Here at UT, today was the last day of final exams for the term. All that is left for some is to finish grading and submit final grades. That is one of the nice things about teaching is that when a semester is over, it usually really is over. There are rarely lots of loose ends to deal with, except for the occasional incomplete.
So, once it is done, most of us have 2-6 weeks to decompress and prepare for the next round. What do you do with the time? Catch up on research? Clean your office? Deal with other administrative tasks you’ve put off, “until you had time?” Start revamping your courses based on the lessons learned this term? Run for the hills for a while? Introduce yourself to familial relations who’ve shared your home but not your time for the last three months? Hibernate? Some mélange of the above?
