Teaching again ..

So, one managed to get to the university again this month to teach on a couple of days about what the Department calls Operating Systems / Low Level Programming. Many folks say that teaching is a pain , its an art and its definitely not a science. I enjoyed it as long as I didn't have too much load at work and not too mentally tired. The last thing you want to do after a strenuous time at work is to come back home and prepare for a course lecture. Today was one day where I enjoyed myself again. Choosing to go the blackboard chalk and extempore way that I went ahead with my talk instead of what could be German or Japanese efficiency in putting everything into a presentation - I found myself in a position where I had to pull the audience along , open up to them , have some of them open up to be able to ask reasonable questions and not just sit there as mute spectators. Seldom has one felt a thrill equivalent to the kick I got today out of teaching 35 -40 post graduate students about Debugging logic , theory , how does source line numbers map to addresses, where to look for information etc. etc. etc. I think I had a reasonable class given that they laughed at all my simple jokes which sometimes don't come out all that easily.

Thinking about teachingg as such, I realized that one needs to enjoy it or (s)he'll be a total misfit in that community. Its also a bit of a thankless job but the satisfaction one gets in addition to a total ego kick about teaching at the university is quite a carrot.