Well I'm very tired today. That last entry took a lot out of me so today is going to be very brief.
One of my students asked me to recommend some novels to her. She has decided, on her own, that she wants to read more, and so she asked me to tell her what to read. I'm always amused when people ask me to tell them "what they should read." I usually ask a series of questions to figure out what kind of novel best suits their tastes. Most people just don't understand that I don't believe that there are books that everyone should read (should I make this student suffer through "A Room of One's Own" just because most of my high school did?) , but there a wide range of fabulous books. It is merely a question of finding fabulous books that suit one's tastes. So I gave her a few that I thought she might like. It made me feel better to see a student initiating development on her own.
For me, being a teacher is more about learning than teaching. When I was a student, I would learn things well enough to pass a test. Now when I give the tests, I find that I know the material far better. (Part of this, no doubt, is because I have been teaching the same material with some variation for three years.) But still there isn't a week that goes by that I don't have a revelation about some way of conveying information to a student or even a break through in my own analysis of a topic. As a result often I require the students to make presentations or teach (usually only for ten minutes) the class about certain topics. You might risk fudging something when you are taking a test, but standing in front of your peers you are going to be sure to know that material cold.