In the beginning…
On January 4, 2017 at 12PM precisely, the Voice of Lower Division Studies at Georgia State University dispatched an email to my inbox – mid-workday at the Embroidery Shop. For five full minutes, I stared at my phone screen in utter shock; my supervisor, curious, peeked over my shoulder, read the pertinent “Do you remain available to teach a first-year writing course?” and whirled me into a celebratory waltz.
After that email, five days before the Spring semester began and six before my First Class Ever, that whirlwind dance didn’t stop. With hardly enough preparation time, I entered my First Class carrying a pile of stock syllabi and my backpack. After forgetting the mantra my new colleagues had tried, over the last few short days, to instill in my subconscious – “They’re just as scared and embarrassed as you are!” – and forgetting to introduce myself entirely, my new students and I arrived Thursday in a much better mindset, prepared to try again to get to know one another and to feel out each other’s strengths. I spent all my time outside of class – and as much as I could squirrel away from my own full course load – building handouts, picking my colleagues’ brains, and trying anything I could think of to get even a day ahead in planning. As a result, my students clearly suffered. Another bit of office lore, “Things take thrice as long as you intend them to,” ruled my class – I planned discussions to include more content than we could cover, and in cramming those topics into the following day(s), we fell further and further behind, and cut into time I didn’t know was more important until after it had passed.
There is no use in asking myself, “What could I have done differently?” I had no experience, and did the best I could. My students begged me during the last week of class to tell them when I was teaching next so they could re-up with me (quite the honor, I felt!), and promised to give me true feedback on my Student Opinion of Instruction. While only about half of them reported, the feedback they gave did help cement that, if nothing else, I was a functional teacher.
After that semester, I sat down with a close colleague and planned out both 1101 and 1102, and the both of us test-ran our courses that next fall. We spent the next two years working out kinks and brushing up projects, writing and rewriting our syllabi. With their help, my courses went from “functional” to “stellar,” and I continue to grow and learn with each class I teach.
The Crafty Medievalist 