First class! Ever!

This afternoon I taught my first undergrad class ever. It was a class on the use of evidence in academic essays.

At this point I think I did pretty well, I think I just had trouble with the intellectual pitch (basically, speaking at a level that they will understand, and that will engage them without boring them). But our profs say it’s the most difficult thing to get, especially when you start.

I had quite a simple class plan, really: go through the main parts of the article and talk about the evidence in each. The point was to convey in which situations you should use expert evidence, and in which situation you should use primary sources. I had to speed up a little bit by the end, but I did get to the ending of the article.

Overall it went well; the class wasn’t really lively but I had about 8-9 speakers. I was stressed before I started, but when I got talking everything just got rolling. I actually enjoyed doing it; I know to bring a bottle of water next time because my mouth was getting dry by the end.

I’m actually looking forward to next time!