End of Another Semester

One of the neat things about being a college professor, or a teacher for that matter, is the sense of closure one gets at the end of each semester. Life goes on, of course, and there are other things to be done, but there is always that sense of having completed another discrete unit of one's life. Grades are in, papers have been returned, course evaluations have been reviewed and wonderful Thank-you notes from students have been read.

In addition to the the Baccaluareate and Commencement ceremonies there are also the end of term parties such a retirement parties and Department parties. Sadly, I had to miss the Education Department party at Prof. Anne Judson's house last Friday as I had raging tootheache. The party is a chance for everyone to catch up on each other's lives outside of St. Mike's and to get to meet new family additions and significant others.

The members of the Education Department at St. Mike's are a great group of people with widely diverse backgrounds and life experiences and all are experts and leaders in their own particular fields of study.

The summer for us is a time for learning such as attending a workshop or teaching a summer graduate course, and a time for professing, or to be more accurate, writing for publication. It's a time when we can think about our ideas and experiences and turn them into journal articles, books or conference presentations so they can be shared with the rest of the world.