Adjuncts are treated differently, even when they have the same amount of teaching experience and education. 76% of college professors are part-time instructors; the trend of using adjuncts started in the 70's. From my understanding, colleges did it to bring in instructors that had real world experience and had time to teach a class in addition to their regular full-time job. In a way, this is a great idea Why not have a practicing lawyer teach a class about law? However, I think the trend has spun out of control.
Before the new health care plan, I taught seven classes per semester at one school and made $26,000 per year. Then the new health care plan made it so that schools only let adjuncts teach a certain amount of class to ensure they didn't have to provide insurance. So I could only teach 3 classes per semester. Do the math. That's not enough to live on. So I started working at three schools: one class at one, three classes at another, and two other classes an another. Scheduling was a nightmare.
Sadly, the adjunct trend is growing. I guess adjuncting works for people that only want a part-time job, but I think it may affect the quality of teachers. Several times while I was teaching, I thought about quitting and going back to my desk job at SYSCO, where I made double my adjunct salary, and I put in less hours there. I fear that great teachers may back away from their calling because full-time jobs are so hard to find. What will the long-term effects of using adjuncts be?
NPR talks about the situation, check out this link:
http://www.npr.org/2014/02/03/268427156/part-time-professors-demand-higher-pay-will-colleges-listen
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Keeping up with the students
Snap Chat? What is that?
I used to be cool, what happened? Over the last five years, I have felt myself withdrawing from the younger generations. I tried to pinpoint when this shift occurred, but I think it has been a slow slide, rather than a single event. Ever since I started teaching, which has only been a few years, I like to have lunch once or twice a week in the student dining area. I sit next to groups of chatty students and eavesdrop. I know, kind of creepy. However, it helps me stay connected with the changes in culture, technology, and gossip. Why is this useful? Well, I find students are surprised when I am up to speed on some new technology or slang word, and perhaps that moment of surprise from students occasionally earns me a bit of respect. So go on down to the Atrium and be a creeper.
I used to be cool, what happened? Over the last five years, I have felt myself withdrawing from the younger generations. I tried to pinpoint when this shift occurred, but I think it has been a slow slide, rather than a single event. Ever since I started teaching, which has only been a few years, I like to have lunch once or twice a week in the student dining area. I sit next to groups of chatty students and eavesdrop. I know, kind of creepy. However, it helps me stay connected with the changes in culture, technology, and gossip. Why is this useful? Well, I find students are surprised when I am up to speed on some new technology or slang word, and perhaps that moment of surprise from students occasionally earns me a bit of respect. So go on down to the Atrium and be a creeper.
Comp Tales Response
Story 111 sounded familiar to me. Donna Dunbar-Odom was mentoring a TA that said, "All this teaching is getting in the way of my real work!"
I admit, I have felt something similar to this before. I'm a literature major, and I want to teach Literature, not composition. I started my first job with this attitude, as if the job was a step on the ladder toward my dream job. This isn't to say I hate what I was teaching and still am teaching, I don't hate it. However, sometimes I feel that the journey to my ultimate goal has stagnated. I know, I know, keep thinking positively, I'll get there, but how many times can I talk about the same thing with the same amount of passion I have now? I guess this is why we have to keep changing our syllabus to keep things interesting, or being some of my interest into class. I'm curious whether other Literature or non -rhet/comp composition teachers feel this way sometimes.
I admit, I have felt something similar to this before. I'm a literature major, and I want to teach Literature, not composition. I started my first job with this attitude, as if the job was a step on the ladder toward my dream job. This isn't to say I hate what I was teaching and still am teaching, I don't hate it. However, sometimes I feel that the journey to my ultimate goal has stagnated. I know, I know, keep thinking positively, I'll get there, but how many times can I talk about the same thing with the same amount of passion I have now? I guess this is why we have to keep changing our syllabus to keep things interesting, or being some of my interest into class. I'm curious whether other Literature or non -rhet/comp composition teachers feel this way sometimes.
Monday, November 24, 2014
End of the Semester Blues
Classes are wrapping up, and I can sense my students' anxiety and excitement about the end of the semester, but can they sense mine?
I have come to a point when I just want to be done, yet I know this is the time I need to keep up the class's moral and energy. The last ten minutes of class seem to loom on my head as my students' faces droop and their palms find their cheeks, like little resting stools. Is is wrong that sometimes I just want to shout, "I don't want to be here either, just leave!"? I know that wanting to do it, is different than doing it; I feel that I need to shake things up. Last week I started doing ice-breakers again, and it has been helpful. I've pulled in some theatrical elements and clever youtube videos, but my will is faltering. I'm hoping Thanksgiving break offers a reprieve and refresher. Have you tried any new tricks to bring life back into the classroom, or have you had similar experiences?
I have come to a point when I just want to be done, yet I know this is the time I need to keep up the class's moral and energy. The last ten minutes of class seem to loom on my head as my students' faces droop and their palms find their cheeks, like little resting stools. Is is wrong that sometimes I just want to shout, "I don't want to be here either, just leave!"? I know that wanting to do it, is different than doing it; I feel that I need to shake things up. Last week I started doing ice-breakers again, and it has been helpful. I've pulled in some theatrical elements and clever youtube videos, but my will is faltering. I'm hoping Thanksgiving break offers a reprieve and refresher. Have you tried any new tricks to bring life back into the classroom, or have you had similar experiences?
