Here we go - time to make another change in my life!
Remember last year when I was SO excited that I was doing SO much teaching? (need a refresher - go here) Well, that wore off. I am not against working hard, but crap, grading essays is harder than hard. It takes a lot of hours to grade a stack of essays. If they're written well, it's not too bad. But more often that not, the majority of the essays are poorly written, and those take much longer to grade. Of course, then there are the cheaters. It takes time running the document through Turnitin, tracking down original sources to compile the evidence, and finally reporting the student to the program director or dean. And once I've caught a cheater, I'm so mad that I have to stop grading for a while. The process takes up a good chunk of one weekend day for one class. I had 4. Essays have been consuming my life.
But no more! I still have 2 classes at the local community, but I am taking time off from the business school to get control over my own life again. I get to be home and take care of my house again. Actually fold the laundry and put it away, not just toss it on the living room floor. Clean up the piles of various school-related papers that have been accumulately for 2 years (can I finally get them organized? O.M.G!). Do some home improvement projects, plan a garage sale, cook real meals! There is so much I can do now that there will be time! I also get to be home and take care of me again. Anyone want to get to the gym with me?! I've got to get back in the pool. I can take time to plan menus and cook healthy meals. I can go for walks. All without feeling guilty that I should be grading.... Last, but certainly not least, I get to be home to spend time with the family. Arts and crafts with the little princess. Movies with the teenager. Date night?!?!?!?!? Is it really possible?
I will have TIME. Can anyone ask for anything better?
(I have to give so very much gratitude to my wonderful significant other who provides for this family, sometimes being away days or weeks at a time. Without him, this change would not be possible. Thanks, honey!)
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Freedom!
Yesterday, at 1:53 PM, I felt the most amazing, incredible, wonderful sense of relief. It washed over me, taking (almost) every bit of stress out of my body. It wasn't until about 15 minutes later, getting out of the elevator at Howard's office, that I felt the sense of freedom that the end of the quarter brings. I had a huge, goofy grin on my face as the elevator doors opened.
It is difficult to describe this quarter. As I do every quarter, I change up the information a little bit, present it a little differently, try to change those things that didn't work in previous quarters. I don't think it was me. In two of my classes, my students did well. The ones who didn't pass knew the reasons why, and they know what they need to do to pass next time. In my other 2 classes (2 sections of the same class), I had the worst results ever. It's disheartening when out of a total of 36 students, only 10 pass. But again, I don't think it was me.
The 26 students who didn't pass all had one thing in common: missing work. There seems to be this sense among students that it's OK to miss work. I have this feeling that in high school, students were allowed to make up work at the end of the term in order to bring up their grades, which gave them a false sense of how the world actually works. In real life, you don't get do-overs every time you screw up or forget to do something. Sometimes, forgetting or blowing something off has real, definite, and serious consequences. So, too, in my class. I allow late work - students have basically 2 weeks to get every assignment turned in. So why is it so difficult to get it done?
The questions will remain - I don't know why the students do what they do and don't do what they should. All I know is that I'm free today, and I feel good!
It is difficult to describe this quarter. As I do every quarter, I change up the information a little bit, present it a little differently, try to change those things that didn't work in previous quarters. I don't think it was me. In two of my classes, my students did well. The ones who didn't pass knew the reasons why, and they know what they need to do to pass next time. In my other 2 classes (2 sections of the same class), I had the worst results ever. It's disheartening when out of a total of 36 students, only 10 pass. But again, I don't think it was me.
The 26 students who didn't pass all had one thing in common: missing work. There seems to be this sense among students that it's OK to miss work. I have this feeling that in high school, students were allowed to make up work at the end of the term in order to bring up their grades, which gave them a false sense of how the world actually works. In real life, you don't get do-overs every time you screw up or forget to do something. Sometimes, forgetting or blowing something off has real, definite, and serious consequences. So, too, in my class. I allow late work - students have basically 2 weeks to get every assignment turned in. So why is it so difficult to get it done?
The questions will remain - I don't know why the students do what they do and don't do what they should. All I know is that I'm free today, and I feel good!
Friday, June 4, 2010
And the craziness continues....
