I conquered the first week - by God's grace and the prayers of many, many people. Thank you so much to all of my prayer warriors! I could not have made it without you.
Convocation was held Monday, followed by the opening of school Mass. Our new Vice President for Academic Affairs delivered the convocation address, and gave us a little background on himself and his vision for the University. Before coming to the University he taught political science, including diplomacy, democracy, and terrorism at University of Illinois. He quipped that such a background might seem irrelevant to his present position, but that if students contemplated cheating or plagiarizing then they should know he is well-versed in interrogation tactics.
Classes began Tuesday. I was very nervous (although I was spared the dreaded back-to-school dreams), but my students are wonderful, passionate, friendly, and attentive. Or so they seem after two classes! Three classes met on Tuesday, and by 3:30 (the end of my last class) I could hardly hold my eyes open. Only one class met on Wednesday, but all week I've struggled with exhaustion. I hope that after I get the first two or three weeks under my belt that I'll manage my energy a little better.
The class that comes most naturally to me is "Teaching in a High School Classroom." Sixteen students are enrolled in this class, two more are sitting in, and several others have begged me to offer it again next semester. On the first day, I invited students to introduce themselves and tell why they are taking the class. I giggled to myself as about 13 of them said they've wanted to teach since they were little (just like me!) and they're in the class to learn how. Only a few of them said they weren't sure about teaching and they were hoping the class would help them decide. I think I will really enjoy that class - I feel relaxed and in my element there.
The other two classes challenge me more, though in an enjoyable way. I teach two sections of a class called "Content & Curriculum." In this class students learn how to present Church doctrine. They write some lesson plans and get their first try at writing a short curriculum. The class very systematically analyzes the doctrine. "Systematic" is not exactly my middle name, so while I really enjoy this material I am challenged by how to present it!
The other class I teach is Methods. I am more comfortable with this material; it is a small class and they will be doing presentations the entire second half of the semester. If I can just make it to October 20...
I love my students and love my colleagues. Everyone has warmly welcomed me and placed themselves completely at my service. I'm enjoying being back on campus amid the buzz of college life. I've seen a few of my former high school students on campus and that's helped ease some of my homesickness.
My biggest challenge at this point is time. I set for myself the goal of planning one lesson per day. Then I realized that (except for the "Teaching High School" class) I can't plan a lesson in one day. There is too much background reading to do, too much material to manage. Then I realized that I have 7 different lessons to plan per week. Then a colleague mentioned that he will have 1600 pages of grading to do this semester, not counting midterm & final exams. "Oh no," I thought. "I didn't count how many pages of grading I even assigned. I only know I have 7 assignments per class. That's 28 assignments. From 66 students. And 28x66 is higher math that I'm afraid to calculate. I only know that I'M NEVER GOING TO GET IT ALL DONE! AAACK!" (Visualize me freaking out. Go ahead. You can do it. You've all seen it before.)
This morning I had to give myself a good talking to, and remind myself that the goal of the first year is to survive. I had to pray and be reminded that "I can do all things through Him that strengthens me." And He showed me that, in a way, I am walking on water - and I will not sink as long as I keep my eyes on Him rather than the human impossibility of this task.
So please continue to pray for me! And please know that you are not far from my thoughts or prayers. I know I haven't been in touch with some of you since I moved, and I am sorry about that. I miss you, and I hope to touch base with you soon.
Right now, I'm going to go walk on water.
In this case, I don't think it's a good idea to look at the big picture! You would have been equally overwhelmed to think about how much grading/planning/time was going to go into teaching high school. Day by day! (Maybe I just don't want to think about how much work is in front of me at the beginning of this year!) You'll fall into a rhythm before you know it, and it will all seem natural again. And then you'll become a jazzercise instructor just to have something new to do :)
ReplyDeleteGood point! Let's see...I used to give about 4 assignments per week, had about 120 students, which was about 480 pages of grading per week (really?!)...OK, I see what you mean! "Day by day" should become my new motto. Thanks for the pep talk!
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