when "faking it" works...

This new class is really weird. It fills me with an overpowering sense of dread when I'm preparing for it, but then once the class actually gets started, things go surprisingly well. I think the unfulfilled dread is the result of a couple of things. First, I forget that even when I'm teaching somewhat out of my specific area of expertise, I still know a hell of a lot more than a bunch of 20 year olds. They are very unlikely on any given day to probe a topic deeply enough to reveal that I don't really know what I'm talking about. Second, I've had unfounded worries that this class will be covering ideas with which the students (mostly juniors and seniors) are already familiar. It doesn't, and they aren't. Lastly, I have no confidence in the tools of circle time, and no ability to guess how long circle-time discussions and small-group activities will take. Well, it turns our these kids are totally into the small group stuff, and everything takes TWICE as long as I thought it would. So I go in thinking I don't have enough planned, and wind up having to totally leave stuff out.

Anyway, the upshot... the worry-producing class is just fine. In face, I should spend some time thinking about the other ones for a while.