Grades, Submitted!

Wow.

I cannot believe I am officially finished teaching here at EMU. I just submitted my final grades and I have alot to reflect upon. Hopefully I can write this in an organized way that is not too rambly...

Surprises:

• I am really surprised by the quality of some of my students-especially in the night class. So many of them had such awesome stories to tell. One young woman gave this horrific account of her childhood in foster care while advocating for the betterment of the system.
  
• One of my students ,who I swear thought I was incompetent, wrote me this very kind letter thanking me for the great semester. She mostly talked about the enthusiasm I bring to the classroom. She wants to be a teacher too. It was really nice. One of the panels at Central States told me to save all these letters for when I go job hunting. Great advice!

New Year Resolutions:

• At Georgia, Organization is going to be the name of my game. Everything will be meticulously organized. If it kills me.
  
• Prepare my syllabus and assignment descriptions in advance so they only need minimal tweaking based on my classroom conditions.
• Be better at grading. I really took way too long this semester handing things back to students. There was really no need for this because I had plenty of time to do it.
  
• Organize all the hard documents I currently have into a binder.
• Organize all files by a recognizable name in a logical place.
• Read and take notes of all of Condit, Biesecker, Happe, & Stahl articles.
  

The end of an era is upon me. Nick, Katie, and I had a couple drinks in Royal Oak last night and I furiously tried to keep up with their grad school talk. Nick is likely going to be paid to blog about his grad school experience during the next school year. Maybe our blogs can link up and be doubly awesome. We are research buddies after all.

I am beginning to like this independence. Still want a dog, tho'.

Lily Allen's new album ROCKS.

This thesis must get done. NOW.