Turns out teaching college can be pretty fun. Nevermind the fact that I had nightmares EVERY NIGHT THIS WEEK about today’s lesson (it didn’t go quite as bad as I dreamed but also not quite as well as I’d hoped–a fair compromise, I suppose). But honestly, most days it’s just pretty fun. My first class is my favorite. They are spirited, they are open, and they are really vocal about their love for me. :)
I had one student stay after the other day to ask me a question, then she said something that made me give a silent cheer inside. She said that she had never had a professor who was focused so much on them actually learning. She has felt in the past that every other class was just a “check the box” kind of experience. She appreciates that I take the time to explain why I’m having them do certain things, giving them previews of how they are going to use these skills both in this class and in their lives. We have done some great critical thinking and it’s been so satisfying to watch each of them get to know themselves a little bit better. She said, “I actually read to learn now instead of read just to get credit for an assignment.” It’s the small victories that are huge.
On a funnier note, my first class also loves me to get there nice and early so we can talk about movies and television shows. The last couple of days I’ve been running a little late, so we’ve only had about 5 minutes for our little chats. Today I arrived with the full 15 minutes to spare before class and they were so excited because somewhere in their Facebook chats with each other, they discovered my animated doppleganger:
Roxanne Ritchi from Megamind
Apparently I even have her personality. They were seriously so excited about this discovery. So excited, in fact, that they made me put her picture up on the projector for everyone to see when they walked in. Without fail, and without prompting, each student was like, “Oh my gosh, Sister Bradshaw, that’s TOTALLY you.” They were shocked when I told them my hair used to be blonde and almost to my waist. They were also shocked to find out I had never seen Megamind so I actually had no idea what they were talking about. My homework this weekend is to watch Megamind. If it’s anything like their homework to me last week, which was to watch Heavyweights…well, I guess it’s payback for the papers that were due today. :)
These students really are a joy to teach.
