Resolve

The students are back. The new bugs have either been inducted or induced (never 100% sure which is the more appropriate past participle), they have been shown the important places on campus (cafeteria, pool tables, smoking area), and they have been dispatched with their timetables. Tomorrow is the freshers' fair, which was compared (perhaps unwisely) by a senior member of staff to Match.com. Just as well we're giving the students condoms then...


I find it easier to set New Year's resolutions in September than in January. It makes more sense when dealing with northern hemisphere academic years. So here are a few things I'll be aiming for in the 2012-2013 academic year, related to teaching.

• I will get my arse in gear and finally apply for Registered Scientist (RSci).
  
• I will get some fish for the lab. They will be resistant to sulphuric acid.
  
• I will ditch the bullet-point slides and draw and write more on the whiteboard.
  
• I will get ALL my A2 students blogging and tweeting.
  
• I will not let my new responsibilities as a curriculum leader make me less effective as a teacher.
  
• I will not eat burgers from the canteen.
  
• I will fill every windowsill in the biology lab with variegated Pelargonium plants.
  
• I will bring evolution into all aspects of the biology I teach, so the evidence is in place when I cover it formally.
  
• I will mainline Hot Lava Java on a daily basis to keep me at the top of my game.
  
• I will continue to be as sarcastic, terrifying, insane and sweary as I always have been (apparently), and fearlessly overprotective of my students...