It is the end of another semester. Final classes have been taught; projects have been assessed; dissertations have been read.  While there is much research, writing, revising, preparing still to be done, there is also the need to pause…to breathe…to reflect.

In some ways, this semester has gone by in a blur.  Perhaps, this blur was due to busyness or the fact that I was shepherding two dissertation students towards to finish line.  Perhaps this blur was due to the fact that faculty life has become a bit of a routine, or that surviving faculty life has become a necessary routine.  Perhaps this blur was akin to the zen state that I achieve when running (after the first mile) where I am just in motion, but not necessarily thinking deeply.

But, as I pause now, I think about why I teach and why I treasure teaching so much.  I think about who my students were at the start of this semester and how they’ve shared that they’ve grown throughout the semester.  I think about the ways in which they learned to frame their thinking with new language and the ways they now see literacy as meaning making beyond traditional texts.  I think about how they realize now that relationships with students are equally, if not more, important to teaching content.  I think about how they understand that many times students will take away skills more than facts and will remember who a teacher is rather than what specifically they may have taught.

I think about how I’ve changed this semester, more sure now of the importance of identity to teaching and the importance of having my own identity and commitments reflected in my research agenda and in my teaching.  I think about the journey of the last 5 years as an assistant professor and how being an academic is becoming more of an identity that I embrace.  I think about what that means to the outside world v. what that means to me.  I think about how I serve and why I serve and how that connects to who I am and how I view my work as contribution.  I think about engagement and what that means — with whom do I engage? How? For what purpose?

The blur is beginning to come into focus.  It has been a full semester, a productive semester, an intentional semester, a growing semester.  It is the end of another semester, a time to pause, breathe, reflect, regroup.  And, I am ready to take what I’ve learned and explore what is next.