First Day of Teaching: January 17, 2007

My teaching schedule is basically 12:20 - 4:30 on Wednesday and Friday, and 12:20 - 2:40 on Monday. It definitely sounds easier than the old 8:15 - 3:30, 5 days a week when I taught elementary school. In some respects it's just as much work. But it sure is nice to have one whole day (or weekend) before each teaching day to get ready! Of course, there's a ton of work up front to get ready for the semester. In elementary school teaching you can make up your lesson plans a week at a time and sometimes a day at a time. In college, everyone expects you to lay out all 16 weeks up front. I've been stalling on that part. I don't want to commit to a plan that I figure out after the first week isn't going to work. But I do hope to finish up the syllabi this weekend.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, I taught Block 1 for 1 hour 10 minutes, then had Block 2 for 1 hour 10 minutes, then had 10 minutes to pack up (which takes longer when you have to put on your big coat and gloves et.al) and get to the next building. Then I taught my EDU 101 class for 1 hour 40 minutes. It was a whirlwind to remember what time each class began and end and where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to be covering. Three preps is pretty wild.

So how did it go? Well, if I had remembered earlier in the day to take off my snow boots and put on my regular shoes, I think my feet wouldn't have hurt so much at the end of it. Did the students do a good job and stay engaged? Yes. In all 3 classes. I came out just about right time-wise in the first 2 classes. In EDU 101, I was done with what I had planned to cover in an hour and I had 40 minutes to go. Well, I'm not one to let anyone out early, so I vamped on an activity that I was planning to do later in the semester. It wasn't totally thought out but I knew the basics of what I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it, and what the end product should look like. Praise God for 21 years classroom experience plus 18 sections of CECS 4100 over the years . . . I pulled it off. It went really well and the students (except those who read this blog posting) will never know.

I think I like this college professor life. :-)