S. Worthen | Weblog

You'll find things much easier if this is a class you've already taught, both in terms of the workload and the sheer amount of energy it does or does not take out of you. :) Familiarity goes a long way. I've found that it's very reassuring to the students, as well, to have someone who's done the class before, who can speak from experience and give them an idea of what to expect and common mistakes made. I think, too, the more often you TA, the better you become at balancing the demands of that work with your own. At least you'll have the fall semester to yourself, and knowing the demands on your time will pick up in January may have a salutary effect on your concentration. ;)

As for the dream... I should do an LJ entry sometime on all the various dissertation-anxiety dreams I've had the last couple of years. Some of them have been very wild. ;) I would tend to think that the permanent, low-level dissertation anxiety we all live with has just chosen to fasten itself to a recent major decision you've made about the dissertation. Subconscious second-guessing, maybe....