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teaching nightmare

Jill5 Comments

I dreamt that only one student showed up for the first class of Critical Approaches to Technology and Society this morning. I did the lets get to know each other thing just for him, I showed him how to use a blog – and then, after the break, forty more students showed up. They’d all slept in. And the stuff I want to do after the break today is all completely founded on their knowing each other a little and their having blogs set up.

I hate teaching nightmares. At least I’ve never dreamt I was naked in front of my class or anything. And I didn’t dream I was unprepared. And it wasn’t as bad as that lecture from hell when none of the technology worked!

This semester I actually get to teach my blogging book! Isn’t that clever!? I get to teach something that I’m researching and writing anyway, so both teaching and writing should propel each other forward in a very productive fashion (instead of hindering each other as often happens) – and the students will get a super-engaged teacher and a real “research-based education” experience. Look, here’s the syllabus for the course.

That’s if they actually show up. I sure hope my dream doesn’t come true.

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5 thoughts on “teaching nightmare”

  1. Toril

    Good luck, Jill! I’m very happy and excited for you 🙂 By the way, wouldn’t it be nice if we had a switch we could turn on and off to sleep soundly at night? I’ve almost forgotten what a good night’s sleep is nowadays, and if it isn’t the master thesis I’m worried about, you can be sure I’m making up one blog post after the other about issues that concern me academically, socially, and publicly – the brain just refuses to stop “flexing those thinking muscles” 🙂

  2. Jill

    Oh dear, you need to, I don’t know, finish that thesis I suppose!

  3. Jane

    Hee hee. My recurring teaching nightmare is that it’s the last day of class and I need to give the final exam….except I’ve forgotten to write one up!

    That’s cool that you get to teach your *own* book—what a great way to mix your research and teaching lives together!

  4. ÿystein

    Half of my students never show up for the early lessons and I have to report them since I’m teaching high-school. Not being prepared is high up my angst-scale too.

  5. Jill

    Well, it all went very nicely. A great group of students – I really like when it’s a small enough group we have a chance to get to know each other a bit. And Jane, yes, getting to teach the book I’m writing is awesome! At least I expect it to be. Let’s see how it goes when I’m actually fdoing it 🙂

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