Reasons Why I Like Teaching

Yes, I will be the first to admit that teaching is a stressful, sometimes thankless, and draining job. Seriously, I come home thinking that there's no way I can "perform" any longer. I don't know of a lot of actors/actresses who perform four hours straight 2+ times a week. Some days I think I should be on Broadway! I embrace my English nerd-dom, but even I am not genuinely interested, excited, and pumped up about English that much and for such an extended period. Yep, I act a lot.

But enough about that, this post is supposed to be about why I like teaching, in spite of everything else:

1. I love to see a student get interested in something they thought was pointless and boring.
2. Immediate validation. Instantly I can tell if what I am doing is connecting with my students or not.
3. I can wear jeans if I want. Simple pleasures people.
4. I get to "hang out" and joke around with my students.
5. I learn something new. Every. Day. Maybe it's a small piece of knowledge, but I love to learn, and I appreciate the variety of backgrounds and perspectives my students bring to discussions and their papers.
6. Validation...again. I love hearing from a student that "English is my favorite class. There's no way I'm going to miss it." Awww...
7. I love to see the light turn on in their heads as they finally "get" something they haven't really understood since high school, or earlier (i.e. organization, thesis statements, rhetoric, etc.).
8. I get "holidays" off. Now, this doesn't mean I don't work (and heaven knows I'm going to be working my tail off during Thanksgiving Break grading papers), but I genuinely get to appreciate the Christmas holiday -- and other days when school is closed.
9. If I don't want to go to class, I don't have to...but I do anyway. I guess it's just the "freedom" of knowing that I can cancel class if I need to. "Need" being the operative word. 
10. I can have meaningful, thoughtful, insightful, and challenging conversations every day with my colleagues. Ah...adult conversation!

Those are only ten of a number of reasons why I like to teach. They aren't, by any means, the only reasons, but they're the one's that have been swirling around in my head.

What's the deal?

Have you ever woken up from a dream just mad? I've woken up crying before. I've woken up smiling. I've even woken myself up laughing, but I don't remember waking up mad...at least while remembering my dream. This morning? Yep, I'm just mad.

I guess Adam Levine (the lead singer of Maroon 5) will do that to you.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't Adam's fault. Yes, we are on a first name basis now. But the dude came and took the draft of my almost finished master's thesis away because apparently my topic was too inflammatory.

A. Why was Adam Levine doing that...or even in my dream?
and 2. I've finished my thesis. Yep. Signed, sealed, sent to the printers and I have the diploma. So why was I dreaming about it?

Of course I was too stunned at what was going on to say anything when Adam took the thesis, and all of my notes, away. I'm not sure if it was the fact my thesis topic was too controversial, Adam Levine was in my dream, or that he taught at my university (Information Systems Technology -- don't ask because I don't know).

He did eventually give it back, but when he did I told him, "Thank you Adam, but I don't really like you right now. I know you are only the messenger, but I really don't like you right now." He looked sad, but I was still mad.

All in all it turned out well, and I had a kickin' soundtrack to go with this dream, but now I'm worried about Adam.

We didn't leave the dream world on the best of terms. Do you think he'll ever get over it?

Slack -Attack!

Alright, I will fully admit that I have been slacking in the "keep the blog updated...or at least post once a month" department. I could say I was busy, but that would be a lie. I could say I didn't have much to post about, but that's a poor excuse since I've written about such mundane things as letters sticking on my keyboard. Yep, no excuses.

Why haven't I written then? Laziness. Yep, I'm lazy. Or rather, when I get home I am lazy and don't want to do anything more than watch Hulu.com, let Pinterest suck hours of my life away, or sleep. Mostly the first two and occasionally the third.

The biggest news I have to share is that this past week was the first week of classes...and I'm NOT the student! Yay! Admittedly it's a huge adjustment for me because I seem to keep wondering when I should start reading my assignments and/or start working on a paper. How about half past NEVER! Or half past not right now?

So I am under a nine month contract at Washington State University (WSU) where, this semester, I teach three English 101 Introductory Writing courses and one English 402 Business and Technical Writing course. I have to say that the juxtaposition between my 402 juniors and seniors and 101 freshmen is hilarious to me. Seeing their attitudes, how they approach homework and assignments, and participate in class is really interesting. I already have my 402 class presenting on Monday and my 101 students don't have anything due until Thursday...and that's just a really rough draft!

Either way, I actually enjoy both classes and feel lucky that I have the two different ones to teach. It's nice to have a break and not teach the same thing four times in a row in the same day...three is my limit!

So as my semester continues I'm sure I'll have anecdotes to share with you, but here's my first one:

I went to the WSU campus the Sunday before classes began so I could see where my classrooms were and I was amazed by how many students were also doing the same thing. I felt like I was a prospective high school freshman again getting ready to try and traverse the huge high school campus...wondering if I was going to be late to classes and wondering how mean the teachers were going to be.

Now I'm the teacher....hehehe!

Ramble...Rumble...Mumble

Yeah, I don't know what I'm going to say either, except I've noticed that I am having more difficulty striking the letter "A" when I type on my computer keyboard lately. Seriously? I just had to retype the word "lately" three times because each time I forgot to strike, or didn't hit hard enough, the letter "A". I think I need to work on strengthening my left pinky finger.


I could blme (yes, I'm just going to say screw it from now on if I type the "A" or not. It's gonna be hit and miss so I hope you can understand my mumbling...) the lack of "A"s on the fact that I am not a lefty, but that wouldn't be entirely true. I've just recently noticed this problem, so tht's not to blame. Perhaps it's lzyness? I did, after all just finish my mster's program, so it could be that. It's not really text-speak, so that's not to blme. But as I'm typing this posting I am noticing that there seems to be a bit of  lg (lag) when I think I strike the "A" key and when the cursor moves on my screen.

Yep, that sounds right. Let's blme it on the keyboard. I am, after all, perfect, so why wouldn't it be modern technology's fult.

I LIKE IT!

Job Hunting=Looking for Bigfoot

Seriously? Since when did job hunting become similar to looking for Bigfoot?

A job hunter enters the forest of job advertisements/postings/etc. looking for areas of possible jobs (or Bigfoot sightings). You check out the job (what are the requirements, job description, etc.), circle it a few times so see if the job is a likely fit, and then blast it with a bevy of documents (resume/vita, letter of application, references, letters of recommendation, teaching philosophy, or whatever other document the list asks for)!

And then? Well, then the waiting game begins. Maybe YOUR barrage of qualifications scared the job from its hiding place and you get a face-to-face sighting/interview of the elusive job. But then again, maybe you were wrong and your attempt is met with silence.

If you are lucky to get an interview landing the exclusive/job isn't a sure thing. Maybe your camera's flash wasn't working or your batteries dies on your digital camera. Who knows? Any one of a number of things could go wrong and then you're back to the drawing board again.

I'm at that point right now, but I have a feeling that my job hunt may start looking like shooting a shotgun into a barrel of fish. Something's gotta make contact!  :)
Okay, so maybe my description isn't really that apt because I did get two job offers, but they weren't for jobs I can see making a career. I took a part-time summer position at the University of Idaho as an office worker in their Distance Learning program in hopes that when fall rolls around I'll have a teaching job lined up (we'll see). I was also offered a full time office position at WSU in the Athletic Department, which I think would have been wonderful because everyone I talked to was great, but ultimately wasn't where I wanted to end up (and the pay was crummy).

So I'm still searching for the elusive Bigfoot teaching job, but at least I have a part-time distraction for now.