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.
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