Last week saw the start of my second year of grad school. It was also the start of my third semester as a graduate teaching assistant (a very different GTA). I’m taking two classes and an independent study (well, one of the classes was turned into an independent study). These are Writing for Multimedia, Survey of Children’s Literature, and an independent study on director Ishiro Honda (hey, it lets me get school credit for the research I’m doing for my new podcast). This makes my schedule a bit odd, but I’m getting used to it.

This was the best first week of teaching I’ve had. Admittedly, I’ve only been doing this a year, but it was still the best. I’m more confident as a GTA and trying some new methods that should encourage my students to be more engaged with the material. That’s hard to do when it’s a gen ed freshman composition class. My students are the liveliest I’ve had yet, which is exciting, but it does present its own set of challenges. Now instead of trying to make them talk, I have to keep them quiet. It’s almost like me a substitute teacher again.

I might be having too much fun. But you can never have too much fun, right?

Right?!

Have you gone to grad school or worked as a teacher? What are some fun experiences you had?