Clown

There was always that one student who never took anything seriously. The one who distracted the whole class. The one who was always on a cell phone or shopping on Amazon instead of listening in class. The one who didn't read the syllabus. The one who always waited until the last minute to tell the team someone else would have to finish their piece of the project. The one who didn't do the readings and came to class late and left early. The one who asked things like, "Are we doing anything important today?"

Everyone knew there was no way that clown was going to graduate.

Teaching

Do you ever have one of those days when you feel like students don't understand a single thing you're saying? If so, I have a suggestion. Teach better.

HOLD ON!

Grad school was not as easy as riding a bike. It was, however, just as easy as riding a bike with one missing wheel down a set of stairs while not holding on.

Choices

Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain... To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices - today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.

~ Kevin Aucoin

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Grad school is about choices. Not just choosing the mood or a career or a project or a team to do the project. It's about choosing whether or not do your homework which - by extension - is a choice about whether or not to stay in grad school.

Future

The faculty member could in fact see the students' futures. The information about the future was rarely shared with students, though. That would not only ruin the surprise, but would also let everyone know that -- well, I shouldn't say.

Congratulations

The faculty member was fine congratulating the student on their accomplishment, but simply purchasing a mortarboard was not really the end of the process in getting the degree.

Disappointed Professor

The professor who finds out they are teaching assessment in higher education might be disappointed. 

For those of you in the assessment class, it isn't because the professor doesn't want to teach assessment in higher education. It's probably because when they got their courses assigned they had once course called "Asses in Higher Ed" and they thought it was a completely different type of course.