Categories: teaching
Date: 06 November 2007 20:31:21
Tuesdays are my teaching day, and so I usually go to bed on Monday nights feeling queasy, and wake up on Tuesday mornings feeling worse. I don't think that's ever going to change, sadly, while I'm working here. It's all over for another week though, so I don't need to feel sick for another 6 days. That's good!
It's not that I dislike my students - I have a really good bunch this year. I just know that whatever I'm meant to do with my life, I was never made to be a teacher.
I did have a funny moment in one of the tutorials today. We were discussing an issue, and in the course of the discussion I said "X". As we went to move on to the next question, one of the students interrupted quite forcefully, as though he wanted to take issue with what I said. He was very polite, and started off saying "You know you said X ... well, how do you square that with X?" I was mystified, and in the end had to say "But that's what I said!" So he tried to explain again, but just ended up saying X again. I left it saying it appeared we weren't actually disagreeing, and the rest of the class were slightly bemused by the whole exchange. He looked a bit frustrated, and I hope it doesn't put him off - the exact same exchange, with the exact same student, also happened in last week's tutorial (different issue, disagreeing to agree!). I'm quite happy to be challenged by the students, it's good for me and (especially) good for them, and I never claim to be an expert in the tutorial subjects, because I'm not, it's a means to getting my PhD fees paid, not my life's interest. But it is funny to be challenged with my own point!