8.20 Lessons - Procrastination Ends Here

Bestest Friend and I are in the middle of a blog project. Each day of the month we will post a picture on a pre-determined theme and write a little something about it. The theme for the twentieth day of each month is "Lessons."
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Last semester I took on a class about two weeks before the semester started. This was a class I had never taught before and wasn't particularly well versed in through my graduate work.  One of my co-workers swore she would do all the work of creating the course, from the syllabus through the final exam, and all I would need to do was basically stand in front of the room and give her PowerPoint presentations.

Well, she provided the outline of a syllabus and the occasional PowerPoint and I spent most of last semester in a state of panic about having to go teach that damn class.  I was writing assignments for material I hadn't taught yet, desperately tried to come up with essay questions that were appropriate for a disorganized mess of a topic, and was happily plagiarizing any and all lecture material my colleagues would send my way. It took me two weeks after the semester ended before I stopped waking up in the middle of the night freaking out about what in the hell I was going to teach on Wednesday.

This semester is going to be different.  I knew ahead of time what I was going to be teaching. I only have one new prep. I had my syllabi written and copied a week ahead of time. I have most of the assignments written already and an outline of major themes in all the courses.

But mostly I've learned that I'm not really a team player. I can't deal with the idea of collaborating on a class, especially if other people aren't as conscientious about due dates as I am.  Also, never trust a department chair who is making deals with you two weeks before the semester starts.  He or she will not be above straight out lying to you to do his or her bidding.
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To see what Bestest Friend wrote about the theme of the day, check out her blog, Too Legit to Quit.