I have written before about how much I loved my job at U of AL. Yesterday I was chatting with a young school teacher and we were talking about teaching. I told him that I was surprised at how much I had truly loved the students I taught--even the undergrads. One of the best things about Univ. teaching is, no matter how badly you screwed up, the next term you get a whole bunch of new undergrad students and you get to start anew. Your reputation may precede you, or it may not, but every term is a new attempt.
Undergrad students I typically taught only once, on a rare occasion I taught them twice. I once had a student, with whom I am still friends, who failed my class--then took it the next term. The grad students I typically had for two or three or even more classes.
Also I loved the rhythm of teaching. You start, have a mid-term and then low and behold, the term ends. Most jobs, as I have noted previously, are just one long non-ending stream. Academics, at all levels, starts and stops. We begin and from that moment, we know there will be an end. Got a bad student/teacher, this too shall pass.
I loved my job and all my students. I loved the extreme challenge of trying to learn to be an effective teacher. The guy yesterday who had heard me teach in church noted that I used atypical pronunciations for some words. I was happy he recalled that, as I think that is a useful way to help people recall things.
I miss teaching, but count myself Blessed to have made that my profession. I truly believe i was called by G^d to this task, and I believe He created me for it. It brought me great joy, and the memories still give me joy.
Thanks be to G^d.
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