I'm beginning to realize that I'm much more comfortable talking in front a group than I am with most kinds of one-on-one or small group interactions. When I gave my talk at the Big Conference, I was able to relax into my presentation, providing appropriate asides and stopping to explain when needed. (There is a point where I write about something "resembling" something else, when its really a direct quotation. In the written format, this is fine. In the live format, it just sounded/read silly. So, I explained what I meant and moved on.)
This is something to think about for my career, whatever that may be. More specifically, it's making me think more about my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. I can facilitate good discussions when I think of myself as a facilitator, getting students to talk to each other. I'm not as good at leading discussions. I hope that distinction is clear. More importantly, my strength is in my lecture style. There is a lot I need to improve on there, but I can do it. The chair of the department I'm interviewing at got his degree from a sister department at Urban State University. It wasn't that he was impressed that I had led my own class in front of 500 students last year, it was just that he knew what kind of accomplishment it was and attributed to me a group of qualities as an instructor. This past summer, I had to do a mock lesson in front of 8 people as part of a (failed) job interview. By simply pretending that it was a lot more people, I think it went pretty well.
Anyway, I'm preparing part of my job talk right now. Part of the difficulty I'm having is not knowing how much time I will have (probably either 40 minutes + 20 minutes discussion or 30 minutes + 15 minutes discussion). I could do my Big Conference talk with some extra padding about my research. However, I know that at least one member of the search committee is interested in another aspect of my research, so I'm trying to figure out how to fold that into my Big Conference presentation. I don't think I should discuss just the other area, though, because it really doesn't represent my research, just an important aspect of the larger whole of my historical period. Ah, I'm running into the limits of writing semi-anonymously, aren't I.
It's time to start figuring out exactly how much stuff we have to do this weekend. Among other things, I want to get us both new phones! And curtain rods and maybe curtains for the kitchen. And a swim suit and some professional grooming related to swim suit wearing. And a full menu planned for Thanksgiving, which includes figuring out what to buy when and where, when to cook what, etc. And lots and lots of raking. MT "lost" the "argument" about how my in-laws are getting here, so we'll actually have a lot of time on Wednesday to prepare before they get here. I guess that's a good thing, although it would be nice if they could/would get here earlier.
