It's Official...

We're done with our first semester of grading and submitting final grades! WOO!

Earlier this morning, we visited our department offices and turned in final grades, final examination sheets (for records), and asked the nice guy to fix the problems I had. I made a mistake in entering grades online, so he submitted an official request form to get it remedied (oops!).

Also, two students attended my class though they were enrolled in another teacher's class (should I be flattered?!), so I needed to make sure they received grades and credit for a semester of good work.

So, looking back, what did we learn?

1) Initial organization is key. I only had paper grade sheets, nothing on the computer, so that was one extra step.

2) Our teammate is the bestest, greatest, wonderfull-est. She completed the painstaking task (for me) in just under 45 minutes. A whiz with the number pad!

3) Stay caught up. Others had to correct midterms and homework at the end that had accumulated all semester: I somehow knew to do it right away. Saved lots of hassle at the end!

4) Plug, plug plug away. Perseverance is something to cultivate, not necessarily something ingrained. Many things took far less time than I feared, and only one part took more time than I thought :)

5) I love teaching. I don't necessarily love grading, paperwork, having to fail students (only a few), or be so nitpicky. However, all the "rest" is the good stuff. Walking into the classroom to start a class, smiling at my students, helping them with questions, letting them know I care about them... That's the reason I am here.

I guess my Daddy was right: He always said I would be a teacher someday. I just told him that I would be a different type of teacher. Guess we were both right :)

On another note: Our friend Kelley comes Tuesday night to visit us. We'll be here until Thursday night, then we head on the overnight train (my first sleeper train!) to Hohhot for a day with friends from Minnesota (Tad and Marsha, and Lynette), then off to Beijing, where Jim will meet us for the rest of our China travels.

We are blessed to have two American friends taking the trek to visit us, and we are equally blessed to have you staying where you are and thinking of us so faithfully. We really love you all...

With peace and joy in 2009!
M+A