I Teach
This blog is a place for me to debrief myself after my classes. It will serve both as a place for venting and as an archive for what worked and didn't work for me. I welcome outsider comments about teaching techniques or anything else.Thursday, December 01, 2005
Last Class (sort of)
So there's only one more class left in the semester. Next Tuesday we do a wrap up/review which I have a pretty cool idea for but I don't want to say anything cause I know Jess will jinx it. Then, next Thursday I'm going to have extended office hours before and during when we would normally have class, because they have a big (12 page) paper assignment that they'll get in class on Tuesday. I offered my students extra credit for filling out the evaluation forms and I'll be happy to post the results here for all to see, so make sure and check back sometime in January.
I was pretty happy with class today. I don't know if professors/teachers always feel this way, but I certainly feel that the semester is ending just as I'm really beginning to find my comfort level both as an instructor and with this group of students in particular. Of course, that could be due, in part, to the fact that the semester is coming to an end. I think both parties (students and faculty) act different toward the end of the semester. Students aren't as guarded and generally more willing to speak up, and instructors typically seem less controlling. But of course maybe those two things are directly related. AHHHHH. Too many variables. And of course, that's the beauty of endeavors like teaching. They take on a life of their own.
I can't tell you how happy I am to have made it through this (almost) without completely imploding. Knowing exactly how long a semester is from a teaching standpoint means that next time I think I'll be willing to take even more chances than I did this time. I was so worried about taking chances early on becaue in my mind, the semester ended sometime just short of my 80th birthday and if things went horribly wrong I was stuck in that situation until then. But in fact, that's not true. The semester does come to an end.
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I was pretty happy with class today. I don't know if professors/teachers always feel this way, but I certainly feel that the semester is ending just as I'm really beginning to find my comfort level both as an instructor and with this group of students in particular. Of course, that could be due, in part, to the fact that the semester is coming to an end. I think both parties (students and faculty) act different toward the end of the semester. Students aren't as guarded and generally more willing to speak up, and instructors typically seem less controlling. But of course maybe those two things are directly related. AHHHHH. Too many variables. And of course, that's the beauty of endeavors like teaching. They take on a life of their own.
I can't tell you how happy I am to have made it through this (almost) without completely imploding. Knowing exactly how long a semester is from a teaching standpoint means that next time I think I'll be willing to take even more chances than I did this time. I was so worried about taking chances early on becaue in my mind, the semester ended sometime just short of my 80th birthday and if things went horribly wrong I was stuck in that situation until then. But in fact, that's not true. The semester does come to an end.
> 2 comments
