I’m getting ready to return to academic mode after my semester away. I turned my syllabi in last week. I took care of some bibliographical work that I do each year, and two days from now, I’ll have been back in the classroom for the first time since June of last year.
I find myself a little tense about my return — wondering how long it’ll take me to recover my rhythm of grading, preparing, reading, talking, listening, and thinking, particularly with the cross-campus move in Clan Mondo’s near future. The tension shows through as I worry at a torn cuticle on my right middle finger, and as I rehearse the first class meetings in my head. Realistically, teaching isn’t anything I wasn’t doing fairly well for the preceding ten years, but I think what I feel might be a little bit like what a football player feels when he comes back after having been sidelined, but before he takes that first hit.
So I’m anxious, but over the years I’ve learned that the classroom is one of the places where I’m supposed to be, and once I get the rust off, things should be fine. I’m sure I’ll find something to say.
