Getting ready

I start teaching on Wednesday. A grad course. I'm nervous.

On most of my interviews the general statement on how get tenure was: get grants, publish papers, get grants, publish papers, oh and by the way, try and be a half decent teacher.

But Vanderbilt was different in that they stressed the importance of teaching, and I can understand why when you hear about how much the undergrads pay for one year of school here.

And they weren't kidding when they said it really effects hiring. When I went to the teaching orientation last week and everyone introduced themselves to the crowd, there wasn't a single person with a quiet voice. Everyone was booming and well spoken.

Then I went to some of the grad student orientations and saw some of the professors speak about their reserach. Wow. Just Wow. I have a lot to learn about teaching and presenting from these folks.