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First Quarter

We are approaching our Fall Break, with midterm grades due this month, so we are in several ways approaching the end of the first quarter of the academic year.

I am very used to teaching semester classes and would not want to teach on the quarter system; having said that the quarter system has always been a useful model for me, given that the amount of work I do in academia varies predictably through the year.

The first quarter has a lot of start-up costs that are minimal, but can be daunting in how very many there are.

The first quarter has the excitement of the new; the possibility of improving on past performance or the ability to log new experiences.

Some folk mistakenly try to sprint through the first quarter, despite knowing that the pace can not be sustained until the finish. Many students withdraw, more so now in my experience than in the Spring. In the excitement of the new beginning it is easy to misassess your own limits.

For those folk who see a bigger picture, now is when plans for the Spring are made real, through planning and commitment.

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