Good luck sweetie!!

Today marks hubby's first day teaching his own class. He's been a TA and has coached debate with other people... but this is the first day he's going to be responsible for shaping young minds.

Since hubby reads my blog -- and I can't reliably connect with him until later in the day --- here are some words of wisdom from the teaching trenches... Feel free to add your own advise in the comments.

-- Make sure you are on campus early, then relax as much as you can.

-- You know more than they do. They may think they know more than you, but they are wrong... just like you were wrong when you thought that you knew more than your profs :)...

-- If you respect them, they'll generally treat you well. Assume they are maturing adults and treat them accordingly, the ones that don't deserve that respect will show their true selves soon enough. That is when you bring the hammer down.... not before.

--- If your classroom gets rowdy, that's a good thing. Let them talk, but keep control. An engaged class is a happy class. Find ways to alter the grop size and have some fun. College is serious, but that doesn't mean that it has to be serious ALL the time.

-- There is a reason they hired you. In particular, there is a reason they made you a good enough deal to move from the northern paradise to Red State, away from me, the cats and your router :). You are qualified and you are good enough to deserve this.

And above all, treat it like a debate round and "don't suck"*

I love you and I hope you have a good class. I'll see you tonight!

the philosophy queen...
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* This was infamous advise hubby got from his first debate coach. We picked it up and have been giving it long after she's on to doing other things...