20131214.0600

The term has ended, and with that end comes something like a month of time away from work.  It is welcome, certainly, although I know that in my saying so I cater to those who suggest that those who teach should be paid less because they work less, because they get such time away from their work.

The only problem is that the time away is not time away, not really.  I know that I have things I must do between now and the beginning of the next semester, and I am not happy to have to do all of them.  Despite my expecting them, grade complaints are an unfortunate occurrence and annoying.  Far more enjoyable is the work of building up a course of study for one of the classes I get to teach next term: a survey of early British literature.  It has been a while since I taught one, and I am looking forward to getting to work with students in my primary area of study once again.  But the fact that it is enjoyable does not mean that it is not work; those who have set up courses know that there is quite a bit involved in putting together a syllabus and compiling a course calendar.  Certain materials must be covered, others are necessary to understand those that must be covered, and still others will come up as being remarkably useful or interesting.  Assessment must be conducted, ideally of a sort that drives instruction and induces students to generate new knowledge as they complete the assessments--which frequently means papers (and I am assigning one, to be completed in stages) and almost always means some kind of exam (I am assigning one of these, too, towards which I will work not so much in stages as in practice rounds).

Too, I have to read all of what I assign, and I have to do so in such a way that I can guide discussion of the text and inform that discussion with relevant criticism.  I was a good graduate student, so I have a lot of notes and a lot of the books to which the notes refer.  I am also not hesitant to ask my colleagues who specialize in areas other than mine for guidance and insight--perhaps even to the point of giving a CV-enhancing guest talk in my class from time to time.  (I was fortunate enough to get to do so a time or two, and it helped me immensely.)  Gathering the materials and (re)familiarizing myself with them is no mean task, and I have to be more than a little bit ahead of my students in doing so; I have to give them reason to trust that I belong at the front of the classroom even now, despite having years of teaching experience and a terminal degree firmly in hand.  It is a challenge which I relish, a challenge I expect to be able to meet, but a challenge that will take effort to meet even so.  Thus, I may not have so much of a break as some might think--as I have said before.