Isaac and Josh are on another summer adventure--they are in Pittsburgh visiting Tirzah, Bob and Ella. Meanwhile, I'm at home because I'm teaching a class at Tufts in addition to my MIT job. I really underestimated how much work it would be to teach my own class. There are 22 students with 15 class meeting and each class is either 2 hr:15 min or 2:45. That's a lot of time to fill! We've met four times and while I am less nervous (I was surprised about that--but teaching for over two hours is much different than presenting a one hour talk of your research), I still am struggling with creating a balance between good teaching that includes active learning with getting through a ton of material. I was taught straight lecture style and that's the way I know the best, but intellectually, I know that the style doesn't work for most students and so I'm trying to get them out of their desks, drawing on the board, using real-life computer programs that I used in my PhD (Ape) and next week they'll use an MIT simulator for genetics called StarGenetics.
I worry that I'm not covering enough or covering it deep enough. While I am trying to remember that this is my first class and I'm allowed to make mistakes, so that the pressure isn't so much, the reality is that I need this class to work out for me career-wise. I feel sad missing out of all the fun Josh and Isaac are having for the second summer in a row (last summer I was writing my thesis). It's only four more weeks and the money will be appreciated, but I am looking forward to sleeping soundly and exercising again.
Here are some great pictures that Josh has taken of their trip so far:
