I’ve been very busy teaching classes recently (The last four weeks have gone Ajax, Spring, Struts 2.0, and XML and Java) so I haven’t had much time to blog. Every once in a while, however, I try to stop and smell the roses, such as they are.
You want to know one of the best things about teaching training classes? Think back to when you were in school, and remember the last day of classes. More specifically, think about the ending of one of the classes where you had to work hard, but wound up doing a good job and being rewarded for it. Picture that last day, when there are no more assignments, no more exams, no more projects to be done of any kind, just a warm feeling that you did everything that had to be done and you did a good job doing it.
Feels good, doesn’t it? I get that feeling at the end of every training class. 🙂
I do enjoy the actual classes. The give-and-take is always great fun. For me, a big part of my job is technology transfer, telling the current students what’s going on at other clients I’ve seen (without the specific client names, of course), talking about events in the industry, learning how they plan to use the subject I’m teaching in their actual business. I also enjoy seeing the light bulbs light up over the students’ heads when they “get” a particular concept.
Also, not every class goes well for every student. Since the students are grading me, rather than the other way around, I hear about it when it doesn’t work. I really feel every negative evaluation, too.
But there’s nothing like the joy of finishing, knowing that everybody is (basically) happy, there’s nothing else that has to be done, and you did a good job. I love that feeling.
(That’s also a much more pleasant reward than what my friend Tom once told me, “the worst class in the world is over in a week,” even though he’s right, too.)
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