Your mileage may vary.

January 9, 2009, 9:59 am

I find that if I teach a course in the afternoon I have previously taught in the morning, I am left at the end of the fifty minutes with a fair amount of uncovered lecture material—maybe as much as ten to twenty percent of what I thought I’d do.¹ Which suggests of course that I talk markedly more slowly in the pm than in the am. Or maybe I dilate more expansively on a given point.

Students who believe I talk too fast or cover too much too quickly may wish to consider the availability of slower, afternoon Eric.

I bet there are other odd factors that determine the relative quality of one’s teaching—how much sleep one gets, how much coffee² one drinks, etc.

¹Based on an observed sample of two instances of am/pm shifting.
²There are of course other beverages that have marked effects; I remember one person who argued white wine doesn’t count, so you can drink it in the morning, and another who would place a pint on the windowsill in the lecture hall, for ready access… these are obviously not stories of our time and place.