A Day in the Life… of a student professor

When students get up in the morning, some worry about making it to class on time or staying awake through the lecture. Most don’t consider what it takes for a professor to make it to class and present the lecture. Hours are devoted to preparing for classes, grading papers and meeting with students. Now imagine combining these two demanding schedules.

This is a day in the life of Sharla Dudley. Dudley is a part-time graduate student — she’s writing her thesis on the defense of oral literature by looking at western fairy tales. Yet, she’s a part-time faculty member — a professor of survey of British literature. Dudley will graduate in December after the completion of her thesis.

Already, Dudley has begun to learn to balance her life as a student and a teacher. Arriving to campus around 9 or 10 a.m. in the morning, she mentally prepares herself for the day.

Dudley allows herself at least two hours a day to prepare for her classes, along with the four hours she spends grading papers. As for her thesis, Dudley works on that whenever she has spare time.

Dudley usually arrives home for the day at 6 p.m. She then tries to unwind and relax, which usually means reading a book.

"Monday, Wednesday and Friday are my teaching days and Tuesday and Thursday are my student days," Dudley said. "My thesis is every day."

Although her workload can be intimidating, she is coping. "I try to see what my saturation point is every day," Dudley said. "Sometimes there are certain deadlines to meet and those are crunch days."

Aside from her duties as a student, a good chunk of her time is spent preparing to teach class. Dudley loves every minute of teaching. "I get to teach literature," Dudley said, "something I really enjoy."

Her students also agree that her love for the subject is reflected in her teaching. "You can definitely tell her passion for literature, which I think is great," junior Jessica Cobb said. "It shows up in her teaching."

Teaching, Dudley said, is fulfilling. "It’s rewarding in a general way to go into a classroom and see people starting to understand."

Junior Soo Bin Kang appreciates the time and effort Dudley consistently puts into her work. "She motivates me to think outside of the box," Kang said. "I can say I learned something walking out of her class, unlike some of my other classes." Kang said that Dudley’s discussions help him think more in depth about the material that they are working with.

This passion for teaching and literature is what makes all the hard work worthwhile. Although she has much to juggle as the semester continues, Dudley is excited and optimistic about her future as a teacher. Until graduation, however, Dudley simply is "trying to learn to take it one day at a time."