see Mark perform in the Christmas musical at my grandparents' church. It was certainly a treat to be back at home, taking a real break from school and work, just relaxing, drinking tea, eating (all day long), playing games, etc. It was nice to lay in bed in the mornings and think about what I would do each day, knowing there were no chores that needed to be done, no reading, no homework. All in all, it was a really great visit. Although we're glad to be back in our own apartment, I am missing all the wonderful company.

Back at our place, everything was as we left it, except that our heater wasn't working. The landlord had come around just before we left town to look at it (we hadn't even needed to turn it on, but some other units had reported trouble, so he came to check on it). We didn't need it before we left town, but when we got home it was only about 55 degrees inside, so there must have been some cold nights and cool days while we were gone. At any rate, we bundled up and watched a movie that night and called the landlord on Monday morning. The heat is working now, but since the highs for the rest of the week will be around 70 degrees, I don't expect to need it again! (But we did need it to get the apartment warmed up at first...).

Now that 2009 is quickly approaching, it's time for me to get back to work (at least a little). I've got to plan the syllabus for English 102 and do some review of Linguistics stuff to help ensure that I'll be ready for one of my classes next semester. I've also got to spend some more time looking into the TESOL convention I hope to attend in March and some options for summer jobs. But, I've also got a few fun books to read and movies and TV shows to watch, so it's a good thing I've got a couple of weeks of break left!

Done Grading!

As it turns out, grading the 101 final exams was much less strenuous than expected. I was so relieved to discover that it took no more than ten minutes per exam, which meant that I finished grading them by Saturday afternoon rather than spending every waking hour of the weekend grading (which is what I expected, based on the half-hour it took to grade the other essays during the semester). What made the difference is that we were basically required to grade the exams without writing any comments--just read it and assign a grade. I didn't realize just how time consuming commenting is! But, my TEAD says that less than a student per semester actually comes back to pick up their exam, so we're advised to just go back and re-read and comment on any papers that students contact us about picking up. Otherwise, the majority of our time would be spent writing comments the students would never see--clearly a waste of time. It also helped that the exams were interesting--the assignment was to revise one of the first two essays from the class and write a reflection essay about that revision process. Reading the reflections was fascinating; and while I had to keep reminding myself that many of the students were probably just writing what they thought I wanted to hear (like "I can now see how much I've learned this semester"), it was clear that some of them really had learned a lot and their writing had improved. And, of course, many of them were sincere in their reflections (like the ones whose grades were already good--they didn't need to kiss up). I heard lots of other GATs complaining about the final exam assignment (it's the same for all 101 classes), and I'll admit that I was skeptical about how beneficial it would be for the students, but after reading a set, I think it is a really good assignment--a chance for them to see how they've improved their writing and show off what they've learned.

So, needless to say, my weekend was much more relaxing than expected! I even watched a couple of movies. I'm completely finished with my classes--I turned in the last assignment in my methods class on Wednesday, and took the final exam for linguistics (early) on Friday. At noon, I'm meeting with DR to go over my final grades for 101 and submit them, then I'm completely done for the semester. it seems like the end to the semester has actually been kind of anticlimactic, but that's nothing to complain about. I'm really looking forward to a little break, and some time to prepare for the spring semester. And, of course, it's exciting to be heading back to ABQ again already.

Almost there

Today I finished grading the last few essays, so now I'll have two full days free from grading before I collect the final exams. (And, I'm ready to return the essays to my students in class tomorrow). Thinking about tomorrow is actually kind of surreal--it's my last 101 class, my last day of my Methods class--the first semester is really almost over now. And, as one of my fellow GATs pointed out, in a week, I'll be one-quarter of the way to my degree. Amazing. I'm expecting good grades, and I think I've planned my time well between now and when my 101 grades are due, so what's left of the semester should go smoothly. I had to write a semester reflection for Preceptorship, and it has been really interesting to reflect on what I've learned about teaching since starting this semester. It reminded me how thankful I am to have this job and be getting this valuable experience while I'm studying.