I had no idea that it had been so long since I last posted. I am a terrible blogger! But I have an excuse, I swear..... I last left off talking about how I was offered two classes at one of the community colleges in town. I accepted those two classes and made the arrangements to cut back my hours at my full-time job and then leave at the beginning of March. The first class started in January, but the second was a short-term class that didn't start until mid-March. I thought about staying with the company, but I only would have had about 15 hours a week available, so I decided that it was time to move on and completely immerse myself in the world of teaching (and finding more teaching gigs for when the semester ended).
I want to digress a bit to talk about the company I left. I worked there for 5 years and almost 10 months, the longest I have ever worked anywhere. When I got the job, it was just something part time to do while I got my Master's, nothing serious, and it paid well (always important for single mom/student). When I finished my Master's, I went full time, got a substantial raise, and felt like I had a grown-up job. It was good for a couple years, until the economy tanked. I still had the job, but none of the cool, fun parts - I was back to the administrative stuff that I had long grown out of. I was overqualified for that work when I took it as a part-timer all those years ago! I was dissatisfied there. It was definitely time to move on.
At a time when people are fortunate to have jobs at all, I quite a stable job with excellent benefits in order to fully enter the unpredictable world of adjunct faculty (scroll down). My semesters are never certain, and I don't know how much I will be working in the coming months - my fate is in the hands of schedulers who fit me in once all of the full timers and other adjuncts with more seniority have been given their desired schedules. To get one class is considered lucky.
I consider myself lucky. I was offered the two English classes having never met the instructor doing the scheduling - all he had was my resume with one class as previous teaching experience. One class! He took a chance, and I am so glad he did because if he hadn't, I wouldn't be teaching right now. I would still be sitting in that cubicle, wondering what else I could be doing with my grown-up life.
And I'm lucky because after I quit the job, I received a call from a business school in town that I had been hoping to hear from. Would I be able to teach two classes for their upcoming quarter? My initial response, was how can I possibly teach two classes over there? I'm still learning this whole teaching thing!! Of course, once I looked over our budget for the coming months, I realized that my only possible response was yes, that would be absolutely no problem. I went from one class last fall to four classes in April. I knew I was in for long days, nights, and weekends. That is one heck of a lot of essays to grade!
And grade like a maniac I did. In mid-April, I started at the business school, which operates year round on a quarter schedule. In mid-May, I finished at the community college, a long 18-semester. In that month, I had new classes to prep (I'm a newbie to all of this, so every class I teach is new to me - that means TONS of prep), research papers to grade, and final exams to write. I had to leave the house to get the grading done - the employees at Panera must have thought I was a complete masochist, working two straight days at a corner table with large stacks of papers and my trusty red pen.
That month was so busy. I could barely remember my name or where I was supposed to be at any given time. Laundry got washed and dried, but rarely got beyond the pile in the living room. Thank goodness Howard was home and not out in the field because we would have had no clean dishes, and the kids would have been lucky to eat (well Spencer anyway, Christian can fend for himself). My "office" began spreading - it started on the desk in the bedroom, took up residence in the living room, acquired a third of the kitchen table, and finally overtook the sacred "Mary Kay Room," since there was no longer time to run a business.
And so the craziness continues. There are four weeks left in the quarter at the business school, and I still don't know what the schedule is for next quarter. I could have one class, or three, or none. I hope it's three - my budget will love it, and I'll be busy, which I love, despite my complaints. (Maybe I just like to complain). On the other hand, if it's three, then I'll have four classes again when the semester starts for the state schools in August, as I did get a class at one of the community colleges for fall. At 7:00 AM. Ah, the life of adjunct faculty!
I want to digress a bit to talk about the company I left. I worked there for 5 years and almost 10 months, the longest I have ever worked anywhere. When I got the job, it was just something part time to do while I got my Master's, nothing serious, and it paid well (always important for single mom/student). When I finished my Master's, I went full time, got a substantial raise, and felt like I had a grown-up job. It was good for a couple years, until the economy tanked. I still had the job, but none of the cool, fun parts - I was back to the administrative stuff that I had long grown out of. I was overqualified for that work when I took it as a part-timer all those years ago! I was dissatisfied there. It was definitely time to move on.
