Le Sigh.

I'm gonna have to give some students the beat-down about academic writing tomorrow.

Here's a tip: When you're asked to write, say, two pages, and the professor specifies that that means two pages of text, don't turn in one page (with a 5-inch header) and then three lines on a second page. Two pages [does not equal] two sheets. You might not like it, but there is a difference.

Evidently the five-minute lecture I gave on this subject last week didn't take. Oh well.

On the other hand, my upper-level class went great today. I was really nervous going into it, for some reason--more nervous than I've been since the first day of the semester, all of eight days ago. I'd prepared pretty well, but I figured out in my survey yesterday that things actually do go better when I don't stick to a detailed plan. A couple of students asked some good questions yesterday, and we ended up having an actual discussion that lasted 20 or so minutes (about half the class); this was vastly more interesting, I'm sure, than having me work through the text with them in the more Socratic method I'd been using. So for the upper-level class today I decided that I needed to get them into a more topic-based discussion, rather than focusing on explaining what's going on in the text (which could be confusing, but they seem to be getting it) or working through it sequentially. Of course, this meant relinquishing a lot of control over the discussion.... And lo! It worked really well. I also hardly needed to refer to my notes--because I'd taken a lot of time to prep, unfortunately--and ended the class before I'd exhausted my list of things to talk about. Virtually everyone in the class spoke, too, which was a rare and delightful treat.

And, in all fairness, some of the paper-writers in the lower-level course did put in a sincere effort, for which they shall be rewarded. But to the others I can say only this: Your slack does not go unnoticed. Nor shall it go unpunished.

Or unremarked. Tomorrow I'll be lecturing on what constitutes a "page."

That's Right, I'm Looking Forward to It

So it's still two+ weeks until the JIL comes out. Why am I so excited about it? Is it just the ability to fantasize more concretely about the various possibilities?

This is a dangerous thing, and evidently last year taught me nothing. Getting too excited about jobs that you haven't even applied for yet--well, it only ends in tears. Nonetheless, I'm already eagerly perusing the Chronicle job list every day (nothing much yet, fellow medievalistas). No, I don't enjoy actually applying for the jobs, but I do enjoy reading about them. Go figure.

I would say that I'm excited because I feel like I have a better shot on the market this year, but a) how good a "shot" one has is entirely unpredictable, and b) I was just as excited last year, with virtually no teaching experience and the Ph.D. not yet in-hand. So whatever.

I guess I just like novelty?

Evidence

I went for a walk this evening. I thought that, since I profess to be professing in the middle of the fields, I ought to at least go have a look at them. Right?

I set out, heading East. The following picture was taken two blocks from my front door:


It is quite beautiful here. The broad views are relaxing and easy on the eye; the fields undulate, in fact. See:


That picture doesn't show the undulating off to its fullest effect, but you get the idea.

This is a country that's built for long afternoon shadows and the hazy August sun. The days here feel long, perhaps because there's nothing much to do. Aside from prepping one's classes. But you know, I've kind of decided that I've done enough of that for one weekend? Maybe tonight I'll try to take a bite out of my accumulated Netflix.

Feeling the Love

So we're three days into the semester. Time to take stock.

In general: This is a good place. The students--by and large--seem pretty fabulous. Probably a mixed bag academically (I'm just guessing here, based on the school's reputation and facilities), but there already seem to be some very smart, articulate, engaged kids in my classes. While comp is a bit of a drag--it's required; they're freshmen; I'm not really sure what I'm doing yet--both the survey and the upper-level course look to be a lot of fun. We had our first "real" survey class yesterday, and I don't think I've ever had a group of students more willing and eager to share their responses and ideas. They really liked The Lament of the Female-Spouse (title reworded to evade googling), which had me a little nervous, since it's not an easy poem and they might've found it impenetrable. But no: even though they weren't sure what was going on in the poem (hell, I'm not sure either), they found it very emotionally evocative and powerful. One woman mentioned that her boyfriend is currently serving in Iraq, and the poem reminded her that other people in other times have been in situations similar to hers. Since I figure one of the goals of this course* is to get students to care about earlier literature and to see it as in some way relevant to their own lives, this felt like a good little moment.

