while(self++) { #59 } // It’s Over!
Today, I administered the final exam for my Computer Science class. It was bittersweet; the semester is drawing closer to a final sigh of relief, but unfortunately, I won’t be teaching another course for the foreseeable future. It’s my own choice, but it still leaves me feeling melancholy. Today was my last chance to see my students before they went off on their own separate ways. For them, the course is over; they have nothing left to do. (Not for me, though; I still have a mountain of grading left.)
It’s over, but deep down, I hope it’s not over over. I’ve always known my motivation for teaching — to educate and ignite the passion of the next generation of computer scientists and software engineers who will change the world. It’s never been about the grades. I know how difficult I can be, but in the end, I will be more than fair. And next time, I want to do this course even better. I’ve done post mortems. I’ve requested and received feedback from my students. It’s helpful. But my CS course is just a discrete point on their timelines (not mathematically speaking, but I’m trying to make a metaphor here!). Their journeys are continuous. This is just the beginning of my students’ careers, and I sincerely hope that if they need any advice or help in the future, they’ll feel comfortabe reaching out to me. But the same is true of the reverse.
I’ve never had time to fully reflect about each student who has passed through my classes. But what I should do is take some time to think about each and every student’s growth in my course. Then, reach out to them after a period of time to see how they’ve progressed. Some students will find their own path. Others might be aimless or struggling. Knowing that they have support is important to me. Time to reach out to last semester’s students!
