Good Mood

Nothing much has happened since yesterday... and considering that the summary of my post yesterday was that nothing interesting had happened of late, one might well wonder why I'm bothering to post with the essential message of "ditto".

Because this is less of an update, news-wise, than it is an update "specific detail"-wise.

It seems that, over the month or so coming to a head today, I've sort of developed a bit of a teacher complex. To set the stage my goings on, allow me to first explain that about a month and a half ago I helped an English classmate in preparing her last essay. Without knowing exactly where her marks were from last semester's essays, I know they were "not good". I'm guessing in the 2.5 to 3.0 grade point range.

Well, our class got back our essays last Friday. I got a 4.0, A+, which put me in a fine mood--but it was not anywhere near so fine as discovering today that my classmate got a 3.7 (which the professor apparently said she may regrade as a 4.0) on her essay. Entirely my work, the improvement.

Next tale of me and teaching involves Religion class: Introduction to Christianity. It's the easiest course I've ever taken or am likely to take unless they come up with a Middle-Earth History 101. It's also, rather relatedly, my favourite class. The reason? Well, Christianity (with Tolkien) is probably my favourite field of study. We have an engaging prof, and one who isn't tied in notions of control or doing all the work. She's also quite open to class input. This means that if anything comes up touching on Catholicism... then Michael A. Joosten is the expert who gets to pontificate to the class.

There was also the episode a couple weeks back where I got to class early, and, being bored, took up a piece of chalk and drew a map of the Middle East on the board, marking in a few of major centres of ancient times (this is intro to Christianity, remember? We were studying inter-Testamental times at that point). Well, the prof came in, and loved it. I either got really lucky or really unlucky because it so happened that she had been planning to bring maps in, but hadn't had time. The upshot was that the first five minutes of class were of Professor Michael standing at the front of class giving a very short overview of Middle Eastern history, and the Hebrew involvement therein.

Then, today, in Sociology class, we were divided up into groups and told to discuss the pros and cons of homeschooling. You will all remember that Yours Truly was homeschooled... and had a lot to say. Well, when each group had to pick a spokesperson, I got nominated (I was more than willing). When no group seemed eager to go first, I volunteered... and proceded to spend about five minutes expounding on homeschooling pros and cons from the podium at the front of the class. The best part was that the next group had to be completely cajoled into presenting, since (apparently) I had already covered all the points they came up with. (Not true, as they added a couple things I never thought of at the time, or didn't have time for, but still).

Finally, after my last class today, a religion classmate and I went over last Friday's class, which she had missed. Since I took all of zero notes for class that day, and haven't bothered printing a lecture outline all year, I did it from memory. The main thing regarding that, however, is that we got to talking afterwards (she's one of my best friends at Concordia, where I'm slightly solitary normally), and I mentioned the fun I'd had that morning talking in front of Sociology, and how I loved speaking in public, and expounding on topics I know something about. Of course, she laughed and my history talk in Religion was mentioned, and I believe I said something about it looking like I was becoming something of a teacher.

"You're very good at teaching," was about what she said, or something quite similar. It wasn't a particularly dramatic statement, and conversation flowed on--but it struck me. I considered it a huge compliment, and it was probably the high point of my day.

It's true, really... I love imparting information, and I love speaking in public. It would have been my own verdict, but I'm glad to have a second opinion, but it seems that I'm good at it.

I have no idea if this means anything in the long run. Coupled with the reaffirmation of my intelligence (between getting back marks and beating TGWBS in an IQ exam--surely a fluke, though), I've been thinking about the prospects of me being sent on for further studies after ordination. I thought about that a fair bit before the New Year, as may be recalled, and I hold to my original conclusion that it's way to early to make plans or worry... but my mindset has changed. I still don't really want to do more studies, if that's what I have to do, but the prospect of becoming a professor or seminary formator, rather than looking like the unwanted roadblock on my road to being a pastor, looks like something I could really enjoy.

If I end up an academic... I might not mind so much...