First Day Back

So, I took the whole summer off.
Yes, the whole summer.
It was amazing!

But as they say in my world, "all good things must come to an end." Anyway, today was my first day back meaning no sleeping in and doing what I want to do. As luck would have it, I only had one class this morning. I got up at 630 am grabbed my coffee, vitamins, packed my lunch, and put on a decent outfit. On the way out, I reminded my youngest daughter to get on the bus. She was found in the bottom bunk with a towel wrapped on her head. She had on her school clothes, but was dozing under the covers.

"Get up!"
"Ooooohhh, I will"
"Do not miss the bus! I mean it."

I drove to school and absolutely nothing was out of the ordinary. I felt good, sang to the radio, and made it to a half empty parking lot. I was there an hour early, but figured I needed to prepare for class that I've only taught 16 million times. Upon entering the building, I saw several smiling faces. There was fresh coffee brewing, and I'm not sure why, but I don't remember school being this good. The elevator ride up was completely uneventful. Everything was just as it was when I left. My lab classroom awaited me and not that much had changed. Gasp, maybe some of the furniture had been rearranged. I opened up and revised my syllabus a bit. I printed out my student information sheets. At 8:15 my students began to fill the room. I took roll. Everyone smiled.

I asked who was brand new to the college and almost everyone raised their hand. The students listened to me as we discussed the requirements for the course. They asked a few questions and I helped them get logged in. My philosphy has not changed. I still believe that we are a community of learners and that we are here to help one another. After all of that, the students interviewed one another. They began to introduce one another. Everyone has a different story, but the story is really the same. They came here to learn. They came here to better themselves in someway. They are excited and eager. Now, as always there are characters in the classroom to be sure. After the class departed, three men stayed behind.

"You know, I have absolutely no computer skill."
"That's okay, I will help you."
We reviewed logging in and logging out. We went over how the three icons in the upper right control the windows.
"Thank you so much!"
"Don't worry, you are doing great!"
"You know, I kinda know how to type already, but I never got all this Windows stuff."
"Yea, you'll get it, we all have weaknesses and strengths."

As I ventured to the next station I saw a student who was really eager to send an email.
"Hey, sweetie!"
"It's Ms. Cole"
"Oh, yea - ummm I'm just really excited to have my own email account and I want to send something."
"Okay, I can help you with that."
We went over composing an email, but since the student could barely type it took a really long time. He pointed out each of his errors, shaking his head. "She will never understand this!"
"Well, let's edit." I said.
I showed him how to move his cursor backward and forward and suddenly a lightbulb went on in his head. "OOOHHH! Now what?"
"Click send"
"That's it?"
"Yep"
"So fast! You sure?"
"Yep!"

The final student had waited to long and was so patient I felt embarassed. "How can I help?" The fact that this man was a professor in another country made me even more self conscious."
"You explain to me how I do at home."
"Well, its probably not going to be exactly the same."
"You explain"
"Well, do you have a laptop?"
"Yes"
"Okay, bring it and I will explain."
"You review what you taught today."
"No problem."
I retaught logging in very, very slowly. Showing how you depress CTRL+ALT with one hand and hit DELETE with another hand to log in to the school system. I explained logging in and logging out in very simple english, demonstrating each and every step. The man watched me like a hawk looking over his bifocal spectacles. I felt like an insect. He thanked me profusely and told me he had to go.

Well, how could teaching make anyone tired I thought? Went to my office and read a ton of emails. I began revising the master syllabi and posting them to the discipline site. I helped lost people in the hallway. Old students stopped by to visit and I chatted with them, asking them how things were going. I went to see the new computer lab. I got everything ready for three classes tomorrow. I submitted my syllabi, my office hours, and listened to my messages. I responded to email messages.

At 4:45 my eyes were throbbing and I was tired of revising stuff for the website. One of collegues asked me to help her with her dissertation. Is it time to go home yet? I want to crawl into a hole and die and its what the first day. What am I whining for I'm asking myself? I have the best job in the world!