I need to quit writing that I’ve been busy. At the same time, it’s at the forefront of my mind. 12+ hour days nearly every day. They are taking their toll, yet I see the light.
It’s getting brighter…
Even with the busy-ness, things are good. It has truly been an interesting week.
I love my students more and more as I get to know them. Some of them are so 
completely inspiring. There are two freshman girls in one of my AP Biology classes who are planning on being in the Google Science Fair in a couple of years. They are planning already. I told them to go with it, and I would help them however I can.
We had our first lab activity this week: enzymes. The look on the students’ faces when they answer their own scientific questions and see those little discs of yeast bubbling up when they come into contact with hydrogen peroxide is priceless.
I am definitely in the right place.
This week was also interesting because I got my first teacher “hate mail.” (Hate mail is an over-exaggeration.) A parent inquired about why her student only had a 91% when she felt it was imperative that he keep a 95% in any class. I mistakenly thought her student was a freshman in my AP Biology class: an easy mistake when approximately 60% of my students are freshman though I should have checked my records before responding to the parent. Since I thought her student was a freshman, I told her that he would be behind because he would be missing a vital chemistry background.
When she wrote back, she informed me that he was NOT a freshman, and my insinuating that he had holes in his background knowledge was insulting! In fact, since I thought he was a freshman, I must not care about my students since I don’t have them all memorized! All 150-ish.
*Sigh…*
I responded tactfully, apologizing for my mistake. I ensured her I would be happy to talk to her in person if she wanted, and if her student ever told her anything about me that indicated that I did not care about his progress I would definitely like to talk about that. We’ll see if she actually wants to meet… I’ll be tactful then as well.
Her attack on me supposedly not caring about my students still pissed me off. If working 12 hours a day (I really need to get a handle on that) and giving the students my lunch period mean I don’t care, I’m not sure how to convey that I do…
So the good with the bad, as it is with most things. And the bad was only that one instance.
The good far outweighs it.
I have approximately three more weeks until my dissertation defense. Those weeks are going to be filled with a lot of work and fatigue. But the light is getting brighter. These last few weeks are putting me to the final test.
I will triumph! But I will also need a nap…
It’s becoming clearer to me as I near the end of my dissertation adventures, that I’ve learned as much about myself as I have about my project.
I think Steven Tyler may have been right. The light at the end of this particular tunnel may be me.