Personal Revelations

Wow, maybe in a few years, as a teaching assistant, I'll be able to be the instructor on record for my very own class. Think of the possibilities. I'll get to construct my own syllabus (complete with my very own office hours, the Aggie Honor Code, my own grading policy, etc.). I'll be free to lecture with whatever jokes and ridiculous comments I can muster. I can assign whatever I want. Surely, this is an opportunity that I will not want to pass up.

That special first day of class is all sorts of upon us here in Aggieland. One day, I'll be able to experience that fully from the other side of the classroom. And that day cannot come soon enough. In attending the orientation session for teaching assistants, the whole mystery of that first day of class was fully revealed to me. Together, with a select team of graduate peers from a wide-range of disciplines, we sought to unpack, through our expert skills in analysis, that fateful first day of class.

Much hinges on that first day of class. The manual we received states the following: "As with your opening remarks and personal revelations, student comments can make the classroom seem welcoming or threatening." Now, I've always viewed each of my professors as figures of authority. The pressure to make a personal revelation to a group of students seems all sorts of daunting. Previous to this experience in the workshop, my knowledge of revelations was restricted to what I had read in the Bible. Can you imagine the stress that a professor must be under? He needs to be able to float into the classroom upon a cloud and in a loud, booming voice must reveal his true body and spirit to his eager audience of eager learners. The image of a professor standing at the front of the class in all his refulgent gloriousness prophesying and making previously unrealized truths fully known is truly a heavenly one indeed.

Building rapport with students, understanding their individual backgrounds and learning styles, and creating an atmosphere which is comfortable and conducive to learning seems like a lot to pack into one day of class time.