I had to teach my Introduction to Psychology class today to 300+ students from my cell phone while I was trapped in my apartment building elevator with my two young kids.

This has to go down as my most surreal and stressful teaching experience.

— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) September 24, 2020

The first problem is that the local schools are closed and I have limited child care.

So I have to get my kids from day care at 3pm and race back to my apartment by 3:30pm. My son crashes my course and likes to share his thoughts, but the students find it funny so I don't mind.

— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) September 24, 2020

As the elevator closes and starts moving up, it lurches to a halt and starts dropping. I got that feeling in my stomach that happens when you are in a roller coaster and it starts falling.

Then it stops moving completely.

— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) September 24, 2020

I'm now texting people to figure out what to do. My daughter (8 years old) starts getting scared. My son (10 years) starts teasing her about overreaching. She starts crying.

Things were melting down pretty good at that point. But we rallied and calmed down.

— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) September 24, 2020

Thankfully, I managed to login and send out an email announcement to the class by 3:28pm.

The subject line: "Trapped in my elevator, will start class as soon as I’m rescued" pic.twitter.com/8qf4he3l8a

— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) September 24, 2020

But time passed. The kids got anxious. And I started to worry about my poor students and how I would manage to finish the lecture on time. The midterm is next week.

After half an hour, I made an executive decision to try and teach from the friendly confines of the elevator.

— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) September 24, 2020

Eventually, I logged into my class. But the internet was so weak that I couldn't speak to the students.

So I logged out and logged in again using the phone link. I would just give the lecture over the phone without video or slides. It seemed like the only option.

— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) September 24, 2020

But I spoke. They kept talking. I yelled my name. They heard and recognized me. The class was afoot!

I could hear their collective surprise–especially once they realized I was still trapped in the elevator and the class was still going forward.

— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) September 24, 2020

Then it dawned on me that I had no way of showing them my carefully crafted slides on the conscious and unconscious mind. They were on my computer. In my apartment.

I suddenly felt very alone. Would I be able to remember the lecture? Had I made a mistake by jumping on the call?

— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) September 24, 2020

As I'm talking, I realized my kids are just staring at me with perplexed looks on their faces.

They weren't horrified, but seemed almost confused by what was transpiring as I raised my voice to explain how we have many mental processes that operate outside our awareness.

— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) September 24, 2020

I was able to catch the other elevator upstairs, boot up my laptop, and give the rest of the lecture from the now-seemingly-normal confines of my kitchen table.

I'm not sure how this will play out my semester teaching evaluations, but at this point of 2020, who cares anyways.

— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) September 24, 2020

Postscript: Why didn't I cancel my class? I don't know. It all seemed weirdly normal in the moment. Each step just seemed to logically follow the prior step.

As I type it all out, I am now deeply aware of how absurd this was. I will not be teaching in elevators in the future.

— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) September 24, 2020