FIRST DAY!

Well, my friends, I survived my first 50 minutes of teaching. (You can replace "teaching" with "standing in front of a warm classroom, handing out notecards with shaking hands, writing messily on the chalkboard--yes, CHALKBOARD!--and babbling rapidly about syllabus stuff to my roomful of students who were probably more nervous than I was.")

But it was fun! I admit that it was more than a little strange to have this roomful of young people waiting on ME to make all the moves, waiting for ME to tell them what to do (what right do I have to tell them? I lucked out on getting an English TA, but does that qualify me to be a TEACHER??), and asking ME questions that I'm somehow expected to answer intelligibly.

They were very quiet, and I talked too much, perhaps, and too fast, certainly. Yet that just lets me know what to work on for next time; each mistake is an opportunity to learn and to change. So by Wednesday's class I'm sure I'll have everything figured out. :P

I asked them to write down what their favorite genres/books/authors are, and also to tell me what they like to write (or if they don't like to write, why), and their best writing experience. I just finished reading through these preliminary essays, and now I'm so eager to get back to the classroom and interact with my students again. Many of them love to journal. Some enjoy writing research papers (should I be looking out for brown-nosers here?), or poetry, or personal essays. A few like to read J.R.R. Tolkien and Jane Austen! I'm amazed at how much more rounded out my students become as I read their few short paragraphs.

The adventure continues! Well, I've stepped off the cliff, and there are sure to be moments of free fall, with nothing below me but the rapidly approaching earth, but I think that much of the experience will be floating along, stretching out on the firm yet fluid wind beneath me, reveling in the wildness of these new experiences.

I also had my first Environmental Writing class today: 15 students, interested in a broad range of subjects; a class atmosphere that will encourage writing; already an excitement and inspiration to begin putting thoughts on paper!

The adventure continues!

Standing on the edge and peeking over

That's what I'm doing right now; think "The Silver Chair" by C.S. Lewis--the part at the very beginning where Jill and Eustace are standing on the high, high cliff, so high that they see clouds drifting far below--that's where I'm at. Wondering whether, when I step off the edge, I'll fall straight down and crash to the bottom, or be blown on Aslan's breath to Narnia.

I rather feel as though it'll be Aslan's breath. The past few days have been so full--orientation for my first experience as a graduate teaching assistant, preparing to teach my own English 101 class of 24 freshman. I find myself both excited and nervous, but excitement's taking the day thus far. A small, evil part of me thinks, "Ha ha! Young minds to mold and influence!" *maniacal laughter* A larger, less evil, part of me thinks, "Ah! AH!! Young minds to mold and influence!"

Meeting fellow grad students has been a relief, too, after two months of being in Missoula, eagerly anticipating this moment. I'm meeting potential friends! Yesterday I met all the other incoming environmental studies students, and to think that soon I'll be sitting next to them in classes, hanging out with them on the weekends, getting to know them on much deeper levels as we discuss, well, life, the universe, and everything--all this is thrilling.

And so it comes, this new beginning, stepping off into the unknown, waiting to be blown betwixt high clouds and deep blue sea to a new country . . .