I've been suffering from a bout of insomnia lately, usually on Monday and Wednesday nights, the nights before I teach at 8am. This is the third such bout for me, the first w as during my second semester as an MA student, another last summer, and now here again.
Teaching is especially difficult while sleep-deprived, especially given the rather free-wheeling approach I take to lecture, given to side journeys and long answers to student questions. I pride myself on being fast on my feet, but 3 hours of sleep just does not allow for that, as a consequence I feel that I cheating my students, especially those who have are taking a class with me for the second semester, expecting the kinds of classroom antics I used to deliver. They have bene good to me and they deserve better.
This has led me to think a bit about my approach to teaching, and wondering whether I have been placing too much emphasis on my teaching personality and riding that, students seem to enjoy and respond (and I have a few teaching awards to prove this), over content. I'll be moving in August to the deep South, and perhaps my approach won't sell there - if so I am in some trouble.
I've always approached teaching less concerned about content and more interested in conveying the larger concepts of race and gender, the concept of market culture, and so on, taking the small story to illustrate the big picture. But I also like the performance aspect of teaching (probably not all that surprising given my family). Where is the balance between amusement which begats engagement, and the hard knowledge they need (or I think they need)?
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My personal opinion is that you can continue doing as you do, and they will likely retain some of what you teach them - or you can change to something less engaging and they probably will retain nothing.
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