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Well, friends, your humble narrator has survived into at least his third day of grad school, as of this writing. That isn’t to say that everything has been horrible or anything; in fact, I’ve been having fun so far. But as a whole, the experience has been… whelming. Not necessarily overwhelming, but probably pretty close, and whelming at the least. In fact, I read a quote just last night in an essay by Mina P. Shaugnessy that sums up the first few days of graduate school quite nicely, even though she applied it to beginning undergraduates: “The experience of studenthood is the experience of being just so far over one’s head that it is both realistic and essential to work at surviving.” It’s not undoable, but it ain’t easy, either. :)

The first day was probably the more unnerving of the two. Monday, at 3pm on the second floor of Hamilton hall (yeah, I ended up in the 3pm Hamilton slot, not the 2pm Carver slot), I had to briefly shed the role of a student and become, for fifty minutes (well, forty, cause I let them go early) an instructor. The first few seconds after I entered the classroom were probably the worst. Five or six students had gotten there before me, and they were spread out evenly across the room, reading the newspaper, doodling, or simply staring into space. I walked in. They glanced over, briefly assessed me, and looked back down at whatever they were doing. Sure, I could assume that I looked so damn “Teacherly” that it was obvious at a moment’s glance as to who I was. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t account for the double-takes and quickly-hidden confused glances when I set my backpack down at the front of the room, behind the big desk, and began distributing syllabi. :) Not that I really blame them. In my own assessment, I look roughly fifteen minutes older than most of them.

Luckily, once I started talking, a lot of my initial nervousness faded and I was able to get about doing what needed to be done. Part of that, I’m sure, was due to the more casual, conversational tone I employed. The tone allowed me to pretend that the class was just one big twenty-six person conversation, in which I was an attention whore. :) Also, a few of my students (I think) even thought I was kinda funny. That will help. Please, Lord… let them get my humor. I’m guessing the nervousness will be back today at 3pm when I have to begin my first ‘real’ lesson, but it’s nice to know ahead of time that nervousness fades.

Tuesday brought two classes, one from 2:00 - 3:30 and the other from 6:00 - 9:00. The first class, Introduction to Computers and Applied Linguistics (with a focus on developing websites for instructional purposes), left me with a smile on my face. After the class had ended, the instructor asked to see me in his office. Of course, I immediately assumed that he’d caught me talking to Bethany or something and was going to ask me to keep my mouth shut during class. Instead, he said that he got the feeling I was already pretty good with technology and web design. When I indicated that, yeah, I considered myself decent, he made me an offer I’m going to find difficult to refuse: he offered to waive the class. Which would mean, if I understand the waiving process (which I may not), that I would “get out of” one of my linguistics requirements, and would also free up some of my time. Which sounds kinda cool, no?

The second class was Writing and Analyzing Professional Documents with Dr. Burnett. I’ve had one class with Dr. Burnett before, so in a way, I knew what I was getting into. At the very least, I had a better idea than those poor people who’d only heard the whispered rumors during orientation. Dr. Burnett has an interesting teaching philosophy: she gives you a set of impossible tasks, and then somehow coerces you into completing them. Some Ph.D. students offer counseling services to M.A. students who are taking a Burnett class. Admittedly, she’s a wonderful teacher and a nice person. But taking one of her classes often makes her students second-guess their choice of major.

Well, it’s time to get ready for racquetball. Maybe Katie Miles (today’s racquetball partner) can give me some advice on what to do with my linguistics class. And now that I think about it, Dr. Burnett is her major professor. Perhaps she offers counseling, as well. :)