I touch the future...and all that jazz.

This week I'll be continuing from last week's post about what I've learned in my first week here at K-State.

4. The clothes make the man

This is one I sort of had figured out before, but now that I'm putting it into practice, I'm realizing just how crucial it is to create a professional persona.

Those of you who have met me in person know that I am a casual and crass person. I swear like a sailor, I'm messy, I procrastinate an extraordinary amount, and I still have a lot of growing up to do. In my head, I'm Alli, and I have no ambition, and no talents. In many ways I feel completely unqualified to teach.


But then I get up there in my fancy slacks, my dress shirt, and my earrings. I make students call me Ms. Shufelt (though some will insist I am Dr., Mrs. or Professor), even though I'm used to introducing myself as just.....Alli. But donning the costume makes it easier to slip into that persona, and being in the persona makes me feel confident in my abilities. And when I'm confident, I can run the show.

5. Teaching is ridiculously hard and nothing at all like it seems

Now, before we get into it, please know that I'm in no way complaining. In fact, I would say now that the time I teach, hold office hours, and grade papers is the highest point of my day by far*. But that being said, it is damned hard work.

I've known and had teachers all my life, and I think I've grown to take teachers and professors for granted. They get up there, they talk a bit, make up an assignment, and then send the students on their merry way. At the end they add everything up and give a final grade, and that's it.

Except it isn't. Not by a long shot.

For those of you who have never taught before, imagine you've been assigned to give a series of presentations on ecology to present to a rowdy, and often times disinterested, audience. Now, imagine that every week the same audience shows up, and you get attached. Now, imagine this audience paid to be there, and excepts you to entertain, educate, clarify, mediate, and babysit simultaneously.

Now imagine that at any moment, an audience member can stand up and derail your presentation, ask "what the point" is, or ask about a presentation scheduled later in the series (that you haven't prepared for), or that any point a member of the audience could demand you switch the topic of your lecture from ecology to nuclear fusion. And there's nothing you can do to stop them.

It's kind of like that, except essentially 40 times worse.



......


...The sick part is, I'm already starting to love it.

[To Be Completed on Monday]