Teacher Training

So I meant to post yesterday, and didn't. Then I woke before 5 a.m. and one of the things my whirring brain grabbed onto was that I hadn't posted. I also obsessed about cleaning my sewing room, paying bills, whether I should wear my new-to-me shirt today or Wednesday, and when my chigger bites would finally heal.

Among other things.

Teacher training was yesterday, and although I started rather crabby, I felt much better by the end of the day. Apologies for the somewhat boring rant (an oxymoron, no?) but here's why I'm crabby. Feel free to skip this bit. I stuck a gratuitous puppy picture at the end you might like:

Background: This summer I interviewed for a full-time teaching job, but did not get it. Close but no cigar. No explanation as to why either. My teaching demo went great. Past experience tells me that it takes at least 6 months to emotionally rebound from such a blow. Past experience also tells me that it takes at least a year, more likely 2, for another position to come open.

For the fall, I was offered 2 sections (not enough to live on) of a class I love. One section of the class meets 2 days a week at 3:30. The other meets once a week at 7 pm. When I was offered a 3rd class (a different prep) at 8 am, I felt forced to take it in order to pay the bills.

Quick summary: I have 2 different preps and classroom commitments from 8 am to 10 pm with hours of downtime in between, hours which aren't quite long enough to bother going home. And running errands just costs money, so does the gas to go home. Plus, 3 classes is enough to eke out a stressful living, but still not what even someone used to the itinerant life would consider comfortable.

I got great news that another section of the class I love was available if I wanted. I said yes, absolutely. Immediately. Four sections, yay!

The school's new administration came down with a new policy: adjuncts can no longer teach 4 sections--the goal presumably being that we focus more on our teaching; the unintended consequence being that more of us will have to teach at several schools to fill the gap, thus adding commuting time, and even more erratic schedules because back-to-back classes are impossible when teaching at several schools.

In addition, this policy came down only last week--too late to find work for the fall semester. I only found out about this policy when I checked my schedule.

By then, the fourth section had been given to someone else. Yay for them. However, I could have released the 8 am second prep and done 3 sections of only 1 prep for the class I love.

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

That said, my mood lifted throughout the day and I got a ton of work done. I do like both preps and maybe I can use the down time to blog. Right?

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If you skipped all that, no worries. If you read it, remember my academic philosophy: You can do anything for sixteen weeks.

Here's the gratuitous puppy shot:



Say hello to my friends' dog Flora. She lives outside with the sheep and her job is to kill dogs, which she has done. Still, she's a gentle soul, provided you're not trying to eviscerate her sheep. She won't enter anyplace with walls and will barely come under the eaves, but she loves to be rubbed right at the bridge of her nose. I call her Florrie.