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Comp Tales Response
Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. Oh god, they are crying. They weren't able able to complete the assignment because their great-grandmother died of a brain tumor, and she lived in Antarctica, so they had to travel and miss class and turn in a sloppy, late assignment.
So, I may have been called Spock more than once in my life. Emotions scare me. Well, let me rephrase that. Tears scare me. I never know what to do when a student cries. Furthermore, I am often suspicious of tears. Are they real? Are they an appeal to pity? If they are real, should I hug the crier? Give them an extension on an assignment? Is hugging too personal for a teacher-student relationship? Pat their back? Awkward.
Typically, I end up standing there with a semi-scrunched face, listening. When they are silent, I say something cliched, 'I'm sorry to hear that," then I cross my fingers and hope that they don't suggest some type of specialized, biased sympathy.
I believe in fairness and consistency. If I give one student extra time, I think I should give every student extra time, so how do I deal with emotional pleas? Advice?
So, I may have been called Spock more than once in my life. Emotions scare me. Well, let me rephrase that. Tears scare me. I never know what to do when a student cries. Furthermore, I am often suspicious of tears. Are they real? Are they an appeal to pity? If they are real, should I hug the crier? Give them an extension on an assignment? Is hugging too personal for a teacher-student relationship? Pat their back? Awkward.
Typically, I end up standing there with a semi-scrunched face, listening. When they are silent, I say something cliched, 'I'm sorry to hear that," then I cross my fingers and hope that they don't suggest some type of specialized, biased sympathy.
I believe in fairness and consistency. If I give one student extra time, I think I should give every student extra time, so how do I deal with emotional pleas? Advice?
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Observations
Observations are over. After waiting in near torture for a week, I met with my observer to discuss the class. Let me say, I was nervous. Why is it that on the day of observation, my class decided to be rambunctious hellions? Why is it that I decided to try something new on that day, logical fallacy bingo, and it took the students nearly 15 minutes to completely fill in the Bingo sheets. Were their hands broken? Why did students challenge me with completely random stories and want me to identify the fallacies in those stories. Why did I not know what type of fallacy was being committed? Why did I forget to do my 'five mechanical minutes' at the beginning of class? Why did I run out of things to say five minutes before class? Why do I ooze confidence in front of my students, but freeze in front of other professors?
We, as instructors, are going to have those types of days. Thankfully, our observers know that. I walked into the office with sweaty hands, expecting the worst, then I was told that I was a good teacher. What? How could that be, did she sit in the same class that I was kicking myself about? Yes, there were things that could have gone better, but they were things that I could change. My teaching style was 'energetic' though and I had a handle on the information. I guess those things are harder to change. The observation made me realize that we can be our own enemy sometimes, and that professors with more experience are a great resource for advice and information. All-in-all, the observation made me question/tweak some of my techniques, and it also boosted my confidence.
We, as instructors, are going to have those types of days. Thankfully, our observers know that. I walked into the office with sweaty hands, expecting the worst, then I was told that I was a good teacher. What? How could that be, did she sit in the same class that I was kicking myself about? Yes, there were things that could have gone better, but they were things that I could change. My teaching style was 'energetic' though and I had a handle on the information. I guess those things are harder to change. The observation made me realize that we can be our own enemy sometimes, and that professors with more experience are a great resource for advice and information. All-in-all, the observation made me question/tweak some of my techniques, and it also boosted my confidence.
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Grading
I've seen some others post about grading, and I'm going to add to those. I haven't figured out the perfect way to grade yet, but I have came across some good tips and some bad ones. When I first started teaching, each five-page essay took about 30 minutes to grade. Ridiculous. Add rough draft grading on top of that, and I was busy for a week, and that was when I was only teaching, no grad school.
Fast forward three years: the same essay takes me about 15 minutes now. I've stopped reading it through before marking on it (I mark on it as I read); I don't leave too much mechanical feedback, unless the mistakes are repetitive and/or disrupt the writing; I grade with a rubric point allocation system; and I use 'awk' more, rather than explaining why a sentence/thought isn't right. However, I'm thinking about returning to an earlier grading system that another professor recommended. She told me to set a timer to 8 minutes, start the timer, read and mark until the timer went off, draw a line across the paper at your stopping point, turn to the last page, then take two minutes to write final thoughts. This method takes about 10 minutes. She also told me to emphasis how I would be grading to the class and reiterate that a good paper shouldn't take more than ten minutes to read. I tried this for a semester and it worked well for me, but I worried that students weren't getting as much from it. I had no evidence to back up the usefulness or not, as my students performed (grade-wise) about the same. So what do you think? Is the ten minute grading plan possible?
Fast forward three years: the same essay takes me about 15 minutes now. I've stopped reading it through before marking on it (I mark on it as I read); I don't leave too much mechanical feedback, unless the mistakes are repetitive and/or disrupt the writing; I grade with a rubric point allocation system; and I use 'awk' more, rather than explaining why a sentence/thought isn't right. However, I'm thinking about returning to an earlier grading system that another professor recommended. She told me to set a timer to 8 minutes, start the timer, read and mark until the timer went off, draw a line across the paper at your stopping point, turn to the last page, then take two minutes to write final thoughts. This method takes about 10 minutes. She also told me to emphasis how I would be grading to the class and reiterate that a good paper shouldn't take more than ten minutes to read. I tried this for a semester and it worked well for me, but I worried that students weren't getting as much from it. I had no evidence to back up the usefulness or not, as my students performed (grade-wise) about the same. So what do you think? Is the ten minute grading plan possible?
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