first day nerves

Music: Charlatans UK: Between 10th & 11th (1992)

Today is the first day of class to me, and I have a jam-packed schedule. Last night I decided to lay off the customary nightcap so that I was super-awake this morning, but about 11 p.m. I realized I was too hyped up to sleep, so I took a sleeping pill. Just one. It worked. I was knocked out an hour later, but kept waking up every other hour or so (Obi, my cat, also kept waking me up; he seemed more anxious about school than me!).

Anyhoo, Thursdays are the most grueling: I have my "Rhetoric and Popular Music" class from noon-thirty until two, a large lecture course (enrollment 250, currently we're at 150 or so). Because the class is so huge, I have to sing and dance, so by the end I'm pretty pooped. Then, at 3:30 until 6:30 I have my "The Idiom of Haunting" seminar, and because it's the first day, the floor is mine to occupy for three hours. Aye. I've got Tab energy drinks on hand---but I may even resort to a sugar-filled Red Bull!

Talking to "b" yesterday morning, I realized that this is my tenth year teaching. Wow. I've been doing this ten years! You would think I would have a handle on my teaching, but I still have a lot to learn (I guess part of that is adjusting to Texas students). You would think after ten years I wouldn't get the jitters on the first day of class---but I do. I am nervous as hell. This is probably a good thing: if you are not nervous---at least on the first day of class---then you are too comfortable and prone to make bad teacherly mistakes (a least this is what I tell myself to make me feel better). Good luck to all on your first week of teaching!