(*In addition to teaching them the content and generating a little pack of extraordinary literary critics, of course.)

The upper-level course hasn't had a real session yet (just a 45-minute intro/exercise on Thursday), but I think that it'll be good. There are only 12 students, and they definitely give the impression of being among the smarter ones at Field College (the course description probably contributed to a certain amount of self-selecting). I opened class with a question that I was afraid would backfire--"Why study [the content of this course]?"--and immediately 5 hands went up. And they had good things to say! So I'm looking forward to that one.

I've also had several students approach me, either in person or via email, just to talk about their interests (the ones that are related to course material, that is). One of the great things about this little tiny college is that the students are obviously very comfortable with the faculty. Since I was pretty much terrified of professors as an undergrad--hell, for most of my time as a grad student, too--this attitude impresses me.

Then this morning I went to the library book sale (I could write a whole post about the Field Town Festival this morning; I swear I'm living in 1957), and ran into one of the women in my survey course. We chatted for a bit and I asked her her major--she made several good contributions in class yesterday, and I thought she was probably an English major. "Creative writing," she said, "but after going to your class, I'm thinking I might want to switch to literature." !!! I almost wept. Well, not really. But I was pretty happy.

So yes. The students, they are awesome. Mostly. If only I could figure out how to get myself loving the comp....

Anonymity: An Announcement!

I've thought about this for a while, but put it off and vacillated and waffled around. However, there's something about the semester actually starting and feeling like I'm really in my job that makes this seem like the right time to take action:

I'm changing my blog ID.

The old one is just too thin (not to mention uninteresting). I signed up with blogger ages ago, way before I ever dreamed I'd have a blog at all. But the time is right for a change. Henceforth, drawing from my email name, my blogging ID will be "heu mihi." (For a short time, I will keep the old name in parentheses in order to avoid confusion.)

That is that. I feel safer now. Secure.

So Wait, I Have to Do This Again?

Oh, I'm tired. So tired.

Didn't sleep all that well last night, in part because it was hot, in part because there's a scary spider living outside my front door (no really), and in part because I was probably a little on edge about my very first day as a real-live professor. And then I got up early to get ready, so that was that.

Assessment of my first day: It was fine. Neither earth-shatteringly great nor earth-shatteringly terrible. My first class was comp, and I was a little nervous, which I think showed in my super-fast talking and a bit of fumbling with words in the first few minutes of class. Second section of comp was much smoother, although it's populated almost entirely by the football team and cheerleading squad, which could go either way (an enhanced sense of community? a more coherent rebellion against the prof? only time will tell). The afternoon's survey course, though, was a lot of fun--or at any rate I had fun. This was maybe the first time I've taught a class in my actual area, and I loved being able to follow students' questions and digress now and again. Also I introduced them all to Old English for the very first time, which was a lot of fun; like all medievalists, I suspect, I love disabusing people of the idea that Shakespeare wrote in Old English.

I need to work on a way to make comp livelier, though. Required courses can be death, death and doom. Hm. The fact that it's the course I'm least excited about probably doesn't help.

Tomorrow I have my upper-level course and that is it. And then--oh god, and then they all meet again, don't they?

One day down, one million to go....

Impressions

The convocation ceremony was nice--not too long, and it had a pleasant, happy atmosphere. I also really enjoyed wearing my robes, which were generally felt to be the coolest-looking: most of the faculty were in the standard black, and openly admitted to their robe envy. I knew that $800 was well-spent.

I met one of my students today: he's a senior who'll be taking my upper-level course, and he's frighteningly smart and well-read. He's already read most of the books we'll be studying, in fact. And he's been reading Middle English for fun (not the topic of the course), but wants some help with learning to pronounce it correctly; I volunteered to help him out. I think it'll be interesting having him in class.

But I have three classes tomorrow, and the preps aren't quite done....