Cognitive dissonance

You get: An e-mail with the subject line, "Last minute course materials for fall."

You think: Crap, something more I have to get/read for class.

You read it and find: A message from a book company rep, addressed to you as "Professor."

Also, it's weird how reluctant you can be to open your mouth in class when you're used to being the one who evaluates what people say, not being (explicitly) evaluated yourself. Okay, we've only had three classes - I'll get used to it. But right now it's weird.

Comments

[Amy]

I've have the opposite problem... I think I would talk too much. I'm dying to take one of my colleagues' classes this fall, but I fear she'll pull me aside after the first class and tell me to shut up!

[New Kid on the Hallway]

You know, I totally thought I would do that, because in the past I was totally a talker. And I will probably revert to that as I get more comfortable with the culture. But I was listening to some of the other students ask questions - most of them very recently graduated - and realized that they're more comfortable with the role of asking about stuff, and not being the expert, than I am. They know they're not supposed to know everything, and that the teacher does know stuff (if not everything ;-D), so they should ask about stuff. Whereas I subconsciously think I *should* know everything and be answering, not asking, questions! And they're also more used to volunteering their opinions in class than I am, because for the last umpteen years that I've been in the classroom, the point was to get OTHER people to give their opinions, not to share my own (well, unless I was lecturing, and I really doubt anyone in my law classes will want me to do that!).

The other thing is that there's a really big thing in law school of hating the gunners - the people who talk about their own VERY IMPORTANT experience with something tangentially related to one fact in the case, or who ask a lot of convoluted/not super relevant questions, or have to answer EVERY question - I know these people are annoying in any context, but law students REALLY hate them. And I think the classroom modes I'm used to - either pontificating, or trying to get students to say more/expand/analyze/whatever - might look kind of gunner-y to my classmates.

(Thankfully I've only seen one person exhibit gunner-y behavior so far. The sad thing is when I saw this, I remembered hir gunner-ness from the admit day, too.)

[Citronella]

Going back to the role of student after having been a professor is probably going to offer some interesting unforeseen surprises... and I can't wait to hear about them!

And also, I have nominated you for some award thingie (I think it basically means I've listed you among a few of the weblogs I really enjoy reading), it's here: http://unsubstantialbubbles.net/post/2008/08/23/Awarded