Although I was very upfront with my students about my Visiting status, many of them still weren't aware that I would only be here at TempCollege for the year. Now that the semester is underway, it seems like all the students (especially the freshmen, surprisingly) are already planning out their future academic schedules. I've had to turn down quite a few requests to serve as a long-term advisor. I also put about half the class into a mini-panic when they learned I wouldn't be teaching them in the upper-level class that I'm currently teaching. I had to assure them that it wasn't anything personal against them or TempCollege; I simply had to continue onward towards my goal of getting into a tenure-track position at a liberal arts college.
I suppose that I should take it as a compliment that they were looking forward to taking a class from me again, but 9 am is just too early to face 15 frantic freshman.*
*say that five times fast!
