School is over, finals are graded, portfolio show attended, students graduated, shopping shopped and now off to India tomorrow. My nerves are a bit calmer than they were earlier in the week. For some reason I'm finding this trip a bit scary. So many unknowns.
My students were spectacular this week in every class. As my Academic Director said last quarter, "don't over teach" and I didn't. This last week I had my students work in teams to practice what they learned and the outcomes were phenomenal. I was blown away by how well they worked together and were totally engaged in their projects. It felt a bit like a trick that I had them synthesize a quarter's worth of learning into a final class as a case study project. They had learned so much and mastered the subjects.
In a couple of classes I had the students take a "competency quiz" the first week so that we could assess their knowledge and assumptions going into the courses. In this week's final classes I handed back these same quizzes so that they could reflect on their original responses. For some students their answers were surprisingly different and for others their assumptions were affirmed. It was a great way to end the courses.
I feel quite attached to my graduating students since I've known some of them for 18 months. It is like sending friends off into the world and hoping that they send you letters - other than A-F. Bon Voyage brave students!