I also wanted to mention that Mark and I have tentative plans for when we'll be back in ABQ--we're planning to drive home on Wednesday, December 17th and stay till the 27th or so. It really seems like we were just there, but I'm also very much looking forward to a more relaxed stay and (I hope) the chance to see more friends we didn't see back at Thanksgiving.

Busy Days

As expected, this week has gone by very fast and been very busy. I collected a mountain of essays from my 101 classes. I've graded half now, and for those of you keeping track, I plan to return them on Wednesday. So, the students will get them before their finals are due, but they will (hopefully) do lots of work on their finals before then. It's actually been pretty bittersweet realizing how close the end of the semester is--I've become quite attached to my students. There are a few I really enjoy having in class, and no real trouble makers. On Wednesday, one of my students said, "wow, I'm really going to miss this class," which I thought was pretty cool (even though he really meant the students he hangs out with in class, not me). But today, he was asking me about the rest of our schedule and said, "so Friday is the last time I'll see you?" and I said, "yep, unless we run into each other at the student union" and he was even kind of sad about that. I do think I have a pretty good dynamic with the students, but it was nice to find out that some of them have enjoyed the class enough to miss it. I guess I'll learn more about what they thought of me and the class when I get the results of my evaluations in the spring...

Speaking of the spring, I just got more details this week about the curriculum for English 102, and I picked up the new textbooks I'll be using today. It's a bit overwhelming thinking about figuring out how to teach a whole new class next semester, but I should have plenty of time to figure things out over the break.

Mark also had his last Wind Ensemble concert on Wednesday night. And, I found some time to put up our Christmas decorations. We've actually got 3 little Christmas trees (all thanks to my mom). Our ornaments are a mix of things Mark and I made or had as kids and things both moms have bought for us since we've been married. I used to put the smallest tree up at the office, but decided to keep it at home this year, since GATs don't really decorate like we did at Hoffmantown. (The decorations looked really nice, there, by the way!)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving week was certainly busy for us! We were able to drive home on Tuesday night, and stayed until after dinner on Saturday. We were so happy to be able to spend time with family and friends, but the weekend felt incredibly short. It seemed like we didn't get to see anyone as much as we'd have liked. But, we will be back in just about 3 weeks (which is really hard to believe!) and we'll be able to stay in town for at least a week.

Mark had a steel band concert last night (that's why we left on Saturday night--he had set-up/rehearsal starting at noon on Sunday). I've never seen a steel band group perform before, so it was really cool. I was surprised by the range of music they performed--from traditional pan music to an arrangement of Bach. Mark even played a solo in one of the pieces. It was very fun--I was disappointed that our families couldn't be here to see it, too, especially since it's so different from what Mark's done in the past. They do have a website with some video clips of old concerts, if anyone wants to take a look.

Today, we're just trying to get back into the swing of things. I am really thankful that I planned ahead enough with school and teaching that I didn't have to do any work over the weekend. (I did some reading yesterday, but that's it.) The trouble is that now I'm having a hard time getting back to work! I have just a few assignments left this semester for the classes I'm taking, a little lesson planning for English 101, and, by 3 this afternoon, I'll have a giant stack of papers to grade. The next two weeks will be very busy.

I do want to get some feedback about how quickly I should to try and get these papers graded. So far this semester, I've always graded and returned the essays within a week. These will probably take me a bit longer because the essays are longer and I'm using a different rubric. The question is, should I try to get them returned before (or on) the last day of class, or wait till the day they turn in their finals. I had been thinking I should give them back as soon as possible (as I've done for the others), but my TEAD suggested holding on to them until the finals are due. In her experience, students work harder on the final when they don't know their grade. If they know their grade, they tend to do the minimum to get the grade they want. So, what do you think? Should I aim to return the essays so they'll have their grades or wait in hopes that it will lead to better final exams?