Celts to Vikings: the End

Last night was the last meeting of my Celts to Vikings class. Teaching this class was the most fun I have ever had teaching, and I am sad it is over. My students were great, and about half of them really got into this material. It was a great experience.

I am also a little relieved, because I have been wearing myself out getting ready for class and driving back and forth to Frederick, and I need a rest. I haven't posted much in the past two weeks because I have been racing through 8th and 9th century Europe, without time to dwell on cool topics on the way I did for earlier parts of the course. I am not satisfied with the way this section went, and I would do it differently next time. I hope there is a next time. I have loved this material for thirty years, but in teaching it I have learned much, much more about it. I have read or reread fifty books and dozens of articles, looked at hundreds of pictures. I have thought over things in new ways, sought new ways to explain them.

I love teaching medieval history, Hood College is a great place to teach, and I very much hope I will back there soon.