I am a whopping one class in to Spring Term, my first foray into teaching a non-capstone class on the Tuesday/Thursday schedule. My first class went pretty well, I think. I am definitely rusty on the content — which makes sense, given that the last and only time I taught this class was Spring 2015. But I had fun and was appropriately nervous, and the students seemed engaged — 3 markers of a good first day class on my end.
I am still wrapping my head around what the appropriate amount of pre-class reading is, and how to best structure the time in class. For comparison, Tuesday/Thursday classes are 1 hour 45 minutes long (3 hours 30 minutes per week), while Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes meet for 70/70/60 minutes, respectively (3 hours 20 minutes per week). My mental model/approach so far is to treat each class as 1.5 “normal” (MWF) classes. Not every reading assignment from the previous MWF offerings of the course can be so easily split, but at least I have an image in my head of the amount of time reading should take.
I was less successful matching my mental model of class time to reality in terms of what I prepped for class — I very much over-prepared. Although to be fair, part of this was because students enjoyed one activity so much that I did an extra round of it, which then crowded out some things I’d planned for the end of class. Still, I will need to keep this in mind when thinking through what activities will fit into a class period.
I also realized that I need to be more explicit in my class plan in terms of when to schedule a break, rather than just winging it. Sometimes I get on a roll and lose track of time, but just because I’m mentally fresh doesn’t mean my students are. Being mindful of where to put the break will, I think, also help me stick to my original vision of the class as workshop- or studio-style: I can place the break strategically between “mini-lecture/initial practice” and “deeper dive into application”. I’ll get to try this out next week, when we cover contextual inquiry and work activity affinity diagrams.
I am always tired after the first day of class, but my level of exhaustion post-class was breathtaking in its depth. Teaching involves dozens of micro-decisions in a class period — did I explain that well or do I need to throw in an example for clarity? what do the expressions on my students’ faces tell me about their engagement and comprehension? can the people in the back of the room read what I just wrote on the board? should I scrap the next activity I’ve planned since the students seem to be getting the concept quickly? Using my time math from above, I made 1.5 times more micro-decisions during Tuesday’s class than I typically make in a M/W/F class. And first class meetings often entail even more micro-decisions, since I don’t know my students or the class dynamic yet. Plus, I’m nervous, which dials everything up to 11. So, after leaving class on Tuesday, my brain hurt and I couldn’t concentrate on anything more taxing than the simplest emails for the rest of the day / evening.
I am eager to see how Thursday’s class (and beyond!) goes, minus the first day nerves and with a bit more stability in the roster. I’m curious to see if my energy levels continue to dip so drastically post-class, or if I get used enough to the rhythm that my energy levels stabilize. And I look forward to honing my sense of timing over the next couple of weeks so that prepping and teaching on this schedule does not seem quite as foreign to me.
This is what a computer scientist looks like 