I just sent my grades in for my courses. This is always a good feeling. It's a bit sad to part ways with students, but it also feels good to wrap up a course and move on. I taught four courses in a shortened semester (April to July). There was a two-course sequence in American Studies, a course on Academic English for students not majoring in English, and a Philosophy of Language course. I also had two clubs that met every Wednesday, an English Club and Philosophy Club. I got a lot of great contact time with students and some faculty as well who attended the English Club. Not all of it was a walk in the park, but we got it done. One problem was a lack of classroom space. After some investigation, I found an available room in the "pre-fab" area (pictured below) which I could use pretty much all day to meet with students, so this helped greatly.
First-year Master's Students
One of the great things about teaching is that the relationships with the students can always continue. I know that I still often think about teachers and lessons imparted. As we approach our departure date, that's one thing that is starting to dawn on me: I can continue working with these students and my colleagues here as well. For a while I have felt a lot of pressure to finish up all the projects I conceived of before I left. Now I am realizing that not everything can be finished in 9 months, and that much of the work can be done remotely. The relationships will certainly continue, I hope. This gives me much solice as I want to remain a part of the Anglophone Studies Department here. I am not ready to remove myself from it entirely. I have more work to do here with research and thesis supervision, and I want to keep doing it. This particular part is undeniably coming to a close, but it's not the end.
Master's students outside of Anglophone Studies