Saturday, December 12, 2009

Semester Drawing to a Close

To be honest, I don't know who is more excited about Christmas break: the teachers or the students! I'm certain that 2-3 more teaching days would be really helpful in giving me a chance to finish the New Testament textbook and I'd love to spend a few more days with the seniors reading Nietzsche, but I'm not complaining that we only have five days left before vacation.

Unfortunately, I don't know how much of a vacation this will be. Our semester exams take place the week of January 11th, so I have to prepare three different exams. So that means that I'll have to write two extensive study guides (for freshmen and sophomores) as well as two exams, plus prepare an exam for my senior philosophy students. So while I'm not assigning any major projects to my students over vacation - my Christmas gift to them - I can't claim the same for myself!

It's hard to believe that in a few weeks, I'll re-start two of my courses with new students and I'll pick up a new course (Hebrew Scriptures) with two classes of students. That'll be a whole new host of students to learn, but also a chance to avoid making many of the same mistakes I made this semester. I'm grateful that our theology courses are semester-long, which gives me a chance to start fresh and to give me an opportunity to get to know more kids.

Posting will probably be pretty light until next Saturday. There are several Christmas parties to attend, plus having to write two exams this weekend to give and grade next week. Please know of my Advent prayers for readers and I look forward to connecting with you again next Saturday when I trade the chaos of teaching for the chaos of Christmas in Cleveland!


1 comment:

Rae said...

That sound exhausting. I have always thought that the stress of finals did not fit well with Advent, but I had never considered it from a teacher's perspective. I expect that Christmas can not come soon enough for you!

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