Classes start tomorrow...

I'm super nervous because classes start tomorrow. I am not so much worried about the courses I am taking, but the classes I am teaching - that is what I'm very nervous about.

Right now, I get to spend most of my day with the kitty. Who is still a little sick and who I get to patronize while he plays with paper balls and plastic bags. I cannot stop him from doing these things and watch him very carefully while he does this so he doesn't hurt himself or suffocate.

After tomorrow I will only get to spend some mornings with the cat and other mornings on the bus to go to school. The mornings I have with the cat, I will be leaving him within a matter of hours. The person who drove me to the workshop goes to campus around noon every day, I think I can ride to and from campus with him on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I'll be safe in terms of getting back from campus because the last bus leaves before my last class even starts :S.

How they developed this schedule I do not know, but I know it is not particularly kind to those without transportation.

I already wrote my syllabus for my classes, now I have to figure out particularly what activity I want to do with my kids that will get me to remember their names and get them to remember who I am and want to come to my office hours. While I do not want to sacrifice homework time, I do want to make them comfortable about asking me for help on math problems and I do want my students to do well. I want to be a good instructor for them so they can do well and remember the concept.

I will not rehash what happened during training that makes me feel like the worst instructor in the world, mostly because if my department found my website and one of those particular instructors read that story they would be able to identify me. No one except my ride knows that I have a cat, so they could not identify me on my cat stories lol. But also because it was a very emotional thing for me to go through. I only hope that I can do for my students what my professors have done for me, inspire me to do better. Because if they can do that, then that is probably the most powerful lesson I could leave them with.

If they can remember some of the basic principles of solving equations I would be elated :D.

But back to everything else.

Got my books. Wrote my syllabus. Almost finished with lesson plans. I have note-taking materials and have pretty well divided my time. Wish me luck. Hope that I blog soon. Cross your fingers. That sort of thing.