Listen to what you've got
In 12 short hours, I will be just about finishing up going over my syllabus in class and starting in on the topic of the semester. Now that I think about it- it is the actual FIRST class of the semester. 8am on Monday morning!
Grad students full on teaching classes doesn't happen every day around my department so I am very very thankful for the opportunity I have been given (and for the new faculty who negotiated a semester off to set up his lab).
The one condition was that my advisor must sit in on classes. He didn't mind because sitting in saves him the work of actually teaching it which seems to have been the other option. His presence makes me more nervous than the 30-or-so students though! And the chair of the department said he was planning on stopping by in the morning as well. Grrreeeeaaatttt!
The weirdest thing about the whole arrangement is that I have to explain why the advisor is there without having it undermine any confidence the students might have in me. That and I have to tell them to call me Ms. Fish. Which is weird. I am not Professor or Dr. and if it were a lab I would have them call me Dancing. It just doesn't seem best for this situation though and all parties queried agree that Ms. Fish is best so Ms. Fish it is.
Just now as I have been working on lectures for the entire weekend am I understanding why everyone keeps asking why I agreed to this. I mean, I knew it was a big time investment but damn, it is a BIG time investment. Hopefully as I get rolling with lectures, the learning curve will kick in and time per lecture will decrease. hehe he.
Today my break was to go shopping. I needed at least one pair of jeans that fit and more non-t-shirt tops. I think I picked out my first day outfit- grey slacks and either a button down or a nice v-neck knit shirt (ok, technically it is a t-shirt but not in the band t-shirt sort of way. No words or anything!). Don't want to go too overboard on the formal even if it is the first day. Totally wearing the awesome-est shoes I own though.
While I can distract myself with shoes and try to ignore my nerves, I just keep coming back to the thought that I really hope I do a good job and the students learn a lot.
Grad students full on teaching classes doesn't happen every day around my department so I am very very thankful for the opportunity I have been given (and for the new faculty who negotiated a semester off to set up his lab).
The one condition was that my advisor must sit in on classes. He didn't mind because sitting in saves him the work of actually teaching it which seems to have been the other option. His presence makes me more nervous than the 30-or-so students though! And the chair of the department said he was planning on stopping by in the morning as well. Grrreeeeaaatttt!
The weirdest thing about the whole arrangement is that I have to explain why the advisor is there without having it undermine any confidence the students might have in me. That and I have to tell them to call me Ms. Fish. Which is weird. I am not Professor or Dr. and if it were a lab I would have them call me Dancing. It just doesn't seem best for this situation though and all parties queried agree that Ms. Fish is best so Ms. Fish it is.
Just now as I have been working on lectures for the entire weekend am I understanding why everyone keeps asking why I agreed to this. I mean, I knew it was a big time investment but damn, it is a BIG time investment. Hopefully as I get rolling with lectures, the learning curve will kick in and time per lecture will decrease. hehe he.
Today my break was to go shopping. I needed at least one pair of jeans that fit and more non-t-shirt tops. I think I picked out my first day outfit- grey slacks and either a button down or a nice v-neck knit shirt (ok, technically it is a t-shirt but not in the band t-shirt sort of way. No words or anything!). Don't want to go too overboard on the formal even if it is the first day. Totally wearing the awesome-est shoes I own though.
While I can distract myself with shoes and try to ignore my nerves, I just keep coming back to the thought that I really hope I do a good job and the students learn a lot.
Labels: teaching
posted by DancingFish at 8:19 PM
2 Comments:
I bet the shoes are green!!!
I actually found that my students couldn't care less about my advisors sitting in on my classes. I'd just point them out to the class by saying that we had a "visitor" and leave it at that. If they were a nice group of kids, I might explain the situation before hand, but usually I left it vague and they were on their best behavior because they thought maybe the prof was there to observe THEM.
Good luck teaching! I know this won't help much, but it really really isn't as terrifying as it seems. Unrewarding (somtimes) and time consuming? Yes. But not terrifying.
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