There is perhaps nothing more entertaining to students than a professor teaching under the influence of lots of cold medication.
Yes, folks, I decided (by this I mean that my germy students decided..) to welcome February in with one heck of a flu case. Buckets of hand sanitizer have been evaporated. It's possible that I'm now addicted to pseudoephedrine. My nose is puffy, red, and shredded.
My lectures were...interesting...this past week. Students actually didn't catch on that I was sick until Thursday. One student commented that they all were placing bets on how much coffee I had consumed pre-lecture. (aw, how sweet).
I have certainly lectured in a worse state. There was the time I gave a lecture, only to realize later that I had a fever of 103 F. The week that I guest lectured during an allergic reaction (one that made it impossible for me to keep any food or liquid down) was particularly memorable for me.
Obviously, none of us want to infect our students. But sometimes, you just have to suck it up and get through the 60 minutes.
What's the worst state that you've been in during lecture?
4 comments:
One of my professors once lectured us when she had a serious cold (possibly flu) - except she wasn't as clean and germ-aware as you seem to be. Forget about hand sanitizer - she'd be coughing and blowing her nose all the time while distributing hand-outs. She also had tissues piled up on her desk. (Just thinking back to that makes me shudder!)
Hope you feel better soon! Chicken soup does wonders!!
That's disgusting!! I close my office door whenever I need to blow my nose. My snot = my business.
Worst? I don't remember. But few classes could match the one I taught at 10 AM on 9/11.
Last semester, I broke my leg. At first, the ER doctor had diagnosed my injury as an ankle sprain and a knee dislocation. Later, I saw an orthopaedic doctor and found out I had a fractured leg that required surgery. Shit. I took a couple of days off and returned to school when I thought I was feeling better. After all, it was just a sprain. I was wrong. I was in a lot of pain, but could not take pain pills because I wanted to be lucid. So, I had to rely on motrin. The two days that I taught, I was so damned miserable.
Post a Comment