Intro (On So Many Levels)

We figured out the school thing, but choosing groups was messy.  I guess that's true no matter where you teach, and I think that only one student was upset about a) WHO is in her group and b) WHERE her group decided to go.  I thanked her at the end of class for her flexibility which was a way of saying it would be nice if she COULD BE flexible because she seemed to be on the verge of really NOT being flexible.  This preemptive form of positive reinforcement is one that I've been using in my teaching for years.  Middle school students were usually quite receptive, but I can't say yet how it's going to fly with  your average liberal arts college student.

Mostly, I'm Terrified

I start teaching on Tuesday at my alma mater, Carleton College.  When I began there as a student over sixteen years ago (SIXTEEN YEARS AGO?!?), I felt rather certain that I had landed there by some mistake of destiny and that I didn't actually fit amid the crowd of super-achiever and smarty-pants students.  Naturally, I am feeling the same way about teaching there as a visiting instructor in education.

As a student, I got over the feeling of not fitting there and found Carleton to be the most perfect school for my interests and ideas and for shaping who I would become -- and continue to become -- in the world.

I am doing my best to trust that it will once again challenge me in all the right and important ways as I develop who I'll be as a professor too.