More Teaching
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I realize this is rapidly becoming my teaching diary, but teaching is sorta what I’m doing with my life at the moment, so bear with me. At any rate, I actually started lecturing on Monday and, as I suspected might happen, I covered the material much faster than I intended to. And I thought I actually did a good job of not just wildly rushing through the material, but instead asking them questions as I went along and attempting to provide real-world examples of things as I went through the concepts, but I’m going to try to move even slower when we start the next chapter. The teaching has gone pretty well on the whole, though I know I can definitely still use some improvement as an instructor too. There have been a couple of those dreaded moments that I hated when I was a student where I briefly did part of an example wrong and had to correct myself. But, considering that I’ve only done three lectures in my life, I honestly think I’ve done really well. Oh, and a student in my evening Microsoft Excel class actually signed up for my morning Office Accounting class! Granted, this is probably because I seem young and easy, not because I seem like a good teacher, but it was cool either way.
The evening Microsoft Excel class is by far the easiest money I’ve ever made. I feel a bit bad about it because it makes me feel lazy, but basically the nature of the course dictates that the students just work through the projects during class time and I am there to help them if they have problems. And, considering the book pretty explicitly explains how to do the assignments, there aren’t many problems. I got a total of 4 questions in my first class. It’s a two hour class. That’s a lot of time of me sitting around and surfing the net . . .
Also, although I think things are certainly going well on the whole, my students can certainly be frustrating. Keep in mind, I’m teaching at a two-year trade school and not exactly an institution of higher learning, so I’m trying to temper my expectations as much as possible. Scenarios like the following unfold in my class quite a bit:
“Ok, so remember everyone, an asset is anything that you own. Land is an asset, investments are an asset, cash is an asset, accounts receivable are an asset. Ok, Stephanie, you take this next example. What is land?”
“A liability?”
Ha! I had to laugh at the last part. If an instructor had asked me that, in any sort of classroom setting, I probably would’ve given them a weird look and asked if it was a trick question.
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Oh yes, she definitely wants in your pants.
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Did you laugh? I think I missed some stupid problems in my test today. Ugh. I hope I didn’t fail.
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oh god! hahaha. welcome to my world. and i totally understand the part about covering the material and suddenly realizing there is a lot of class time left. i usually launch into a game i’ve made up, but you, mr. lecturer don’t have that option. it takes a while to learn how to teach. i don’t think it is something that comes naturally.
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Matt, Don’t worry; you will get better at the teaching! It takes practice like anything else. You will get a rhythm down. As for expectations, yes, even if you think you know not to have high expectations, the illusion still gets shattered like fragile glass. Actually, some of my students surprised me with their work ethic and smartness. So, there are still a few cookies to have high expectations for…but not the entire bunch. If that’s the case, you’re setting yourself up for major disappointment!
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RYN: I wanted to know if you were jerking my chain that you were appalled that I subscribed to Bitch magazine. If you don’t know, Bitch magazine is a feminist magazine with written articles on popular culture. I subscribed to it because they have good writers and discuss relevant issues in their writings. However, since their customer service wasn’t all that grade, it makes me turnoff in not wanting to purchase the magazine again…. And if you were wondering why a feminist magazine would name themselves Bitch, it’s because they took the name, claimed it, and made it empowering. I know that sounds confusing…and I am sure while you’re reading this, you think that’s bullshit, but I would never subscribe to a magazine that would degrade women. ~Sophia
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RYN: Matt, I hope that I didn’t sound like a bitch in my note last night. I re-read it and realized that the tone of it might not have been friendly. When I was writing that, I was no way feeling it. I just didn’t want you to think that I was some crazy chick who subscribed to a magazine that degraded women. I couldn’t tell if you were or weren’t joking because sometimes when people write,it’s a bit tricky to me to pin point if they are joking or not. That’s why I come to them and ask… I was tired, too, when I wrote that note…I wished that I would have responded better. Jonathan and I went to his sister’s and fiance’s crib to watch Lost and bitch about stuff. So, it was late when we returned and wrote that note. Anyway, I hope all is well, my friend! ~Sophia
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Sounds like a RIGHT nice job!
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ryn: tony and I are together but I am tiring of some of his behaviors. normally i wouldn’t go out with a guy but ross impressed me so much that i couldn’t help it. i’ve since talked to him. he had a fantastic reason for not replying or talking to me and we made plans for this weekend. in any case, i think things are going well and i’m hoping something will make sense eventually.
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RYN: Actually, Matt, I really don’t find people who hang out at Wal-Mart annoying at all. My friends and I used to hang out at Wal-Mart (and always buying stuff when we were there) when we didn’t have anything to do. I think what I have a problem with is too many people in the store at the same time. However, this can’t be help since Wal-Mart is a popular store. Yes, I canbitch how much I want…the fact is, why go to other stores when Wal-Mart has them rival at low prices? ~Sophia
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