Happy New Year

One of the nicest things about teaching as a profession, especially college teaching is that you get to celebrate New Years several times a year. The past week was the first week of classes for the fall semester and the excitement and energy were palpable. The campus is busy, everyone is back in their offices, meeting schedules are circulating. The first day of class is a little anxiety producing for most professors. We hope we have remembered everything--copies of the syllabus, the class roster, our powerpoint slides. Inevitably we run into some snag--the copier jams, the projection screen won't drop down, our flash drive is corrupted. Still, we have a room full of (mostly) eager faces...at least on the first day. Some of those people will disappear, some new ones will arrive. In a few weeks we will all have settled into a routine, and the energy will disappear. Of course, round about the 3rd week of October, I will be singing a different tune. I will be sick and tired of teaching, lecturing, and grading...and the students will be tired, too. Then we will take a long breath and come back for a strong finish.