Teaching is Hard

I'm heading into class 5 and 6 of my class this week and I'm realizing I have to be more prepared than I really have time to be. I've spent at least 6 hours prepping for this week's upcoming classes and there's more to go. I realized I left half the readings at the office, so I'm going to have to go in early Monday to incorporate the ones for that class' lecture. Argh.

I determined that I give too much graded classwork (completely heightens the busy-work grading factor). So, this week I'm trying to lecture more through the readings. In other words, I'm actually going to teach rather than basically lead them to self-teach, which is mostly what this class is built to be. I had a few complaints about the study guides that came with the course and I feel stupid just sitting there grading busy-work while the class basically rewrites the chapters they read for homework that I then grade. I was bummed on Wednesday because I knew that's what the class was and I didn't have time to get anything else together. It's a work in progress and I hope this week is better.

I can't wait til we get to ethics to do the exercises and debates I'm planning. The classes are extra long (4.5 hours), but I'm going to order us food and we'll have extra time to do the special activities. The cool part is they will be able to work on the debates and deliver them in the same class night. Less homework makes the class happy.