Three Things Teaching Thursday

It’s week nine of the semester already and this is when things start to “get real” (whatever that means) for my students and myself. In light of that, it seems like a good time for a “Three Things Teaching Thursday.”

But before I get to the three things, there’s a preamble. My students this semester are among the best I’ve ever had. Not only are they well prepared, but they’re energetic, positive, and collegial. If I were a college football commentator I would praise my students for their “professionalism.”

Now on to the three things:

Thing the First

I teach a survey of World History as a night class. The class is almost entirely freshman. At the beginning of the class, I promise them three things. First, if they come to $@#%ing class, they’ll find this class comparatively little work outside of the class session. In other words, this is a low homework class. Second, if they come to $#@%ing class, the class will become easier over the course of the semester. Because they’ll they get better at “doing history,” this class won’t be particularly challenging over the last month of the semester when the rest of their classes start to put pressure on their time and bandwidth. Finally, the hardest thing about being a students sometimes is just showing up. 

For the first time last night, I began to see the first semester freshman begin to crack a bit. Their energy level was lower than usual, their focus was not there, and attendance was spotty at best. Two months of living independently (for most of them) had begun to take its toll and combine with the stress and challenges of college to leave them depleted and a bit rattled. This is really when they have to make the decision whether to push on through.

Thing the Second

I rarely travel during the semester, but this year, I have two conferences in November that will take me out of the classroom. This means that November, which is often a mess because of the annual ASOR meeting and Thanksgiving is now even more of a mess. 

The good news is that post-COVID, I have developed the habit of creating super detailed worksheets for every assignment that should walk students through what they need to do even if I’m not standing in front of them every day. I also suspect that this cohort of students still retain some of their COVID-classroom habits that relied on their ability to manage their time, priorities, and attention span.  

Thing the Third

Finally, this time of year, I start to plan my spring semester courses. To my chagrin, I somehow have two new preps next semester (or at least one new prep stretched over two courses). I’m going to make a major adjustment to my historical methods class and I’m dusting off a Byzantine History course to teach as a “Medieval Civilization” class. 

Both of these classes are going to require new books and that has to happen in the next week or so… so stay tuned!