Classes are here!!
January 10th, 2006 by SplineGuy
As I told two of my classes yesterday, “I love the first day of class each semester!! It’s like standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, a magnificent, beautiful, breathtaking scene. You’re on the edge of all this new information, new skill, new knowledge. It’s just sitting there waiting for us to dive in to.” Okay, so you don’t dive into the Grand Canyon, but its still exciting.
I am teaching 5 courses this semester: 2 College Algebra sections, Trigonometry, Calculus IV, and Differential Equations. My schedule is quite balanced so that I have a very similar schedule from day to day. I am definitely looking forward to this semester. I haven’t yet got to know my lower level classes very well to see if they’ll relax and keep the atmosphere light. I know that both of my upper levels are filled with some great students, ones that seem to really enjoy the subject and will be willing to work to learn it. Plus, I should have a wealth of new blunders now that I am lecturing 11 times a week.
It is so refreshing to see how much you enjoy what you do! Dad’s job is really stressing him out right now–big time! So remember him in your prayers.
Yeah, I’ve already talked to a student who is in two of your classes, trig and differential equations. I told her to feel free to drop by my office and complain about the professor any time she feels like it.
Sounds like a good start, Hope all classes go well.
I hope your classes are all you want them to be! Have fun!
That class load seems incredibly heavy. What is that, 20 credit hours? I just did a 16-hour semester in the fall and it nearly did me in. You must have more stamina than I do.
Wayland is a primarily teaching university. So the typical load is 4 classes (3 credit hours each). I am teaching one overload for a total of 15 credit hours. Fortunately all except one is a repeat of ones from previous semesters so I only had one prep. Yeah!!
OK, the three-credit thing makes that seem more reasonable.
I teach at a primarily teaching-oriented school myself — we teach an average of 48 hours over the course of two academic years, which gives wiggle room to have it go a little under 12 hours one semester and a little over in others as long as it averages out to 12 a semester. Most of our lower-division courses are 4 hours, so that often translates into three courses, and we rigged it so we never have more than three preps.
By the way, I found you through Technorati and just added you to my blogroll. Nice to see other Christian mathematicians blogging.