Learn vs.Teach

As ever, feel free to skip over the current school review!
The posts have been few & far between the last few weeks--reflective of the end of the quarter & accompanying busy days of finishing up.  Kind of started with Thanksgiving: the big storm before the holiday became five days off instead of two-- a welcomed break for students & faculty alike!
Upon returning, the reality set in that only two weeks remained and students pressed on with a strange mix of hopeful cramming and depressed fatalism.  This week launched with two days of 'last exams', quickly followed by grade calculations & one-on-one end of quarter evaluation conferences with twenty-one students (a third of the total group). Whew!
A much more talkative group came through my office door this time, and most of them are settling into the jogger's pace needed to see them through the remainder of the program.  Definitely the marathon & not the sprint-- and it's encouraging to see confidence developing on most faces.
At mid-quarter evals there were many unknowns and some worrisome performances. At the quarter finish line here's how it settled out: two of twenty-two withdrew with the option of program re-entry in a year or two, two full-timers opted to transfer to part-time status with a more manageable pace, and the remainder finished the first heat with the required C+ or better with the next round to begin January 3rd. Cover your ears as the stampede for the front door ensues and the three week break begins. (and why am I using sports metaphors?!)
My own scorecard looks something like this:
Areas for improvement - start-to-finish time per lecture improved, but still needs work; as does the variety of in-class activities utilized. Still don't have clear understanding of all services available to students & inner-workings of the organizational beast, but progress noted.  Retaining verbal information, although significantly improved from week one, needs work; especially if I want to stay on the good side of the dept's administrative assistant!  Not one office visitor doodled on the white board or art pad next to the chair, but several have returned spontaneously and have begun to find their voice for ideas rather than facts. Difficulty getting enough steps in most days--still gotta work on the balance of active vs. quiet times (especially because someone keeps the office chocolate jar full most of the time!).
Progress:  Getting to know some faculty outside of my own department.  Good marks with the first quarter of tenure committee and dean's review/observation. Managing time & my schedule pretty well--and on the worst weeks of the quarter still put in about 20-24 hrs less than the usual week at the job-that-ate-my-life! (no comparison!)  Didn't get short of breath when the near-final schedules for next quarter came out at staff meeting this week. Got my 'professional development plan' finished that will help get me through this three years of tenure-track work. Learned a fair amount about technical tools for the classroom--with more to come. Realizing there's a fair amount of information stored away in those dusty old memory banks--kind of fun to drag it out & put it back to work!
In the just-for-fun category: turns out these students know how to throw a great potluck! Books on tape are a great separation between work & home, having just finished my fifth one. My closet now includes uniforms & white shoes again, after thirty years, for those fateful clinical days ('never say, "never"!')
So, today is the end of quarter one--woo-hoo! Will actually be able to prepare for the holidays, read, write, cook, quilt, play games with the boys. How fun to have a true break--but I also look forward to new adventures in the quarter ahead. Bring it on!!