not sure whether to be happy or sad

[aryanhwy]

It's been up in the air all summer as to whether or not I'd be teaching this fall -- and, for awhile, what topic. Eventually the easiest way to find out was the show up in the room assigned to me at the right time and wait to see if any students came. I waited 10 minutes, and no one showed up, so I think I can assume that, no, I'm not teaching.

On the one hand, it isn't very good for the self-esteem that no one on campus has any desire to learn about medieval logic, semantics, and philosophy of language -- my primary area of research, broadly speaking. I really enjoy teaching, and this would've been a seminar close enough to a course I've already taught that about half the weeks I'd have almost no preparation, and for the other half, it would be preparation on topics that I inserted into the syllabus because I wanted to read deeper into them, so it would've been productive for me. Whenever I do a course on medieval topics, it's always small, but as a result I get to know the students very well, and some of them have produced research papers that we've gone on to submit for publication, so as a whole, it's both fun and valuable. So it's disappointing.

On the other hand, there's only two new students in the research master's this fall who are taking the logic/phil. sci track, and I suppose it's rather a bit much to expect them to be interested in medieval topics; so it's not like there was a huge group of people who are thumbing their noses at me.

On the third hand, and this is pretty much the same as the second hand I guess, I don't really have the time to adequately prepare and teach a course to my desired standards this semester, what with the ever growing pile of research projects and papers that I'd like to make a good dent on in the next few months, and with getting ready to move to Heidelberg in January. So on the whole, this is probably the best.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Sigh. I can totally relate to the conflicted feelings about this one. When the seminar I teach on my research area dropped from 20ish to, like, 8, I was totally offended, even as I rejoiced that I'd have fewer projects to grade. I tell myself that it's a time conflict when something like this happens. There were thousands of students who were desperate to learn about this topic, but had a another course they had to take that that time. Does this magic logic work for you? --Bunny

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

If I get more than 3 interested in any of my courses (when they aren't mandatory), I'm jumping for joy. Given that this year there were really only 2 new possible students in the pool, I already knew the odds that even 1 of them would be interested were quite low. So in this case, the more I think about it, the more I'm coming down on the happy side of things.

[(Anonymous)]

Okay, looks like even if the comment (see my next comment...) doesn't appear to have stuck, I should assume it did and stop harassing you with duplicates.

[(Anonymous)]

(I apologize if my comments sometimes reach you twice--some times the anonymous comments seem to take on the first try, sometimes not.) I totally relate to the conflicted feelings on this one. A seminar I teach on my research area (usually around 20) was about 8 last time, and I was hurt, even while rejoicing about the small number of projects to grade. I tend to tell myself it was a time conflict--thousands wanted to be there, but few could make the slot. Perhaps you can persuade yourself that happened? Anyway, I hope the pain fades and the joy grows. Oh, Heidelberg! I love Heidelberg, and what a place to be with your interests.

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

This is the first time it's come twice -- I've never interacted with the anonymous commenting on LJ, so I'm not sure how it really works. Luckily it works well enough that I've gotten your comments so far!

And yes, I'm really looking forward to the move to Heidelberg!

[sue-n-julia.livejournal.com]

So students don't register for classes prior to the beginning of the term? They register by attending on the first day or at some point during the early part of the term?

S

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Registration is, so far as I can tell, optional. All that really matters in terms of getting a grade is making sure the teacher has your student ID by the end of the semester.