Geddes Mission: Loved Teaching. . .Hated Grading!

Ask any retired teacher if they miss their job and you almost always hear the same thing: "What I really miss the most is being around the students". But ask them if there is anything they don't miss, somewhere in the long list you will probably hear "grading". This is certainly the feeling for both of us after 40+ years of university teaching. We loved teaching, but hated giving grades. After a semester of working with a student, especially one who is trying very hard but not succeeding very well, it can be agonizingly difficult to sum it all up with one letter. And this is especially complicated when you realize that one student's "C" is often a better grade than another student's "A"!

We both wondered if retirement would leave a big hole where the students used to be. But coming right out of our final summer break as professors and starting our fall "semester" as missionaries, we didn't lose a beat as far as being with the "students" is concerned. And the best part of all: We don't have to give grades!!!

Yesterday, we started our morning with quiche and waffles for 13 young missionaries in our apartment. And after breakfast, the "class" on how to read a gothic cathedral began. After "class", there was a field trip to old Lyon to see Saint-Jean gothic cathedral. At the end, we all went for a bowl of Pho at a local Vietnamese restaurant. And later in the evening, we had family home evening with the Lyon Stake single young adults.

A great day being with our "students": and NO GRADING! But they would have all gotten "A's" if there had been grades.

Sœur Geddes made some great quiche and waffles with Nutella...look at those smiles! Looks kind of funny with all the elders seated with the sœurs standing, but the sisters ate first and then the guys just cleaned up at the end.