First week of classes

It's Friday and I've finished my first week of classes. I will say that I am very much enjoying my new job so far. I have luckily been given courses to teach that I have already taught in the past. But even so there have been a lot of changes that I have had to make because the class size is so much smaller. I am also noticing the differences between a larger university and a small liberal arts college:

• students are more willing to go to the professor and expect one-on-one attention (a good thing in my book)
• This extra attention requires a lot of time and work on my part (still good, I need to learn to manage my time better)
• Having students do discussions and active learning takes a lot of planning.
• Students love to listen to music before class, but they don't like all of my musical tastes.
• You get to really know people outside of your department
• faculty must wear many many hats
• I like small colleges much better than big universities!

So my first week went well. I will really need to work on learning my students' names but that will come in a couple of weeks hopefully. I am even more excited to start to get past the dryer introductory stuff and get into more interesting material. I just hope that I do not overwork my students. I'm hoping that averaging one out-of class assignment per chapter is a good number. I also try to do some sort of active learning (discussion, writing, group work) in every class period.

I am very much looking forward to my long weekend this labor day. Weather is supposed to be very nice out and there is a ton of stuff going on in the area. I hope I have time to relax :)