Today is move-in day in my small town. Suddenly the number of people around will go up by 50%, lots of folks driving the wrong way down one-way streets, and crowds at Walmart, Walgreen's, the grocery stores, and the two bookstores that do textbook orders. I was out first thing in the morning to the Farmers' Market, but now I am in for the day. On Monday I will be on campus, being a faculty member and talking with students, attending meetings, and providing directions to the lost wanderers. But for this one moment each year I feel very much like a "townie" and less than sociable toward these newcomers.
This past spring was the first time I have ever thought about teaching a class for the "freshman week" program. It was not formally proposed, but I talked with the person in charge of them, as well as the person in whose "department" (it is a program in interdisciplinary studies rather than a regular department) it would have been part of, and it just wasn't quite right this year. That is okay. In some ways freshmen scare me. They have such energy, often tremendous earnestness, and a need for support and guidance (including in how to channel their interests and desires into the delayed-gratification realm of college). But this year for some reason I am starting to want to tangle with that web of complications.
Come with me below the orange spiral staircase for a hot morning's thoughts on the transition to college from the teacher who will teach the incoming freshmen.