Yesterday was the last day of class of the Spring semester. So, it was the last day seeing my JUS394 students.

It was a big relief to finally get to the end of semester. I still surely have a lot of work to do. Grading tons of papers is coming soon. But at least, no more teaching next week and weeks following next week. No more waking up in the morning and cycling to campus barely waking up!

But it was also a bit sad. I will miss my students. Some of them will graduate this May. Some of them still have one or more years to go. I may eventually see some next semester in JUS494 class. And I’ll bump some of them in campus, or somewhere else in Tempe. But it wouldn’t be the same.

Not all students were great. Few were lazy. Some perhaps dislike me (based on “blind” students reviews, at least 80% of my students like me :D). But, these were students of the first class in my life, so they will always have special place in my heart. No matter what. They were the reason of my staying up late on Monday and Wednesday evenings - preparing my class. They kept my adrenalin level high by giving me some Tue and Thurs morning excitement.

I loved it when I saw twinkles in some students’ eyes telling me “Yes, I got it!” I really enjoyed seeing their eyes wide opened when I said something they never heard before in their lives. I was always ecstatic reading these kind of phrases in their weekly reflections: “This week’s lectures were fascinating”, “This week’s discussions were really interesting” and “The lectures were such an eye opening!”. Yet, I was scared to death when occasionally they looked at me with some judgmental looks as if saying, “what the hell she is talking about?”.

I don’t think I am a great professor. But I do love teaching and am passionate about it. I do care about my students and in this first class I did try to do as best as I could to help them doing well in my class. I know so well, I couldn’t and didn’t satisfy all students. But with all barriers and limitations I have — such as no experience in teaching university students, no experience in teaching in English, and my being a non-native speaker — I thought I, at least, contributed something, no matter how small it is, to their world — their knowledge and their lives. I at least successfully exposed them to the reality of non-American world beyond what is portrayed by American (mainstream) media. And I secretly hope that I did make a small tiny tiny difference in their lives.

I was so proud seeing my students standing in front of class, in last three sessions, enthusiastically presenting their work on Information Technology and Justice. They really did a great job. It was so sentimental to sit there, listening to 33 (out of 34) students of my class coming up with various interesting stuff related to the course. I actually did learn a lot from their presentations. At last, I could tell myself, “Yes, I am not a failure.”

Yesterday, at the end of the class, some students came to me and thanked me for the course. They said, “It was a very fascinating course. I really enjoyed being in your class.” Nothing more a professor could ask. Such a rewarding statement. Sentimental moment. Now I can tell myself that being a professor is something that I really love. Yes, I do love teaching and love being taught by my students through teaching. I promise that I’ll always strive to be a better teacher, as well as a better student of life.

I believe that the primary objectives of teaching are to introduce students to ways that can be used in the pursuit of learning and critical analysis, promoting honest practices and stimulating a love of learning. I do hope I can finally reach that objectives before my career as a professor is ended.

mcclintock & don carlos, tempe