I returned to Philadelphia from my summer break today, returning to cooler weather and a stack of mail-ordered books. Tomorrow begins three days of intensive training to be a teaching assistant. It's the first time I've started a school year in which I'll be teaching, not just taking classes. While I may not have to worry about a syllabus or lectures yet, I do have to worry about...well, to be honest, I'm not even sure!
One thing I do wonder about is how I'll relate to my students. I was insulated completely from undergrads in my first year of graduate school, and I'm not sure that was a good thing. I don't know what the typical Penn undergrad is like or what they expect from their classes. I do know that I've made sure they can't see my facebook profile.
Going back to school doesn't have the same feeling in graduate school--no special first day outfit, no nervousness about whether you'll like your teachers, no readjustment to schoolwork after a summer of leisure. This fall, maybe I'll finally start to get a sense of what it feels like from the other side.
No comments:
Post a Comment