Tuesday, August 24, 2010

I Survived


Yesterday was my first day teaching at MCC. I have two communication courses, back to back. And I was so nervous! Although I have subsituted before, having two complete classes to teach for an entire semester scared me. But I survived. Here is a summary of the experience.
First, what did I wear? Of course, that was one of the most primary decisions I had to make. I made sure I had a good outfit to wear before I even put together my lectures! (Yes, I am certifiably crazy.) But back to the question at hand. I wore my favorite colors: navy blue and white--blue dress pants and heels with a white cardigan over a white top. I felt like I looked nice, which boosted my overall confidence.

I arrived 35 minuted early to pick up the photocopies of my syllabus in the faculty work/lounge. It was a good thing I arrived early because the syllabi were stapled incorrectly and it took me 20 minutes to get them reorganized and stapled properly. As a result I did not have time to photocopy a game I intended to play to illustrate a communications principle. I decided to try to get along without it last minute.

Afterward I headed off to my first class, Com 100. The smaller classroom was full once all 27 students were seated. It was also pretty warm in there. I started off by introducing myself and by going over the syllabus. At that point I was running early time wise and decided I had better come up with some other game as time filler or else I would be done way too early (not that the students would have minded). I opted to play a game my family played growing up that is similar to Scattergories--having the students do one round on their own and then a second round in small groups. It worked well and put me back on track time wise. At that point I went through a brief lecture based on the first bit of Chapter 1 of the textbook. In the end I still finished five minutes early, but felt fine about that.

Immediately after class ended I was off to Com 230--Small Group Communication, but stole a few minutes to photocopy the game I had not been able to utilize before. On the way to class two students asked me where the classroom was, so (feeling somewhat like the Pied Piper) I said to follow me as I was their instructor.

This second class was held in a room twice the size of the first class, but was still on the warm side. Before starting class I opened up the computer to use the PowerPoint file I had spent an hour preparing that morning. However, when trying to use the computer it asked for a password, which I had not idea of what it might be. So, at that point I knew this class would be somewhat more off the cuff. To help take up more of the time (would I be able to remember everything in the lecture without the visual notes?) I went through the class roster to try and get to know each student individually. After doing this, going through the syllabus, and then playing the game I brought, I only had eight minutes to fill with my "lecture" (and I use that term very loosely).

So I survived. By the time I got to the car and headed off my head started to pound with a stress headache. All the tension finally got to me. I popped some headache medicine and did some deep breathing exercises. Still, I was wiped out for the rest of the day.

The first day was done. And I survived.


Good thing I get to do it all again on Wednesday.

Scripture of the Day: Helaman 4:11-13

7 comments:

  1. Good for you! It sounds like things will get smoother over time.

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  2. That's awesome! Congrats! Good luck through the rest of the semester.

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  3. Wow Rebecca, I'm impressed! That does not sound easy, but it sounds like you were great. Good luck in your new endeavor!

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  4. Sounds like a successful first day! Great Job!!!

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  5. Yay! It sounds like you were AMAZING...which I knew you would be! I told DH that he should have signed up for your class. ;)

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  6. That's so cool. I've taught college before, and it's stressful, but it's also fun. Good luck!

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  7. Congrats to you!! It sounds like you are a very good thinker on your feet! Good job at being able to adjust to the unexpected. It sounds like things went well.

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Comments are much appreciated!