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So very tired
Jun. 7th, 2006 04:19 pmThis class is nuts. I barely have enough time and energy every day to do the minimum necessary for the day following (write lecture, choose homework, grade old quiz, write new quiz); once I have things to grade (exams and homework) I'm going to be a wreck. I have this fantasy that the weekend will come and it will allow me to catch up, but I'm going to need time to recover. The thought of working on tomorrow's lecture unnerves me. I had a quote on my quote page about "the weariness that self-doubt engenders", and that's definitely true for me: after every class I wonder if I talked too much, if I'm going too quickly, if maybe I should take a day off the schedule to cover the material in more detail.
The labs bother me the most right now. First of all, as a theorist, I have a hard time being interested in labs; I like experiments that demonstrate theoretical principles, but all the numerical data-taking, sig digs, and what not is not very interesting. Plus, my ideal model for an introductory lab comes from Williams, where students do the experiment, and then discuss their result with the supervisor before they're allowed to leave; they then get credit for the lab. Having students submit lab reports might be good practice for writing lab reports, but if I don't catch their errors before they leave the lab, I'm not sure pointing them out after the fact is very useful, since they will never do that particular lab again. (I suppose one could gradually improve their data taking skills, but I'm more interested in the physical principles). The Williams model, however, cannot be done in a class of 20 with only one teacher; there has to be someone to "check students out" and one to answer questions as they come up.
Should I ever get a choice of teaching positions, particularly for a long-term position, I want to work somewhere that a) has a lab tech who knows how everything works, and b) has two people running labs (even if the second is an undergraduate TA). Or better yet, if I never have to teach labs again I would be very happy. :) (I like having students do hands-on experiments, but that's different from a rigorous lab.)
Back to work.
The labs bother me the most right now. First of all, as a theorist, I have a hard time being interested in labs; I like experiments that demonstrate theoretical principles, but all the numerical data-taking, sig digs, and what not is not very interesting. Plus, my ideal model for an introductory lab comes from Williams, where students do the experiment, and then discuss their result with the supervisor before they're allowed to leave; they then get credit for the lab. Having students submit lab reports might be good practice for writing lab reports, but if I don't catch their errors before they leave the lab, I'm not sure pointing them out after the fact is very useful, since they will never do that particular lab again. (I suppose one could gradually improve their data taking skills, but I'm more interested in the physical principles). The Williams model, however, cannot be done in a class of 20 with only one teacher; there has to be someone to "check students out" and one to answer questions as they come up.
Should I ever get a choice of teaching positions, particularly for a long-term position, I want to work somewhere that a) has a lab tech who knows how everything works, and b) has two people running labs (even if the second is an undergraduate TA). Or better yet, if I never have to teach labs again I would be very happy. :) (I like having students do hands-on experiments, but that's different from a rigorous lab.)
Back to work.
