Meeting Me (as a teacher)

Am I starting to get the swing of this yet? Maybe. I've gotten into a pattern, though it perhaps is a pattern with less sleep than I had hoped.

There are other patterns I've noticed:

1. My slides are always too long for Intro. But, if I end with 2 or more clicker questions, I don't have to worry about not finishing "content". The clicker questions are useful and important, but don't need to be carried over to the next lecture.
2. I'm very willing to help students (for the most part). Today I went to my "lunch meeting" 45 minutes late because a student wanted help (and I knew our schedules didn't otherwise overlap). I'm happy to have students asking me for help (especially in electronics) and coming to office hours. I think I am much more effective on a 1-on-1 scale then trying to match everyone's learning styles in a lecture.

   But, I've discovered I have my limits. One of the post-bac students asked me for help on homework the other night. This student doesn't know me, but it was close to midnight and I was the only professor around. He had everything set up right, but didn't think the equation could be solved. I told him it could... and he asked if he could come back for more help. My answer was (without thinking) effectively "I'm here this late because I need to get things done", and he didn't come by again. I'm hoping that I haven't made him hate physics or the college.

3. I'm better at "winging it" than I thought I was. In Intro there was a good question that took me down a direction that I didn't have prepared in the slides. While it wasn't perfectly clear (nothing I say in there is), I think I did fine. I used someone else slides for Modern today - I was very nervous about it, but it went far better than anything I could made made - with far less work! I'm also handling the "random" questions ok - it is like I've actually learned things in the past 10 years or something.
4. My LaTeX, Beamer, and PGF(plots) skills help me put together slides and notes pretty quickly. Most importantly, they are slides and notes that I am happy with "on the first try" - no fiddling with alignment and colors. I claimed (long ago) that learning these tools would be worth it, and that is proving to be true.
5. My time/energy management skills are good, but need to be improved. I'm occasionally finding myself staring at my computer, feeling like I need a break. I haven't figured out what my "break" will be yet. Organizing folders? Organizing the electronics lab?
6. I'm complicated. I think complicated thoughts and I write complicated questions. I've decided that some of the students will think Intro lecture doesn't make any sense, no matter what. The thinking process hurts a little, and they might not like it. But, some of what I am saying/drawing/doing probably is too complicated and therefor less clear than it should be. I'm just loathe to skip (important?) details, and I don't want to oversimplify the class. After all, this is the harder physics track!