It's not as bad as it sounds - there are only supposed to be two students. Anyway, that kind of took the intimidating edge off teaching. The two of us wrapped up promptly at 8:50. My next class started at 9:00, so I had ten minutes to switch out my books from my office on the third floor and get all the way from Brock to the Hulsey. I knew I couldn't dawdle along the way, but whether or not it was feasible seemed like something a Freshman would worry about.
But when I got to my office, I realized I had left my key in my classroom back on the first floor. So I ran down three flights of stairs, grabbed my key, ran back up three flights of stairs, switched my books, ran back down all those stairs. Several people had told me to wear heels so I would come across as more powerful, but I was glad I had not heeded their advice.
My watch said 8:59 when I got to the Hulsey. Oh man! I ran up one more flight of stairs to what I thought was my classroom, but apparently I was mistaken. So I was frantically searching for my room when I bumped into another girl who looked like she wasn't sure where she was going either. She asked me if I was lost.
"Uh..I'm looking for 3149," I sputtered.
"Is that Comp?" she asked, with this hopeful, help-me-find-my-way look in her eyes.
"Yes!" I said. "Come with me."
It didn't occur to me that she didn't realize I was the teacher and that this must have seemed a little strange to her...until we found our room and I walked to the front of the class amidst a torrent of whispers, which mostly sounded like "What? She's the teacher?" (or "she's the teacher?")
To make matters worse, it was 9:01 - I was late to my first day of class. This was going to make covering the Attendance portion of my syllabus a bit awkward. And the little lost girl I had saved? She actually belonged in the comp class that happened to be meeting in the classroom next to mine.
In spite of my awkward start, class went really well and I was reminded again of how blessed I am to have a job I enjoy so much. But today in the Samaritan Center, I was tempted to buy an Anne Klein suit in the shade of "shocking pink" (according to Wikipedia's color categorizer). Dr. Haluska tells me I need to dress for upward social mobility, and I thought it might firmly establish me as the teacher when I walk into a classroom. But when I tried it on, I felt like the Legally Blonde Barbie. Good way to get students to take me seriously? Probably not.
You may be able to see that only one thing was crossed off this list. But I’m sure it all got done.
