Professor Sharon

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15, 14, 13 and grading.

May 19th, 2014 · 100 Days Project, College students, Education, Teaching & Learning, time, Work

Grading.  Need I say more?  To some, yes.  So I guess I will.

If we had authentic situations in place to allow students to demonstrate their knowledge in other ways than on a piece of paper, grading would be a whole different game.  And, that is what it is.  A game.  At worst.  At best, it is a way to demonstrate your connections of thinking and knowing and being about a subject matter.

Well, I suppose I could keep on philosophizing, but I won’t.  I’ve always said that if I could only be a worse professor, I wouldn’t have huge, and I mean HUGE, piles of grading at the end of a semester.  I would only have bubble sheets and an Excel spreadsheet to do the math.  But, I’m not that kind of professor.  I want real world application of the content – albeit on paper as I have no real world to apply it to real centers with real children, but a well thought out application on paper will achieve a good result.

And, what does all that mean?  Four or five days of several hours a day grading huge projects: and, I don’t just put a check mark.  I write feedback on almost everything.  Crazy – yup, it is.  Authentic – as close as I can get it.  And, I’m proud of it.

But, am I ready not to do this anymore?  Oh, my – that is such a HUGE YES!!

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16 and disarray

May 17th, 2014 · 100 Days Project, retirement, time, Work

I was really struck yesterday by the sheer disarray of my house!  And then I realized that it’s pretty normal for end of semester crazies – and that this is the last end of semester crazies!   End of semester celebrations, finals, huge final projects to grade, many pieces of paper to sort, file and hand over, and thus the house becomes a collection of piles of other papers like the mail and the bills.  Not to mention the constant list of I need to call that person, or file that paper or go purchase that – all of which I say, next week — once my final grades are filed!  Add to that the fact that I have to empty an office of 14 years, and the piles here at home are even more interesting.

Goodness – what busy activity will I find to do to repeat this — none is my plan!  I’ll be busy, and still have those bills and phone calls to make; my plan is to do it on my schedule, and not on someone else’s – because I won’t be employed!

That is still an enormous messy thought ….but I think I finally see how to get used to it!

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17 and love

May 15th, 2014 · 100 Days Project, College students, Education, family, Musings, Teaching & Learning, Work

A grandmother and her seven year old granddaughter were walking down the hall of the East Building.

Having just attended the grandmother’s retirement party; two whole hours of being social (not so easy when you are seven – even when chocolate is involved)…the grandmother said, “Thank you for coming to my party.  I know that there were a lot of adults for you to meet and chat with.”

Granddaughter:  “I had a good time.”

Grandmother:  “I’m so glad.  I had a good time too with so many people coming to wish me a happy retirement.”

Granddaughter:  “You are well loved.”

Indeed I am, child, indeed I am.

Thank you to the Education Department for organizing and for the great food!  Thank you to all of you who could stop by, or emailed, or called, or sent a note to wish me well!

I am well loved.  I don’t think there are many institutions that feel like family, this is surely one of a rare breed!

Thank you for being amazing colleagues!  I am honored to have worked with each and every one of you.  Our students are very fortunate people.  Some may not call it love, but I know better.

Have a wonderful end of week, exams, final grading, paper filing and all of that!  I hope to see you at Commencement!

Sharon

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18 and loss

May 14th, 2014 · 100 Days Project, Education, Musings, retirement, Teaching & Learning, travel, Work

I just figured out this morning one of the deep feelings I’m having about retirement from this amazing job of teaching I’ve had – at this place, 15 years, and in total, a career in the world of teaching for almost 40!   It’s the feeling of loss.

Like all humans, loss is an inevitable piece of our lives.  Our pets, our favorite shirts, our loved ones, and the list is pretty endless.  Something I learned a long time ago in a class studying the work of Elizabeth Kubla-Ross is that loss is interpreted by each person in their own way.

Maybe because of hearing someone in the 70s call themselves an orphan yesterday, this morning I woke up thinking about my parents.  I suppose I, too, am an orphan, but like loss, I’m not sure I define that word the same as others.  I am without living parents though, and last year when my mother died, I not only had her loss to deal with, but the final severing of very thin, barely perceptible cords that tied me to two of my siblings.  The rift is permanent now, and unlike the Grand Canyon, there is no way across that divide any longer.

No matter whether I understand or agree with it all, the feelings of loss are undeniable.   This morning I realize that amongst all the congratulations,  celebrations and excitement over what will come next in my life’s journey, I do have to admit to the loss of some of the work and the students I have been working with in this capacity for so long.    And, it’s okay.

Time to finish grading and celebrate!!  Just as I once had the opportunity to toast to my father’s memory on St. Patrick’s Day in an English Pub in Granada, Spain; one day I’ll toast to this amazing job I’ve had and all the people I’ve worked for and with during the journey!  I promise to make it somewhere amazing!

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19 and a last – at last…

May 13th, 2014 · 100 Days Project, College students, Education, Musings, retirement, Teaching & Learning, travel, Work

I’ve been really reluctant to say “the last this…the last that….the last time…,” etc. in regards to my retirement.  It’s like saying my four month European trip for sabbatical was a “trip of a lifetime.”  The trip was certainly amazing, and some parts, okay maybe, many parts, cannot be repeated – but I never planned it to be the only or last time as so many others are wont to label it.   And, so I have felt the same way about these days leading to my retirement date.

Today was, though, without any doubts a “last.”   I taught the last class of the last course that I will be teaching as a full-time faculty at the college.  It’s a small 200 level early childhood class, and I had two people out very ill, and one student caught in Chicago on a return trip from a family event The numbers were really low.  Yet, it did indeed feel like a last.  Students shared their impressive final and large curriculum projects with each other, we ate one another’s treats that we brought in, and talked about what was the most important thing we’d learned.

Indeed it was a last.  I still don’t quite grasp the whole impact of this thing called retirement that I’m about to embark on; but today I really did understand that I was stepping onto a new road, a new ride, a new adventure to add to my trip of a lifetime.

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