Closure

Call me a victim of Oprahfication but when something is over I need closure. In a tertiary setting, the end of the academic year is often a gradual process of incoherent dissolution. Last year I remarked on this, and was told by a colleague I greatly admire that this is normal.

Well, I object. This year, I have insisted that my students attend the last lecture, with blackmail and bribery ranging from exam tips and test results to awards, movie clips and good old chocolate cake. Not every one fell for it, but the majority of students attended and I got my closure, thank you.

Having taught at the college for three years now, I have a strong bond with all these students, and saying goodbye is quite emotionally loaded. My Foundation Year students were the keystone of my recent research, and the force that got me through many a tough day. My fourth year teaching students have studied two very liberal courses with me and are on the precipice of the real world beyond graduation, armed, hopefully, with some of the educational ammunition I have passed on.

Although it sometimes seems that a teacher’s world is quite small, it is these times of closure when one realises that it is, in fact, exponential.