the post-mortem of teaching

it should come as no surprise that usc crushed arkansas. in fact, it was such a blowout that 1) i don't feel bad driving 580 miles to the game (and another 580 back), and 2) we didn't even watch most of the 4th quarter.

in case you're wondering, there is quite the contingent of usc alums / former faculty here at texas a&m. in fact, there's a sneaking suspicion that certain elements of the faculty are actively recruiting their best usc students to undertake a ph.d. here. don't believe me? how about this: of the current crop of ph.d.-bound students, fully 7.5% have a root at southern cal. there aren't even that many texas a&m grads continuing on here. and, removing those individuals with undergraduate degrees abroad, that number jumps to 19%! what can you say?

on a side note, i do believe i am the only one with an ivy league degree too. who says you can't have it all?!! damn! i'm fine! that's right! one fine hunk o'man! just dip me in butter!

okay, enough self-posturing. the weekend, having come and gone, is now just a notch on the very long and nearly-unnotched totem that counts my time here. 1 notch in! as the buddhist say, "even a journey of a 1000 miles begins with 1 step." i must admit there are some in the camp who are hoping for journey of less than 1000 miles. which would be nice. but at times, based on things i discover, how some people who are finishing up behave, 1000 miles might just be the outskirts of the destination. the goal, as always, is to remain aware of the destination and the path that leads me there. and if i can get away with skipping along the path sometimes, why not?

ok, enough self-uplifting. for today's topic is: my first TA session! as seasoned readers can attest, a certain portion of my life (namely 2003 and 2004) were dedicated to the profession of teaching. in particular, teaching mathematics. for all its faults (and they are myriad), i was always quite comfortable in front of a classroom, and my instructional style both fit my personality (students can spot a fake from a mile away) and benefitted their learning (or so i would like to believe, though if SAT scores can be a gauge, i didn't leave so deep an impression as i would have liked). so go figure today, after several days of thinking, "the TA-ing will be a joke!" i found myself nervous as the students filed in, more or less on time. was it the newish material i was expected to be master of? certainly, that couldn't explain it. after all, i had taught calculus for 2 years with sometimes little more than a quick review of the material to guide me and the awesome skill of recognizing when i was both 1) wrong and 2) confusing the students, leading me to quickly erase the board and start over, whilst saying something like, "okay, one more time. let's see if you guys can follow the Chain Rule this way..." (ahh! the secrets of teaching revealed!)... was it being away from the classroom? or was it not knowing the level of knowledge of the students? to be honest, i still haven't determined why i was nervous. but i did discover 3 things: 1) no matter what people say, a good kid in a bad school can be at least as successful in an academic setting as a mediocre kid in a great school, 2) you figure out the moment the students start trusting and liking you in a college setting b/c they go from the dazed look of every student to asking whether you had seen some movie "X" or fished on some river "Y" or ever visited some place "Z". and loyal readers will know, and to this i admit a weakness to vanity, i did drop the "let's use st. croix as an example." if some people name drop, i place drop. a geography lab is, therefore, a great excuse to do the "okay, so when i lived in australia, at the december solstice, the sun made a 90-degree..." you get the idea? so, in the course of 2 hours, while i learned a little bit about the students (they're atrocious at math, didn't think about reading the lab ahead of time, are hard workers, and are very polite), they found out that i had, through lab-oriented examples, mind you, lived in the virgin islands, france, australia, and northern norway (the last might be a bit of a stretch insomuch as i haven't actually lived there, but it was the only way to discuss why the sun doesn't set above the arctic circle in june...). as i always say, the greatest challenge of a teacher is being an entertainer. think about it. then tell me that i'm wrong.

actually, don't. i like my gentle ignorances.

final note: so yesterday (sunday) was a great day. nothing special happened. didn't really do much. did read about 80 pages for 1 class. did read about 6 journal articles (another 60 pages). but most importantly: i made a superb stir-fry! on the exclamation point scale, that's like:

stir-fry!!!!!!

it might even be higher. now why was this stir-fry so tasty? after all, to those out there who enjoy the cooking effort, a stir-fry is about 1 step beyond making toast. poorly. but, in the world of the "bachelor ph.d. student life", making stir-fry that is tasty and waiting for you after a long day of reading, is like sailing to your home and knowing sitting on that dock is your best girl waiting with a nice big chocolate cake.

don't believe me? try eating dried carrots and frozen pizzas for a week and tell me otherwise.

actually, don't. as i said, i like my gentle ignorances.