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!)