My World Tour

So I haven't really blogged about this yet, because there's so much to say and my time is in high demand these days, but for the last 2 1/2 weeks or so I've been teaching for the first time as a lecturer in a Big Time University (TM). In this case, the BTU (TM) in question is the University of Toronto, and the course I'm teaching is CHM 139 - good ol' general chemistry, physical principles. Now, for some background, my previous teaching experience consists of a wide variety of TA gigs while I was in grad school (everything from 1st-year gen chem to 4th-year analytical chem to grad-level classes) and one summer teaching a class of 10 students at a community college back home in Virginia. So I'm a little green, but the guy who hires the sessional lecturers at the U of T actually decided in a moment of questionable judgement to entrust the minds of 900 first-years to yours truly. Now, let's be honest - those who want to learn the material will do so, regardless of who stands in front of them for 3 hours a week. And those who don't want to be there or aren't capable of grasping the material never will, regardless of who stands in front of them for 3 hours a week. But there are a number of precious souls in the middle - those who have to take the class for some reason or another...for whom the material doesn't come naturally but who need to learn it or are forced to try...these are the people that those of us who are passionate about teaching try to reach. We don't have delusions about making them fall in love with our discipline - we merely aim to make the process as entertaining as possible. If you make the class fun, maybe they'll remember it fondly instead of as "that awful class in which I almost died of confusion and/or boredom." It is because of these people that it is advantageous and/or dangerous to hire people like me. I am, when it comes down to it, an entertainer. Or at least I try to be. And I have to say, a great deal of my passion for teaching comes from a truly selfish place. The idea of a few hundred students, crammed into an auditorium, with nothing to do but LISTEN TO ME TALK is like peanut butter in a mousetrap - a tidbit I cannot resist. I can now officially say that there is no better feeling for me than when a class of 250+ students falls silent to listen to what I have to say. Wait...scratch that...it's even better when they laugh at my jokes and lame analogies...THEN fall silent to hear the explanation of the principle that I'm joking about. I know I'm having a good day when they don't just politely titter at some lame attempt at humor - they LAUGH at me. And students don't think we know this, but we can tell the difference between when they are laughing at your joke and when they are laughing because they know you think you're being cute and they're doing it to suck up. I always know that I am comfortable and in my element when I can make off-the-cuff jokes that are actually funny - most people only THINK they are more clever and witty when they drink, but for me it's actually true because I am a very clever and witty person, but only when I let my guard down. And that HAPPENS in my class...no alcoholic beverages necessary. Screw Disney - as far as I'm concerned, being in the middle of a good lecture is the happiest place on earth.