And March has arrived

Hi all, cannot even believe that today is March 1st. Time is flying by, I can hardly believe graduation is in just about 3 months, that is craziness to me. Last week was a blur, that is for sure. We came back from break to have crazy weather which caused a snow day on Wednesday, which I must admit could not have come at a better time. The amount of work left to be done and my students still coming off of a break put me in high stress mode, so Wednesday was very much needed for me to get some work done and be able to breathe. I know all that needs to get done will get done and the end of the term will be here before I know it. We started working with the fetal pigs in my class last Friday, which overall went smoother than I thought. I had a couple of students that protested at first, but before I knew it, got involved in the process. I think alot of it is the fear of the unknown and not knowing what to expect. I think it definitely helps that at the beginning we give students the choice of how involved they would like to be. Giving a choice and allowing them to be somewhat in control and have a better sense of what is expected certainly makes a difference. I think alot of them really liked being able to be hands on and do something different. Hopefully the momentum continues as we move  through. It really is a great opportunity for them to be able to dissect the fetal pig because they are able to connect all of the units that we learned talking about body systems. They are now able to see what the structures actually look like, consist of and where they are found. I think being able to make these connections makes what we have taught them that much more valuable.
   We will soon be registering for Spring classes, we can actually start doing that today online. This is the first term we will be able to register online, which I think will be helpful in time and paper trails.
   Other than that, pretty much done with my portfolios, just putting the final touches on them. I say portfolios, because we make one copy that we will use to take with us to job interviews and one that we leave for the Graduate School Education Office, for them to show future students as well as show for accrediation purposes, to show the work of the students in the program. Though it has been a busy time writing all the pieces, when creating the binder of pieces I could start to see how it is all coming together.
   Hope everyone is well and muddled through the crazy weather week last week. Talk to you all soon!