How long does it take your mind to switch off from one thing and get on to something else? I teach undergraduate mathematics. In a given year, I am expected to teach many courses simultaneously .In a typical year it may be a course in Algebra, one in Linear algebra or multivariate calculus, one in analysis, one in basic calculus with some numerical analysis and at times graph theory thrown in. With this kind of a teaching load, I am shifting from class to class with hardly a five minute break in between. My mind does not switch off that easily from what I have been thinking. Each of these subjects has its own modus operandi .The techniques are so varied from the continuous to the discrete mode. If I am thinking of a problem that is proving difficult to solve, my mind returns to it again and again and my concentration elsewhere wavers. Hence generally I wait to finish off my classes for the day before I start working on something new.
Does it happen to others? In other subjects? What effect does it have on one’s research output? How much teaching is too much? Is teaching to be measured by number of hours only?
No comments:
Post a Comment