Saturday 18 June 2011

butterflies in formation

So tomorrow is the first day of the block.  First time meeting my tutorial group and first time giving a lecture here.    All things I have done many times in Canada but never here in Nepal.  It's a curious combination of excitement  tinged with anxiety.  I've thought a lot about this over the years and I think it is linked to wanting things to go well for the students.  

Ten years ago I remember being taught by a master teacher at Harvard, whose name was Chris Roland Christiensen. At that time he was in his mid 70's and was revered by students and faculty alike.  As he started his lecture he acknowledged that he had not slept well the night before due to being so anxious about teaching us.  I asked him about it later and he said " Even after 45 years of teaching I still get butterflies in my stomach the night before meeting a class for the first time it's just that now they are flying in formation".

So here's to always having butterflies in formation.


1 comment:

  1. beautiful sentiment! I am envisioning the butterflies moving into formation in the first minutes of your first lecture!

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