Catching up....F16W7-Finals, W17

Wow, I really let this go, didn't I? Here's a quick catch-up....

During week 7, my 215 students took their osteology practicum. Most of them did quite well. There were even a few perfect or close to perfect scores. We ran the test three times for the regular students and once for the special needs students. We changed a few labels between the sections to minimize cheating. 

In Osteo 520, we finished up the skull bones and started talking about the history of Forensic Anthropology and dentition on lecture days and reviewed bones on lab days. I spent some time on the weekends in lab studying as well. 

My apartment was very lonely without Grace and Smudge. Kelly did come visit me for the weekend. It was the last one that he could because he started back to work on November 14th. 

For week 8's lab, 215 students made comparisons between Australopithecines including Lucy, Ardi, P. boisei, KNM-ER 1813 vs. KNM-ER 1470 and H. habilis. They compared skulls, feet and ox coxae. 

In Osteo, we had our bone practicum. There were 33 stations for a total of 99 questions. I didn't get the top grade, but I did well. I can side fibulas in my sleep now. 

I went home for the weekend for my friend Cameron's funeral. 

My 215 students looked at the changed in Homo skulls for week 9's lab. They compared size and shape of cranium,  relative size and shape of the supraorbital torus (brow ridge),  flat (orthognathous) or projecting (prognathous) lower face,  relative amount of postorbital constriction,  shape and size of nuchal (occipital) torus,  size of mastoid process (large or small) and  cheek teeth vs. incisors/canines sizes and chin present or receding for H. erectus, h. heidelbergensis, early moderns and Neandertals. 

In Osteo 520, we received the boxes (body bags) of bones for our forensic anthro assignment. Our box contained the partial skeletal remains of 3 individuals. Our task was to determine everything we could about the individuals (age, sex, pathologies, cause of death, etc.) and write up a forensic report detailing our findings. 

At the end of this week, I sat in on a class with a special guest speaker. It was Bill Belcher, WWU alumni and the deputy director of the DPAA (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency). He works out of West Oahu identifying missing service members. It was a great lecture. 

There were no labs for 215 during week 10. My lab partners and I worked on our forensic assignment for Osteo before I left on Tuesday to go home for Thanksgiving. Wednesday was shopping and pie making day. I went back to WWU on Sunday. 

Week 10 in 215 was my favorite week. It was the forensics lab. The students worked on determining sex from skulls and os coxae, age from tooth eruption and epiphyseal closure, looked at some neat bone pathologies (syphillic skull cap!) and determined stature from the femur and tibia. It's a fun lab, The students got to see how hard it can be to determine sex from just a skull. 

In Osteo, we finished up our forensic report. On Wednesday of this week, I fell down the stairs outside my dorm and broke my tailbone and bruised my sacroiliac junction. I still got up, got on the bus and went to class. Too much to do the week before finals. (I chose not to ride my bike this day so I wouldn't be soaked because it was pouring. Then I fall down the stairs and end up soaked and muddy anyway.) 

The end of week 10 was pretty busy. I gave a presentation on my thesis to my Osteo class. It went really well. I felt quite comfortable up there. It was miles better than the first presentation I gave on it during winter quarter the year before. On Friday evening, the first year grads hosted the Anthro Departments Winterfest party. A group of us ended up downtown to dance at bar. It was fun. I spent the rest of the weekend washing laundry and packing to move back home. 

Week 11 was finals week. On Monday, I helped administer the final for the 215 students. Sitting in the front of a lecture hall is a great place to observe all of the faces that students make while they take their test. Some of them are quite comical. 

I packed my car on Monday and moved out of my dorm at noon on Tuesday. My former roommate Crystal brought me gluten free donuts because she is that awesome and I started my long drive home. 

That was it for Fall quarter 2017. 

Winter quarter 2017 started in January. I am taking a one credit class (Research Mentorship) and three thesis credits. I Skype in to class at noon every Tuesday. I haven't written any pages for my thesis yet, but I have done a bit of reading and research. The snow is starting to melt, so that means I can get started on data collection again soon. I still hope to defend my thesis in the fall, but it could be winter. It all depends on how data collection and stats go.