Semester is over!!! (sort of)

This semester is finally over! All three papers/projects have been submitted and I posted my grades today. It feels great to be done. Even cooler is the fact that my students had an A average in my class. That almost never happens but they worked their butts off. I'll miss this group, but at least one is taking my class next semester.

Starting tomorrow, I'm doing a four day Writing Across the Curriculum seminar. It should be cool as Kathryn (my adviser) and Moni (the department head) are leading it. I think I'll be one of two grad students there. It even pays a little, which is good. Writing center work doesn't start until May 28 so after this, I have a little bit of time off!

Paper Progress

Thanks to my buddy Seth for some great feedback and suggestion on my paper. The (near) final form it has taken owes a lot to his feedback. I'm looking forward to calling it done sometime late tonight/early tomorrow morning. I think this is the final push where sleep becomes less of a necessity and more of a luxury. I think the hardest parts are done now.

I'm actually looking forward to getting to grading because I know this crop of papers will be a good one. Also, I'm looking ahead to next semester and have already received an email from one zealous student. Interest is always good.

More Random Stuff

Progress on End of Semester Work

My Dark Knight Returns analysis is coming along better than I thought. The more I write, the more I generate. I think it's going to be a matter of deciding what to include after I pour everything onto the screen instead of deciding what else I need to cover. Hopefully the kids allow me to get some work done this weekend. As long as Coral stays happy for an hour at a time, I should be fine. If I don't get to sleep much, so be it. I can rest after the semester is over. Better stock up on some caffeine or the weekend. At least grading will be easier since I only have 12 students this semester. Gotta love honors classes.

Random MST3K Silliness - Enjoy!

Possible Conference Paper(s)

Next Friday is already the deadline for next year's 4Cs conference and I need to get something in for it. I think one of the papers I'm working on should be good for it but I doubt I'll get an abstract together before next Wednesday. Ideally, a couple more people can join me in a panel proposal but no one seems to be jumping at the idea. It might be more fun to get put on a random panel though. Meet some new people or something. I wonder if there's as much to do in Louisville as there is in San Francisco...

I also want to do something with the paper I'm writing on the Dark Knight Returns. It's been a lot of fun to work on so far as it appeals to my nerd side. If nothing else, it is giving me some critical direction for my 211 class next semester. Plus, I'm getting familiar with the Zuhl's graphic novel resources. From this most recent reading of DKR I've decided Frank Miller is kind of a fascist.

Semester Wrap Up

Yesterday was my last day of teaching for the semester and I was a little sadder than usual. I've always found something positive in each of the classes I've taught, even if I had to stretch the definition of positive a little, but this class was a lot of fun to work with. They were my first honors class and the enthusiasm they had for discussing rhetoric, ideas, concepts, etc was pretty infectious. I'd gotten used to my freshman comp classes hating doing rhetorical analysis but the day this group turned theirs in at least half of them asked if they got to do more. They were actually sad when I said we wouldn't have any more time. It sounds like at least a few of them plan on taking my graphic novels class next semester which will be good. Having them in there should help me hold the class to a higher standard.