Frustrations

So today I was supposed to lead the class discussion in my CMPST 640R class. I read the book, read the supplemental readings, and prepared three main questions I wanted to discuss. I marked the passages, wrote out the questions with some guides as to where I wanted the discussion to lead, and went to bed feeling like I was prepared. I woke up, printed off the papers for everyone, and arrived early to class. I began my discussion with a short introduction as to how Book 1 and Book 2 are different, then moved into my first topic of inquiry.

Maybe people just don’t like to talk at 8 in the morning. Maybe I didn’t leave enough room for interpretation when I asked my question. Maybe I talked too much, not enough, or maybe I smelled funny. (I didn’t: I showered before class). For whatever reason, though, no one really picked up on what I was putting down. Well… the professor did. And he dominated the conversation and discussion for a large part of the time. I did get to all my (three) questions, but they didn’t go anywhere near where I envisioned them. Of course I could have examined the topics more along the angles he brought up, but I wanted to hear my classmates ideas on what I had prepared for them. At least I don’t feel sick anymore. I was half-worried that I wouldn’t make it through class. So that’s a good thing, right?