Back to the Grind

Today was the first day of summer school. I am definitely not ready to go back to teaching. The last semester really took its toll. Summer classes are also a challenge because so much material needs to be crammed into one day.

The two classes I am teaching are courses I have already taught, but of course I changed things around so I still need to work on lectures (rather than used ones I already wrote).

Despite the burn out, I did get some inspiration today. First, I read my evaluations from the spring semester and they were all fairly good. Usually there is one or two disgruntled students that write some hateful or nasty comments (and of course I obsess about those, rather than be pleased by all the positive ones), but this time the worst was a couple of ambivalent students. My first thought was the mean students must have missed class the day evaluations were handed out.

Ah insecurities.

But to reinforce the positive evaluations, I got another smile-inducing email this evening:

Hi Professor X,

I just wanted to drop a line and let you know that I really enjoyed your class this past semester. I felt as though there was a lot we were able to learn about, despite the limited amount of time for the topics we went over. I hope that the painfully boring nature of the students didn't dissuade you at all from teaching the class again! I know that we can be a drag late at night, but it doesn't mean that we weren't listening. : )

Keep up the good work and enjoy your summer,

[Student Name]

Party is over, I need to get back to my lectures for tomorrow.