First Week of Classes

We hit the ground running last week, with transfer advising on Tuesday and Panther Prowl for both incoming freshmen and transfers on Friday, so you would think the first week back would be easy as pie.

Well, much of it was easy--since the students make the classes, and they were enthusiastic and ready to work. The fundamentals of English class had great stories to share about their literacy experiences. The film and literature students shared great examples to support each element of the shot. And the Advanced Institute teacher/students have begun implementing their mini-units.

The hard part was my own energy level. Monday's eclipse brought much excitement to campus, and I enjoyed sharing the experience with students at the campus pond. But on Tuesday I remembered how much difficulty I have with late afternoon classes. My morning and mid-day classes went fine. But the 3:30-5:10 film and literature class drained me.

And despite my low energy level, I decided to test my strength at the Panther Challenge, a circuit workout created by the Russians of Soviet Union days. After doing hundreds of squats in different iterations, burpies, box hops, chin ups and push ups, I did feel strong--until the next day when I struggled to get out of bed. Needless to say, I skipped that workout after class on Thursday and instead worked myself out on the circuit machines. Today I'm beginning to walk normally.

So next week I need to attack this energy problem. I'll figure out how to keep up the energy level for class and post-class exercise, while still staying off afternoon caffeine, so I can sleep at night. Here's hoping next week I can be as enthusiastic as my students about writing, reading, and film analysis.