John Colton's blog

Got my first BYU class to teach in an hour and a half. There are 280 students, which makes me a bit nervous. But I went to the other section of the class this morning (taught by Bret Hess) and it didn't look too awful.

Actually, going to the other section was funny--I sat in the audience(*) and all of the students around me thought I was jut another student. We did a bunch of partner-problems, where you talk about the problem in a pair and then answer it via an electronic "clicker". After about half the class, I mentioned to my partner that I was teaching the other section of the class. He was flabbergasted and said he had just thought I was a student. And after that, I was partnered with the guy on the other side, and he said the same thing when I let on to him. And then, when the guy in back of me found out, he said "Dang--I was just thinking that you'd be a good study-buddy".


(*) yes, with classes this size, it's basically an audience. Some advice I got last week: "Think of yourself more as a talk-show host than a college professor, and you'll do fine."