Made It (Again)
I’ve still got some loose ends to tie up and I haven’t yet officially submitted my grades, but for all intents and purposes, I’m done; I’ve survived another school year.
“Survived” is, of course, just a manner of speaking; at no time, in my occupation as Philosophy instructor at Cascadia Community College during the last nine months was I really at risk of dying; and the one time when I might have been in any actual physical danger—during the blizzard on the trail back in December—was between home and school, not in the classroom.
This makes five years I’ve been a fulltime college teacher; I’m not sure I’m getting any better at it, although there were a few high points this time around.
My Philosophical Ethics class in winter quarter might have been the most intellectually stimulating course I’ve taught in my career; the students were really into the material and the questions they asked of me about the stuff we were reading were probably the most sophisticated I’ve had to field.
I really enjoyed the Philosophy for Children class at the UW this year; that’s primarily because I was able to bring college students together with middle-schoolers. This seems a model for real learning; I’d like to figure out how to do more of this in the future.
The most stressful part of my job these last 10 months has been being Faculty Assembly facilitator. Over time, I’ve gotten pretty good at leading discussions with students; I’ve still got a lot to learn about managing the voices and egos of highly-trained professional educators. Fortunately, I don’t have to do that next year; instead, I get to be one of the difficult-to-manage egos myself.
When I was a teaching assistant, I always used to dance around with my arms in the air and sing the theme song from “Rocky” when I finished my grading.
I guess I’m still a grad student at heart: da-da-daah, da-da-daah…
“Survived” is, of course, just a manner of speaking; at no time, in my occupation as Philosophy instructor at Cascadia Community College during the last nine months was I really at risk of dying; and the one time when I might have been in any actual physical danger—during the blizzard on the trail back in December—was between home and school, not in the classroom.
This makes five years I’ve been a fulltime college teacher; I’m not sure I’m getting any better at it, although there were a few high points this time around.
My Philosophical Ethics class in winter quarter might have been the most intellectually stimulating course I’ve taught in my career; the students were really into the material and the questions they asked of me about the stuff we were reading were probably the most sophisticated I’ve had to field.
I really enjoyed the Philosophy for Children class at the UW this year; that’s primarily because I was able to bring college students together with middle-schoolers. This seems a model for real learning; I’d like to figure out how to do more of this in the future.
The most stressful part of my job these last 10 months has been being Faculty Assembly facilitator. Over time, I’ve gotten pretty good at leading discussions with students; I’ve still got a lot to learn about managing the voices and egos of highly-trained professional educators. Fortunately, I don’t have to do that next year; instead, I get to be one of the difficult-to-manage egos myself.
When I was a teaching assistant, I always used to dance around with my arms in the air and sing the theme song from “Rocky” when I finished my grading.
I guess I’m still a grad student at heart: da-da-daah, da-da-daah…
posted by Professor Dave at 4:49 PM
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