The joys of teaching

For those who don't know, I received a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) position at Michigan this fall in the German department.  I teach three discussion sections, once a week, that are based off of the professor's lectures and the reading that students should (heavy emphasis on SHOULD) do before they come to class.  This week is the due date for the first paper of the semester for the students.  It's a five- to seven-page paper, double spaced, which really means it's like 1400 words.  It's really not long at all.  However, a whole bunch of my students have been extremely worried.  As a result, I held extra office hours today for students to come by and talk to me about their papers.  While not everyone came, I had a good number of students there.  While helping them develop their theses and their arguments for the paper, I had one of those: "I can't believe I'm here" moments.  A year ago I was in their exact shoes.  A lot of my students are seniors who wanted a (relatively) easy class to fulfill a humanities requirement.  I took a French history course that I knew would not be difficult because it was my last year of undergrad.  And now I am the one teaching them about literary theory and explaining my interpretation of fairy tales.

The best part about all of this has been that I love teaching.  I get nervous before every lecture, especially before the first discussion section every week, but after I get into the groove of teaching I end up having a great time.  My students often have excellent insights into the fairy tales and I learn from them just as they learn from me.  I have also had students express how much they enjoy discussion, which helps me know that I am on the right track in my idea of what discussion should be.  This has definitely made me consider going into teaching after I finish here at Michigan, and I'm grateful for the experience.