Another new semester

When I was a student, I always felt a tinge of excitement at the promise of each new semester. From buying books to finding my classes on a large campus, there was something magical about that first week.

As a lecturer, the start of each new semester is still an emotional time, but it is somehow much different. Instead of cracking open shiny textbooks filled with new intellectual adventures, I now dust off lecture notes that feel more like familiar friends. Instead of divining what I might be learning from the omens of a new course syllabus, I already know what the course is supposed to teach.

Even with this foreknowledge, though, I still get nervous at the start of each new semester. I may know the course schedule down to the smallest detail, but I still can't be sure how the semester will really unfold. Classrooms are idiosyncratic places and things that worked well in the past may fall flat with new students, new ideas that seemed brilliant in the planning stages may prove to be pure folly in practice.

Of course, some things never change. The start of a new semester for me has always been a time of self doubt. Even though I was a good student, I always felt a pang of uncertainty. I couldn't help but wonder if I had what it took to perform well in each new class. Now I wonder if I can still convey a sense of enthusiasm for a subject I've been teaching for years. I worry that I'm somehow out of touch with my students' interests and needs.

Uncertainty, though, is part of what makes a journey an adventure. Let the adventure begin!