This reminds me of my former career in technical theatre, which was ideal for me because it was heavily routine-based, but included a routine of blowing up the routine every 3 months when a new show opened. It was perfect, except for the politics and the peanut paychecks.
This reminds me of my first semester of grad school, where as a TA I was assigned to teach a section of the big mechanical drawing class. It was especially hairy because (a) I'd never taken the class as an undergrad (we had an "Engineering Communication" class where we went through the basics of it in about two or three weeks) and (b) they did not have a copy of the teacher's edition of the textbook, so I spent the entire semester frantically staying a class ahead of my students and doing all the homework myself before I could grade their assignments (fortunately, it wasn't very hard).
Of course, by the second semester I taught it, they did manage to dig up a copy of the text with the actual solutions to the exercises, but I barely needed them after surviving the trial by fire the first time around.
When I was teaching out of a published book last year, I just Googled the author/title and "Solutions," and quickly came up with a reasonably complete set. Kids these days don't know how good they have it...
I feel this -- about 20 years here teaching at a CC, so the courseload is pretty repetitive. I've done the PHYS 1 and 2, GenAstro courses maybe 50 times? But mixed in there I love going to conferences, switching up textbooks at the drop of a hat, trying to figure out new pedagogies. Even just picking up an old basic textbook and plowing through a selection of problems can reward me with a slightly different take on something I've taught to death but hadn't really thought about. Substack is a good diversion, and sometimes I've picked up a class outside my department just to shake things up (the Calc sequence a couple of times, for example). I'm just glad I've got administrators and co-workers who help me cope with restlessness!
This reminds me of my former career in technical theatre, which was ideal for me because it was heavily routine-based, but included a routine of blowing up the routine every 3 months when a new show opened. It was perfect, except for the politics and the peanut paychecks.
This reminds me of my first semester of grad school, where as a TA I was assigned to teach a section of the big mechanical drawing class. It was especially hairy because (a) I'd never taken the class as an undergrad (we had an "Engineering Communication" class where we went through the basics of it in about two or three weeks) and (b) they did not have a copy of the teacher's edition of the textbook, so I spent the entire semester frantically staying a class ahead of my students and doing all the homework myself before I could grade their assignments (fortunately, it wasn't very hard).
Of course, by the second semester I taught it, they did manage to dig up a copy of the text with the actual solutions to the exercises, but I barely needed them after surviving the trial by fire the first time around.
When I was teaching out of a published book last year, I just Googled the author/title and "Solutions," and quickly came up with a reasonably complete set. Kids these days don't know how good they have it...
Hah, that wasn't an option for me in 1993! :)
I feel this -- about 20 years here teaching at a CC, so the courseload is pretty repetitive. I've done the PHYS 1 and 2, GenAstro courses maybe 50 times? But mixed in there I love going to conferences, switching up textbooks at the drop of a hat, trying to figure out new pedagogies. Even just picking up an old basic textbook and plowing through a selection of problems can reward me with a slightly different take on something I've taught to death but hadn't really thought about. Substack is a good diversion, and sometimes I've picked up a class outside my department just to shake things up (the Calc sequence a couple of times, for example). I'm just glad I've got administrators and co-workers who help me cope with restlessness!