Winter break(?)

Yup, it's that time of the year again when I can try to get something done other than teaching... finals are over! While this might not be as exciting as Wayne Rooney in the U.K. to the pre-adolescent set (as I learned from Nate, of course), but I like it. Gave my last final today and we got it graded and tallied up final grades.. determining grades is clearly a low-point in my job... What is an "A" anyway? Obviously, I have my opinions on it as I assign grades all the time. But assessment of student learning (I the teacher have learned a thing or two about student learning and techongology over at John's blog, of course) is a difficult thing in my opinion and it takes a bit of work to get it right.

So, now I can try to do a few other things... this basically comes down to a lot of writing this year... manuscript revisions, teaching portfolios, and new courses... pretty typical. The break part of winter break as a professor means a break from teaching... not from work, in someways it is busier, this year at least.

In other news... another first, the first piece of mail tangentially addressed to the incoming kid showed up in the form of a x-mas card from our friend Cari. It is nice to have these little external reminders of what's to come. We actually got our first gift of toys from my Aunt Mary and family last week. That was a bit of a surprise, because the came in a box with a present, but they were unwrapped and some infant toys can be a little confusing to the over-educated... but once we saw the tag with the Lamaze label, all became clear... and I am sure that they will be quite fun...