Monday, May 09, 2016

School's Out for Summer

The finals have been scored, the grades have been entered, the begging and pleading for higher grades has ended, the course evaluations ("student's revenge") have been compiled and with that, it's officially summer for me.

Teaching was a lot more difficult than I imagined. Being prepared for speak 3 days a week for 70 minutes at a time takes a good amount of time. Whenever I've given a technical presentation, I could spend days getting ready and perfecting a 30 minutes talk. I had no such luxury here. And then throw in the added time for writing and grading quizzes and exams and much of the week is shot because of just one class. And then the office hours too.

Having gone through this once, next year will be much better. The lecture notes will only need tweaking, and not be created from scratch. And I now know much better what to expect from the students and what to really emphasize, (although I also wonder if it will be the case of a general preparing to fight the previous war).

So this all means (for better or worse) more regular posting here. I'll get back into the polymers again tomorrow.



Previous Years

May 9, 2014 - A Self-Healing Polymer for Really Big Holes

May 9, 2013 - The Oil Economy - It Will Be Around Longer Than Anyone Thinks

May 9, 2012 - Peak Plastic? Not a Chance

May 9, 2011 - Some thoughts on Choosing a Major: Chemistry or Chemical Engineering?


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