I can't teach everything

I have to say that I have lately received a huge ego boost from several students. It started out near the end of last semester, and has become a bit out of control.

The primary reason I am happy is that things started out a bit rocky. In the first month of my course last fall, several students went to the chair saying that I was too difficult, and giving them too much work. By the end, they apparently praised me on the evaluations.*

I have to say that I like the fact that they are meshing with my teaching style. Obviously I like my style, and if it wasn't working then I would have to change it, so there's that. But also, there's something more. I have noticed this semester that it took some time due to how I approached my class, but eventually the students "got it." I don't think they like the material necessarily, but they got it. They understood my approach, and they understood my thought process.

It makes me excited to go in on days I teach, because of course I feel like I'm doing something right.

Now, I've got a great prank for them today, so I must be off.

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* I say apparently because I have not seen them. For some unknown reason, the evaluations are not given to the instructors, but to the chair who looks them over and discusses the results with the instructor. This is a ridiculous procedure that I will try to change, because I believe that all faculty should see their evaluations as soon as possible after turning in the grades, so that they could (in principle) see how to improve their next semester of teaching. But I digress.