Like many of my students, I let a week slip by with no blog entry. Like many of them, as well, this was because life--with all of its busyness and chaos--crowded out the blog writing procedure. So, now, post-midterm, pre-preregistration, I find myself in the weird spot of being ready to finish with one semester but not yet ready to do another. The truth is we still have five full weeks of class to go. We have to finish the second major essay, write the third, and work through preparing the revision portfolio before ENG 101 will come to a close. We will all do six or more blog entries before then.
We are, however, thinking forward this week as well. Pre-registration comes with a series of decisions for all of us. I have had to choose and order books for my Spring classes. Many of the students have written in their blogs about choosing classes, about whether or not to continue at MC, about what they want to major in, about whether or not this semester will end well. Even ENG 102 (or 103) will bring with it a new set of challenges. In addition to the regular sections, students can choose sections that revolve around politics and statecraft, community service, the college football system, contemporary issues, and others. Whichever section students choose, they will be introduced to new levels of thinking, new skills in inquiry, and new challenges in writing.
After nearly twenty years of teaching, I have grown used to this academic calendar. I like getting to "start over" every sixteen weeks, each semester. I have also come to realize, however, that it is not really "starting over." Each semester brings with it another level that has to be explored and conquered. That is true for teachers as well as students. There is always the temptation to abandon the task at hand and focus instead on what is to come. But there is a verse in Ecclesiastes that is pretty clear: "The end of a matter is better than its beginning" (Ecc 7:8). To finish well makes beginning again easier.
