13 December 2007
End of term
Posted by Scott H. Moore under: Teaching .
The end of the term often brings a sense of relief (and sometimes, pride) mixed with a bit of disappointment. On those occasions when students have done really well and have mastered difficult concepts and written good, solid papers, you can’t but be a little proud for them. The relief comes from getting the grades in and completing the course. But I am frequently left wondering if perhaps I should have gone at the course a bit differently. Should we have read The Philosopher’s Pupil instead of the The Black Prince? (Probably not, but some of the questions that arose in our discussions of Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals would have been answered better.) One of the great blessings and opportunities of teaching is to reflect on how a course has gone and to make changes and begin anew in a new term. And thus it is with the end of this term. Several wonderful students–who have become good friends during their time here–will be graduating on Saturday. We are proud of their achievement, and I’m sure their parents are relieved, but we will miss them, and we are certainly a little disappointed that we won’t see them wandering the halls come spring.