teaching gig
Haven't been on here much of late - seems like it's been one thing after another, some good, some bad. Breathless is much much better, recovering well from the ulcer, and apparently not anemic any more as the doctor took him off iron supplements on Sunday. We went on our New York City/Brooklyn trip May 30-June 3 to visit his sister and artist brother-in-law, and then to Houston this past weekend for my maternal aunt's 60th anniversary as a nun celebration. I'd hoped to have some time to write about both of those this weekend.
However, on Friday when I arrived in to work, there was an urgent message on my door asking me to call the head of the Curriculum and Instruction Department of my university. Long story short: the professor teaching children's literature this five-week summer term (of which only three weeks are left) has become very ill. She won't be able to finish the classroom part of the course and may not even be able to do the grading. I was her first choice to take over the class.
I will get some kind of pro-rated pay for being an adjunct, but I will be doing this in addition to my regular job. I will teach Monday thru Thursday for the next three weeks from 8-10 AM, then be a librarian 10-6. I'm normally there until 6 PM anyway and don't take lunch, but I rarely arrive before 8 AM, so my morning routines will need to change! On Fridays I can work my usual 9-5 day.
If I need to do class prep between 10-6, I have to take vacation time (although as long as I can do it while sitting at my reference desk in the library, I think it will be OK, since much of the work I've been doing during this term is related to children's literature anyway). I'm already planning to take three hours of vacation today, though, since I was supposed to work 1-10 PM, and that means I wouldn't get home until 11 PM at the earliest and need to be up at 6 AM the next morning. Our graduate assistant needs to make up four hours so he will work 6-10 PM, although I may still be at the library doing some prep past 6 PM.
I also figure I'll need to take an hour a day of vacation each of the days before I do a lesson on a particular genre, if only to pull the appropriate sample books from the professor's office or from the library. She'd only covered one of eight genres before she fell ill. Luckily the professor gave me lecture notes, although I'm fleshing that out with material from the textbook and lists of sample books. I'm guessing I'll take 10 hours of vacation in all, which is what I earn a month.
It will only be hectic the next two weeks, as the final week is just oral presentations by the students (of a written presentation they already turned in that will be graded) and giving them ungraded feedback on that, and reviewing for and giving the final on July 9.
I'm flattered that everyone seems to think I'm capable of doing this. But if I don't write anything for the next few weeks, this is why.
However, on Friday when I arrived in to work, there was an urgent message on my door asking me to call the head of the Curriculum and Instruction Department of my university. Long story short: the professor teaching children's literature this five-week summer term (of which only three weeks are left) has become very ill. She won't be able to finish the classroom part of the course and may not even be able to do the grading. I was her first choice to take over the class.
I will get some kind of pro-rated pay for being an adjunct, but I will be doing this in addition to my regular job. I will teach Monday thru Thursday for the next three weeks from 8-10 AM, then be a librarian 10-6. I'm normally there until 6 PM anyway and don't take lunch, but I rarely arrive before 8 AM, so my morning routines will need to change! On Fridays I can work my usual 9-5 day.
If I need to do class prep between 10-6, I have to take vacation time (although as long as I can do it while sitting at my reference desk in the library, I think it will be OK, since much of the work I've been doing during this term is related to children's literature anyway). I'm already planning to take three hours of vacation today, though, since I was supposed to work 1-10 PM, and that means I wouldn't get home until 11 PM at the earliest and need to be up at 6 AM the next morning. Our graduate assistant needs to make up four hours so he will work 6-10 PM, although I may still be at the library doing some prep past 6 PM.
I also figure I'll need to take an hour a day of vacation each of the days before I do a lesson on a particular genre, if only to pull the appropriate sample books from the professor's office or from the library. She'd only covered one of eight genres before she fell ill. Luckily the professor gave me lecture notes, although I'm fleshing that out with material from the textbook and lists of sample books. I'm guessing I'll take 10 hours of vacation in all, which is what I earn a month.
It will only be hectic the next two weeks, as the final week is just oral presentations by the students (of a written presentation they already turned in that will be graded) and giving them ungraded feedback on that, and reviewing for and giving the final on July 9.
I'm flattered that everyone seems to think I'm capable of doing this. But if I don't write anything for the next few weeks, this is why.