At a time when people are fortunate to have jobs at all, I quite a stable job with excellent benefits in order to fully enter the unpredictable world of adjunct faculty (scroll down). My semesters are never certain, and I don't know how much I will be working in the coming months - my fate is in the hands of schedulers who fit me in once all of the full timers and other adjuncts with more seniority have been given their desired schedules. To get one class is considered lucky.
I consider myself lucky. I was offered the two English classes having never met the instructor doing the scheduling - all he had was my resume with one class as previous teaching experience. One class! He took a chance, and I am so glad he did because if he hadn't, I wouldn't be teaching right now. I would still be sitting in that cubicle, wondering what else I could be doing with my grown-up life.
And I'm lucky because after I quit the job, I received a call from a business school in town that I had been hoping to hear from. Would I be able to teach two classes for their upcoming quarter? My initial response, was how can I possibly teach two classes over there? I'm still learning this whole teaching thing!! Of course, once I looked over our budget for the coming months, I realized that my only possible response was yes, that would be absolutely no problem. I went from one class last fall to four classes in April. I knew I was in for long days, nights, and weekends. That is one heck of a lot of essays to grade!
And grade like a maniac I did. In mid-April, I started at the business school, which operates year round on a quarter schedule. In mid-May, I finished at the community college, a long 18-semester. In that month, I had new classes to prep (I'm a newbie to all of this, so every class I teach is new to me - that means TONS of prep), research papers to grade, and final exams to write. I had to leave the house to get the grading done - the employees at Panera must have thought I was a complete masochist, working two straight days at a corner table with large stacks of papers and my trusty red pen.
That month was so busy. I could barely remember my name or where I was supposed to be at any given time. Laundry got washed and dried, but rarely got beyond the pile in the living room. Thank goodness Howard was home and not out in the field because we would have had no clean dishes, and the kids would have been lucky to eat (well Spencer anyway, Christian can fend for himself). My "office" began spreading - it started on the desk in the bedroom, took up residence in the living room, acquired a third of the kitchen table, and finally overtook the sacred "Mary Kay Room," since there was no longer time to run a business.
And so the craziness continues. There are four weeks left in the quarter at the business school, and I still don't know what the schedule is for next quarter. I could have one class, or three, or none. I hope it's three - my budget will love it, and I'll be busy, which I love, despite my complaints. (Maybe I just like to complain). On the other hand, if it's three, then I'll have four classes again when the semester starts for the state schools in August, as I did get a class at one of the community colleges for fall. At 7:00 AM. Ah, the life of adjunct faculty!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Teaching - 12 weeks down!
Wow, how the time flew after those first few weeks! There were a few weeks there right in the middle where I thought I wasn't going to make it through the book and teach everything I need to teach, but we pushed hard and now the rest of the semester will be fairly smooth sailing. I had a total of 5 students drop the class and another 4 or 5 have stopped showing up, so I'm down to about 19 students. Unfortunately, of those 19, several are not going to pass this class and move on. I'm amazed at some of these students who actually think they will pass the class when they continually show up late, don't come to class, don't turn in work, and obviously don't read any of the chapters! Then I have the core group of students who are doing very well - and of course, they're the ones who worry about their grades, and they have absolutely nothing to worry about!
I do get frustrated with the students who think they can just slack off and do nothing. I gave my students grade updates, and I had a couple students who were failing. A couple of them dropped, but several stayed in the class, even showing up sporadically. I just don't get it. Either get to work or get out of the class! And the thing that really gets me is that although I am pretty strict, I do give a lot of extra credit and chances to improve your grade. I gave a quiz that was pretty tough for everyone - even my best students. So I gave everyone the chance to get full credit on the quiz by taking it home and completing it, and I gave them a week to do it. Surprising, not even half the class did it. Not surprising, my A and B students were the ones who did.
This is not to say that I don't enjoy teaching - I am still loving it, and I wish I could be doing this full time. It's so great that I get to help these students improve their English and writing skills. I put in my request for Fall 2010 - I can only request 2 classes because I'm part time, but I basically requested everything! The Department Chair did suggest that if I request 7am classes, I'll most likely get at least one class - no one wants 7am! I am so not a morning person, but I've gotten used to it, and I know my students wonder how I can be so awake that early! I wonder sometimes, myself. Still no word on whether there's a class for me in Spring - keeping my fingers crossed!
