November 22: The Trojan War, War Horse, Ice Ice Baby

I have been reviewing chapters on the Trojan War all day long in preparation for teaching mythology today.  Hector and Paris and Helen and Priam and Achilles and that son-of-a-bitch Agamemnon.  I still have to come up with a lesson plan, and I still don't feel quite comfortable with the material. 

This cloud of inadequacy hangs over me every time I teach a class for the first time.  For instance, the first time I taught Good Books, I totally screwed it up.  However, now, I think I'm pretty damn good at teaching Good Books.  I need to develop the same confidence for mythology.

It's a matter of becoming an old war horse.  I think of myself as an old war horse of Good Books.  I've taught it enough that I feel totally comfortable with the class.  Some days, I don't even need a lesson plan to teach.  I can just walk into the classroom and fly by the seat of my pants.  In fact, those are some of the best Good Books classes I teach.

I'm not quite there with mythology yet.  I probably won't be there for at least a few more semesters.  Instead, I feel like I'm standing up in front of my students, dancing to "Ice Ice Baby" like some middle-aged idiot.  I may not look quite that foolish, by that's my perception at the moment.  It ain't very fun.

Saint Marty needs to make up a lesson plan now.