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[rainyshana]

gah! i was just browsing through the online site for one of my courses, and my professor has posted the syllabus. and so i read it. and the entirety of my semester grade is going to be based on a series of presentations. yikes! now this isn't as unreasonable as it may sound. it's a teaching course and the whole point is to learn how to teach. and

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[rainyshana]

I used to think that the most important thing would be to teach them something I loved (like literature) and that through showing them how wonderful these other worlds could be that they would start to love it too. And maybe that will happen, and if it does that would be great. But i've started to think that the more important thing, when they are young, at least, is to show them that they have worthwhile thoughts, and that the subject i teach doesn't really matter as much. so up until recently, this summer really, i was very focused on what i was going to teach, but now the importance of the content has faded to the back of my mind and i'm more interested in how to teach.
and this switch has made me feel better about my chances of success too. i knew i was never a good enough student to know all i probably should have about any particular topic. but i feel confident that i'm up to the task of cheering them on as they find out what they want. and so for the first time i feel like i'm going back to school with a genuine purpose, and not just a vague aspiration. (but i'm sure there will be still be many an anxiety-laden pre-presentation post nonetheless.)
many thanks for stopping by and leaving such lovely words of encouragement, they are much appreciated :)