I do get frustrated with the students who think they can just slack off and do nothing. I gave my students grade updates, and I had a couple students who were failing. A couple of them dropped, but several stayed in the class, even showing up sporadically. I just don't get it. Either get to work or get out of the class! And the thing that really gets me is that although I am pretty strict, I do give a lot of extra credit and chances to improve your grade. I gave a quiz that was pretty tough for everyone - even my best students. So I gave everyone the chance to get full credit on the quiz by taking it home and completing it, and I gave them a week to do it. Surprising, not even half the class did it. Not surprising, my A and B students were the ones who did.
This is not to say that I don't enjoy teaching - I am still loving it, and I wish I could be doing this full time. It's so great that I get to help these students improve their English and writing skills. I put in my request for Fall 2010 - I can only request 2 classes because I'm part time, but I basically requested everything! The Department Chair did suggest that if I request 7am classes, I'll most likely get at least one class - no one wants 7am! I am so not a morning person, but I've gotten used to it, and I know my students wonder how I can be so awake that early! I wonder sometimes, myself. Still no word on whether there's a class for me in Spring - keeping my fingers crossed!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Teaching
I'm 3 weeks into the teaching gig at the local community college. I'm still loving every long minute of it! I teach for 50 minutes 4 days per week, so that's the easy part. The planning is something I just was not prepared for. Being a first-timer, I know it takes so much longer. All I had was the official course outline from the school and some example syllabi to go from. I didn't have any previous lesson plans or ideas for class activities. Just me, the book, and the internet! So far, I have been preparing my lesson plans for each day as I go, but I really need to get ahead, so I can be sure that I'm on the right track to make it through the semester. It takes hours to plan a day or two, let alone a whole week! At least this week coming up is only 3 days - that will help a lot, considering that at the moment, I am writing my blog instead of planning... Oops!
I am so glad I got this opportunity to teach. The chair of the ESL Department took a chance on me, and I so appreciate it! I hope to one be full-time someday, whether at this school or another. I am mentoring with the department chair, so he's given me some really great feedback and is guiding me while I find my way. It's a challenge to just jump right in, but at the same time, I'm glad that I'm making it my own, instead of basing everything off of someone else's plan. I can figure out what works as I go and make mistakes along the way. That's ok with me - I like to learn, too.
And while I'm learning and teaching, I'm still working full time. It's such a difference to go from the classroom to the office. I feel stagnant at my full-time job, but when I'm teaching I feel like I'm actively doing something worthwhile and productive. There's really nothing more for me at my full-time job - the job is pretty much topped out, and there's no room for advannowhere else for me to go there. They've got me pigeonholed into my position, and they fail to see what more I can offer, despite my best efforts to show them and remind them. But it will be their loss when I finally am able to leave there and pursue teaching full time. I've never worked anywhere as long as I've worked for this company, so it will be sad to leave when the time comes, but I will be so excited to move on and move forward. I will have a class for next Fall - they prepare the schedules the year before, so I'm in for next year. I just don't know if I'll have a class for Spring - I have to wait and see what happens.
I am so glad I got this opportunity to teach. The chair of the ESL Department took a chance on me, and I so appreciate it! I hope to one be full-time someday, whether at this school or another. I am mentoring with the department chair, so he's given me some really great feedback and is guiding me while I find my way. It's a challenge to just jump right in, but at the same time, I'm glad that I'm making it my own, instead of basing everything off of someone else's plan. I can figure out what works as I go and make mistakes along the way. That's ok with me - I like to learn, too.
And while I'm learning and teaching, I'm still working full time. It's such a difference to go from the classroom to the office. I feel stagnant at my full-time job, but when I'm teaching I feel like I'm actively doing something worthwhile and productive. There's really nothing more for me at my full-time job - the job is pretty much topped out, and there's no room for advannowhere else for me to go there. They've got me pigeonholed into my position, and they fail to see what more I can offer, despite my best efforts to show them and remind them. But it will be their loss when I finally am able to leave there and pursue teaching full time. I've never worked anywhere as long as I've worked for this company, so it will be sad to leave when the time comes, but I will be so excited to move on and move forward. I will have a class for next Fall - they prepare the schedules the year before, so I'm in for next year. I just don't know if I'll have a class for Spring - I have to wait and see what happens.
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