Thursday, October 25, 2007

Nerves

Last Spring, Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honorary here at BRU, honored me with their outstanding teacher award. At the time, I was flummoxed by the gesture. Even, briefly, rendered speechless.

Well, tonight, that will change, since a speech is precisely what has been asked of me--apparently it is customary here for the recipient of this award to speak at the annual induction ceremony. I'll post the thing up here tomorrow or perhaps tonight after the ceremony.

But even though I walk into class every day and talk ad nauseum about whatever book we're reading that day, for some reason, I am quite nervous about this little thing. I already know lots of the inductees and current members, and I like many of them, and have had many of them in class, and many of them have seen my signature teaching move: the threat of tap-dancing for non-participation.

Despite this, the fact that I really have no true dignity left to lose tonight, I am worried. I've been working on the speech off and on for three weeks, and I've been obsessing over what to where (all I've got to show for it is a desire to debut the fantastic olive green velvet Ralph Lauren trousers by I found a couple of months ago, but nothing to wear with them).

That and I've got 6 papers to grade by tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!

2 comments:

moria said...

Don't forget -- they have honored you with this prize, which anyone who reads this blog can tell you've richly deserved.

They just want to bask in your presence, and feel self-satisfied for having been so discerning in their choice of excellent teacher. You could yell dadaist verse at them, for all they care. You got the prize for being you -- for the natural persona you project in your classroom. Therefore, whatever you say will be appropriate, and lovely, simply because it comes from you.

Still, nerves are a horrible thing. Good vibes from my corner of the earth to yours.

Horace said...

Thanks Neophyte. You rock. If all the audience were like you, though, I'd be even more nervous. It's hard to live up to all that good will.