Teaching in Fall (and More Generally)

For as long as I can remember, my dad (a university English professor) has said that faculty in the English department stumble around in shock at the beginning of fall term — shock that (suddenly!) the school year has begun and shock that (suddenly!) the summer is over and there is a whole different set of responsibilities. When I was a kid, I imagined the English professors literally stumbling around in a stupor like drunken zombies and thought it sounded pretty damn funny.

Now, I’m living through this weird time of year myself. And while we’re not literally stumbling around, it sure does feel that way. Well ahead of time, I made sure my books were ordered through the bookstore for the students to buy, my reader was assembled and ready to drop off at the printer, the syllabus was finished and the plan for the quarter laid out. I had asked the class to read 1984 before the quarter began and I had assigned a couple of articles for Wednesday’s class. Somehow, although I was ready in other ways, I forgot that I actually had to do the reading myself! Whoops! On Tuesday, this dawned on me and I found myself frantically finishing 1984 and reading the other articles before I had to teach on Wednesday morning. I told Eric that I had all this reading to do suddenly — he said, “Wait, so you’re already behind?!” Yup. I finished the reading and made a plan for the class just in the nick of time and yesterday’s class went well, I think. We finished watching Food, Inc., which we had started on Monday and we discussed 1984, doublethink and doublespeak. But that feeling of scrambling and stumbling is not a comfortable way to operate. This week, I’m going to plan ahead better and get things done well ahead of time. Mark my words.

Being on a college/university teaching schedule is, in many ways, a wonderful way to live. Many teachers don’t work during the summer (though they also may not get paid during this time), they have holiday breaks, and may not even have to show up to teach every day of the week. In many ways, it’s a pretty sweet life, particularly if you’re teaching something you love! In other ways, teaching has its challenges. Because there are not the parameters of a 9 to 5 job, you can find yourself working well beyond a normal 8 hour work day. I remember waking up at 2 or 3 am as a kid and my dad would be working away in his study, grading papers and reading and planning for class. On one side, being on a quarter system allows for lots of different teaching experiences as you teach a new class every 10 weeks, but this can also be challenging because as soon as you settle into a class, it’s over!

I do love the fall for a whole lot of reasons — falling leaves, scarves and vests, squashes and pumpkins, apples — you know, all the normal reasons that are flooding the blogging world this week. In the classroom, fall is a special time, too. Everyone comes in with a slight sense of hope for a new school year, new plans, new notebooks, nervous excitement, and a sense of well-restedness that will only be a distant memory come spring quarter. I had this weird moment of realization this week that this was year FIVE of grad school for me. I thought, “Wow, I guess this is my life now,” and I felt a rush of gratitude for this opportunity and nostalgia that before I know it, grad school will be over and some new adventure will begin. For now, here’s to another school year beginning. Happy fall!

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