Today was the last day of teaching for this semester. Since I won't be teaching next semester, the earliest that I will teach again is next September. If I am too behind on my PhD, not even then, which means I might not teach for the rest of my time as a PhD student.
I had a good crop of students this time, not super-bright but very keen and no trouble at all. They responded well to me and I would even venture to say that some of them were sad to see the last of me. As I have written earlier, while teaching this semester, I discovered a kindness and generosity that I never knew I had. I have always thought of myself as someone who doesn't suffer fools gladly (as arrogant as that sounds), but while teaching you inevitably get a load of foolish questions. For the most part, I dealt with them without getting irritated or belittling the person asking the question.In any case, brightness is, to a certain extent and especially in the social sciences, in the eye of the beholder. It has happened too often that someone I consider bright has been full of praise for someone I had dismissed as not-so-bright.
I had a good crop of students this time, not super-bright but very keen and no trouble at all. They responded well to me and I would even venture to say that some of them were sad to see the last of me. As I have written earlier, while teaching this semester, I discovered a kindness and generosity that I never knew I had. I have always thought of myself as someone who doesn't suffer fools gladly (as arrogant as that sounds), but while teaching you inevitably get a load of foolish questions. For the most part, I dealt with them without getting irritated or belittling the person asking the question.In any case, brightness is, to a certain extent and especially in the social sciences, in the eye of the beholder. It has happened too often that someone I consider bright has been full of praise for someone I had dismissed as not-so-bright.
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