Semester's End for a Teacher...the last one for a while (*sniff*)

Last week was final exam time for my students. I often like to write posts about the last week of classes, and this one is a little bittersweet for me because it'll be my last one on-campus for a while. I'm still going to do some online classes, but since the baby is due right when school starts in the fall, both recovery/newborn/childcare means I won't be physically in a classroom for a while, which is heartbreaking. Also I feel like I never mentioned on the blog or Facebook that our next baby is another boy, but we've told people we're around, so I feel like it's too late at this point and would be awkward to do a whole thing about it, so...anyway,in case you were wondering, boy!

As the end of the semester approaches, I find these memes to be very true:

Students say:

 

Teachers say:


The last day of class (or really the last few weeks, for that matter, and especially not one hour AFTER your final!!) is NOT the time to ask for extra credit. It's not the time to decide to drop the class and be annoyed when that turns out to be difficult. It's not the time for many things. I finally printed out this one (above) and put it on my office door. Maybe students coming to ask for extra credit saw it and it scared them off...! James says I should've made this (below) into a poster instead to scare students off, but life isn't Harry Potter (yet) so I don't get moving pictures on my office door:

One student's plea for extra credit did make me laugh, though, and fortunately it turned out to be easily fixed and not an extra credit problem after all: "No I have an 89?! I need an A worse than I need air to breathe. I will literally do anything for 1 more point. I will even babysit your child. Please Jesus."

I had wonderful moments and students this semester. My favorite moment, though, did not happen in the last week; it happened at the last test before the final, so about a month ago. I always have a few bonus questions at the end of each test, and due to spring break and weather/cancelled class, this particular anatomy test ended up being very, very long and difficult. Poor class. I'm sorry. But this girl's answers on the bonus section cracked me up:

 

And now for my end-of-year comments that I love so much and sometimes share on the blog...also brought to you by test bonus questions. I love my students and will miss being with them. These are from both my anatomy and intro to biology classes. Enjoy! (My comments are in parentheses.)

Question: What is your favorite part of the brain and why? (we learned about all the different small parts, like the pons, arbor vitae, medulla oblongata, hypothalamus, etc., so this is what I expected them to say. I should have been more specific!)

Answer: The left side. I think I am left brained. 

Answer: The ponds. (It cracks me up that all this time they thought the "pons" was "ponds")

Question: What was your least favorite topic we covered in anatomy this semester and why?

Answer: I didn't like that one chart we did to see if we carried the same genes as our parents. (We have done many charts in many labs. I love how ONE piece of paper in this whole semester is the worst part of the semester. I'll have to go back and review it...sounds pretty bad!)

Answer: Learning the domain kingdom phylum class order family genus species because it took me forever (I love how they wrote out all these words for this!)

Answer: Cells, I don't enjoy learning about cells!!!

Question: What was your favorite topic of the semester and why?

Answer: The brain because I could almost name parts of the brain that I couldn't do before. (Almost??) 

Answer: Review games before tests!

Answer: I believe they all had the same academic value.

Question: A picture of the rotator cuff muscles in the shoulder (it's pretty obviously the shoulder) and it asks what one specific muscle in the image is called. 

Answer: Leg muscle 

Answer: A hamstring

Answer: The humerus

Question: A picture of a vertebra and it asks them to label two specific parts of it.

Answer: they point to the spinous process (the part that sticks out the back) and label it "axon" (which is part of the nervous system, and NOT one of the two things I asked them to label)

Answer:  another person labelled the spinous process as the coccyx (that's your tailbone. It is not found in your vertebrae, and is also not one of the two locations I asked them to identify.)

Question: List the first three cranial nerves, their number in roman numerals, and indicate whether they are sensory/motor/both.

Answer: Well I know the 12th nerve might be the hypoglossal...