Incredibly, another spring semester has come and gone. It's been a good one, but I'm also very glad to be making the transition to summer!
I had a great teaching schedule: 3 sections total (one less than my usual load due to the number of graduate classes I taught this year), and 2 of those were online, while the other was an in-person grad writing class I taught for the second time (which is so much easier than the first time!). Overall, that meant I had a lot more margin in my schedule, including times I was totally caught up on everything and could step away from the office early. :-)
By the time March and April came around, though, I was in what seemed like an endless cycle of grading...partly because of some changes I made to my grading system this year. I ended up having a record number of students revise their biggest project, so that led to a lot more time meeting with students and re-grading papers. A good thing for their learning, but it kind of wore me out! I'll be trying some different things next year to see if I can get out ahead of the most common issues so more students will meet my expectations the first time around.
Final grades were posted a week ago, the student questions have fizzled out, and our academic year contract officially ends on Wednesday. Tomorrow, I'll be presenting at and attending our Center for Faculty Excellence's annual Teaching & Learning Summit, so that should be a nice way to formally wrap up the semester.
Here are a few other highlights from this spring, in photos (roughly chronological order):
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| wolves at the Toledo Zoo |
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| komodo dragon (also at the zoo) |
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| Mock Caldecott group at BGSU with our winners |
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selfie with Mark at a gymnastics meet
(they moved all of these to the Stroh this year) |
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gymnastics meet (one of my
students from the fall is on the team) |
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my campus office with upgraded setup:
laptop stand, wireless keyboard, second monitor |
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snowy day on campus
(we had very little snow this season) |
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| snowy day at home, just before sunset |
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| we saw Brigadoon on campus |
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selfie with Frieda & Freddie
at another gymnastics meet |
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| a valentine and cookies from a dear friend |
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| our Common Meal dinner group |
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| Mark with his birthday cake |
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the set up for a percussion recital
(one of Mark's former drumline students) |
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our favorite Broadway musical of the season:
Hadestown |
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a cougar at the Toledo Zoo
(this was the first time we noticed them!) |
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| hippos at the zoo |
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taking advantage of unseasonably warm weather
to walk a trail along the Maumee River |
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| selfie with Mark on the trail |
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| tea at the Swan House (under new ownership...again) |
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the food was still tasty,
but slightly smaller portions |
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| selfie with Angela and the hats after tea |
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| our Easter dinner: lamb, potato casserole, salad |
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| the daffodils were early this year! |
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BGSU Bands 100th anniversary
weekend concerts |
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the marching band joined for
the last part of this concert |
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| falcon-themed eclipse glasses |
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| selfie with Mark wearing our eclipse glasses |
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panorama of the eclipse event at the stadium:
a good turnout and fantastic program with
info from astronomy faculty and a
long performance from the athletic bands |
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selfie with Mark during the eclipse...you
can't tell here, but it actually got pretty dark! |
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| photo from BGSU social media of the eclipse |
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| my desk on a work-from-home day |
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another group shot from Common Meal...
this time, Angela was a surprise guest! |
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| at Zingerman's in Ann Arbor with Angela |
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| I got a tasty chicken sandwich with green chile on it! |
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our hotel pool was in a big atrium
(our room is in the background) |
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| selfie with Angela at the University of Michigan |
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| another great Broadway show: Frozen |
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| selfie with Mark before the show started |
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Kentucky bluebells at Wintergarden during
the Wildflower Walk (first of a monthly series) |
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| marshy area at Wintergarden |
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| my own little patch of bluebells on the side of the house |
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another musical, this one at Owens,
with one of the drumline students in the cast
|
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| cougars at the zoo |
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| me with the elephants |
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mama elephant and new baby elephant
(he was so cute to watch!) |
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| lemurs at the zoo |
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| turtle pond at the zoo |
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photo of the whiteboard after the
last day of my grad writing class |
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| photo of the second whiteboard after class :-) |
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selfie to celebrate the last
teaching day of spring 2024! |
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flowering trees on campus
(this is my friend Chad's photo) |
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