Teaching

By this time I would usually be busy preparing for Fall term courses. Creating a course outline. Revisiting my lecture notes. Meeting with a lab technician. Determining the teaching assistants assigned for my courses.

But I am not doing that this year. I am preparing instead for a workshop to be constructed. Determining a new pay structure. Reviewing draft agreements. Calculating manufacturing costs.

My work has changed and I find both offer meaningful work. Both are sufficiently complex to not bore me. But I have to say that industry job offers a faster reward and punishment feedback, which is thus more exciting.

Teaching a course at a school or university can be repetitive. If the course is right up my alley, then I am excited the first two years I teach it. I cannot hide this enthusiasm from my students and they see it. When I teach it the third time, I am very familiar with it and would be able to teach it well. Beyond the fourth time I teach it, it usually becomes less interesting since it will have become a chore.

I thus marvel at a high school teacher who can have a stamina to teach the same course over many years. He can perfect his course material and delivery style, but both aspects have limits.

I miss teaching though and starting next month I will be volunteering to train math and physics high school teachers. It gives me time to teach and opportunity to give back to people who have been very generous to me.

I have been dreaming of blending industry job and teaching job for a while. Maybe this opportunity can give me a fertile ground to make it happen.