Economics II, like Wednesday's Budgets class, was located in a classroom the size of a cereal box. What is it with this program? Can't they plan any better? This is the computer age. It can't have come as a sudden shock to the policy office that 35 of us signed up for this course.
I forgot to look at a campus map before class yesterday, so I wound up parking at the exact opposite end of the campus from my classroom. I showed up late. Had to wedge myself into the room with a shoehorn. Sat jammed almost in a corner. My bags and coat stowed awkwardly under my knees. Head so close to the blackboard I couldn't read what was written.
All of which I can shrug off. Shrug, I say. See? I just shrugged, and ::floop:: off it came.
Here's what I can't forget: the first time I opened my mouth, I utterly floundered, and messed up what I wanted to say in class. Gah! I'm hopeless at economics-speak. I can read it; I can write it. I get A's on my papers. But I can't speak it. It always comes out sounding like this: "OK, consumer surplus is like, when you, like, pay for something? But you would have paid more? But they didn't let you, because ... well, that doesn't matter, never mind. And what's, um, up above the price, that's the surplus. Totally."
::crickets::
The horror stayed with me through break, when I could only answer simple questions with grunts and nods. Pam Not Have Firm Grasp of Vocabulary. But hey, maybe I could make it as an econ teacher in a junior high school. Totally.
Oh well. This semester will be my litmus test. Many readings, and hundreds of itsy teeny nuisance assignments designed to make one conversant in the field, or die.
Pam, don't feel bad. My usually florid vocabulary took a powder yesterday too.
Posted by: maya | January 28, 2005 at 01:09 PM
"Econ teacher in Junior HighSchool"--isn't that a synonym for "I'm in hell and I can't get out"?
Other hell-o-grams:
Junior High Band Director
Junior High English Teacher
Junior High Science Teacher
Junior High Drama Teacher
Junior High Security Guard
Pam: get your lingo together before it's too late.....
Posted by: Anthony | January 28, 2005 at 01:43 PM