I've been meaning for a while to talk about the upcoming semester, and I'm going to take the opportunity here. This will be a long post, and probably boring to those of you not in academia, but you won't offend me if you don't read it.
I've got a lot on my plate this semester:
- I'm teaching two sections of Calc II. I taught Calc II this fall for the first time in a long time, and made a big long list of things to do better the next time. Well, this is the next time, and I really do want to make some changes. And I certainly don't have the material down well enough that I can show up unprepared. It's going to be a lot of prep work, and a lot of grading.
- I'm teaching Abstract Algebra. Abstract Algebra is a fun subject, but it's very, well, abstract, and not all the students share my enthusiasm for it. This is the fourth time I've taught it in the last five years, so the prep work won't be that extensive, and the class only has eight students (! Last spring I started at about 20!) so it won't be that much grading. But I know that it will mean a lot of students in my office hours, because it always does. (And I know some of the students, and a few of them are the kind who come in fairly often.)
- I'm team teaching a course in leadership, of all things. This is one of those responsibilities that somehow snuck up on me. A year and a half ago, I attended a workshop where they charged us to go back to our own campus and make a difference. After kicking around some of the ways that we could make a difference, we settled on this course. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Actually, I think it is a good idea, and I'm excited to see what we can make of it. But I'm not used to team teaching, and I barely know more about leadership than the students, so I'll have to work hard to keep up.
- I'm leading an independent study on game theory. I just hope that it's a really, really independent independent study. The student involved is very bright and hard working, so I jumped at the chance to do an independent study with him, but in retrospect, perhaps I should have said, "No."
- We're hiring, as I've mentioned before. That means I'll have to meet with candidates, attend their talks, take them to lunch and to dinner. Not me alone, of course, but I'll have to do my share. One of my colleagues was gently chiding us today because last time, it always seemed to be the same people who went out to dinner with the candidate. So I'll have to make time to do that.
- I have my usual bundle of committees, subcommittees, advising, etc.
All in all, it fills me with a faint dread just thinking about it. I know that there will be lots of things about this semester that I will like, but I also know that there will be times when I just wish it was over.
The semester actually doesn't start until January 22nd. I have the impression that many schools have started, but not ours. So I have one more week of dread, before I jump into the deep end.
technorati tag: teaching-carnival
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