That's A Wrap!

Here we are, at the end of the spring 2022 semester and honestly, at the end of a long two years. As we rounded the corner past midterms and into the final stretch of the semester I realized that the students are still so tired. They have less to give in any given category, and yet they keep showing up and doing the work and trying their best. I'm proud of the work that I saw my students produce, and I'm proud of all of us for reaching the end of the year. March 2020 threw our world into chaos, and I think I feel the repercussions of illness and stress and worry the most when I'm teaching, but I also see the most fortitude, commitment to progress, and ability to reach within themselves in order to show up for their classes and responsibilities. I hope the kids will be all right. One student reached out around the midterm with this kind email, and things like that meant a lot!

In this 2021-2022 school year I worked with five different TAs to teach seven classes. I taught 103 students over the two semesters, and I had a six week maternity leave to start it all off. That all means hundreds of graded assignments, emails, and entries in google docs or excel spreadsheets or Canvas grade center to keep up with it all. I enjoyed getting to know my students this year, as I taught three sections of College Writing Two, one section of Advanced Writing, and three different ESL classes.

From my Advanced Writing class, there were two accolades for one of my students, Cassidy Elmer. She wrote an article for the class called "Tune Up Your Wellness," and she submitted it for publication as the final course requirement, and it was accepted! Her essay will be published in the scholarly undergraduate journal Forbes and Fifth from the University of Pittsburgh. I also submitted that same essay for consideration in our departmental Critical Essay Contest, where professors submit their students' work from any upper division English course, and she won! I was glad that my colleagues also recognized the good work that she had done.

We've reached the end of the semester and the end of the school year, and I can say that I am very much looking forward to summer. In addition to my teaching and departmental work, I was also helping my sister and celebrating her upcoming wedding, which is now just four days away! My husband and I also purchased, furnished, setup, and listed a second house in Lake Geneva to be rented out for short term holiday stays, and we are so excited to see people starting to book. All of that, on top of living our lives and raising our two sweet boys and all of us being sick pretty regularly throughout the past few months, has made it a busy spring. Hoping the summer sun will soon appear and bring with it some rest and relaxation!