Thursday, September 12, 2013
My First Day
My first day of class was this week. I am happy to say it went well. I made a few mistakes--you know, unnoticed typos on syllabi--but overall, it went well. I even managed to get my students talking, which was exciting. I enjoy teaching, and I'm happy in the classroom. It felt good to get back to doing something I love. I didn't, however, get home until 7 pm (I teach a late afternoon class), which is the boys' bedtime. I got about 15 minutes with my children in a 20 hour period, which was hard. They didn't seem to mind, but I did. Given my teaching schedule there isn't much I can do about that. I have, however, already requested a different schedule for next year. I can--and will--be a team player and will happily teach the occasional late-afternoon or evening class, but I won't do it when my kids are this little. I just won't. People can judge me all they want to, as I'm sure they will, but I won't do it.
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2 comments:
Out of curiosity: would you teach an 8 am class instead? For years, because I didn't have children, I got the late night class (6-9) and the 8am class in the same semester. Because no one else "can do it" because they have to be home for their kids at night(who were older than yours, but that might be besides the point) and they had to put their kids on the bus in the morning. Given that the night class is only once a week, I didn't see why I needed to be the only person doing it each semester. And 8 ams are all week. There was no give and I resented the parents who got to teach, have office hours and meetings all nicely fitting in a 9-3 and 10-5 schedule. I resented them even more when they complained that a meeting "kept" them there until 4 or 5. I appreciate people wanting to be around for their families, I didn't appreciate it coming at my expense because my time was worth less as a non-parent.
My class started in a week and a half (late start) and I JUST noticed typos but I am not allowed to change my syllabus because it had to be handed into the syllabus Gods in early August. We have a weird set up here, you turn it in that early and the Syllabus Gods tell you a few months later--late Oct or Nov--all the mistakes you made on it. Usually those "mistakes" are them not reading carefully, because yes, I listed the final, and even put it in bold since they miss it every year. And my syllabus is copied off of their version!
Yes, I would teach an 8 am class. It wouldn't be ideal, but it would be manageable. I could drop George off at daycare at 7:30, teach, and then have the rest of the day to get other stuff done. It would be a bit difficult to coordinate, but not impossible (the main issue is that we only have one car). Archer is teaching an 8:30 class this term, and while it only meets once a week, it has taken some juggling to work out. He is doing, essentially, what I described above; he gets George to school, while I get Wild Man and Bear to school, and then I'll take the bus to campus. Not ideal, but not impossible.
But the thing is (and you may not like this response, and I do respect that): I taught at whatever time I was assigned for a long, long time. I was "part-time," so I taught the early classes; I taught a 6-9 class when Bear was 6 months old, and I was happy to do so for a few reasons. First, I was happy to get the work. Second, the person scheduling the classes consulted me. I was asked if that was manageable, and I took that time over a class that meat 3 times a week. In the case of this class, I was not consulted. I was simply assigned the time. Keep in mind that I teach in a department that is meant to be aware of "women's issues"; those in charge don't have children, so the reality that teaching 4:30-6:30 was potentially difficult on a faculty member w/ a family didn't even occur to them. That is what makes me the most annoyed. Add to that I was told the class was scheduled at this time as a way to attract "non-traditional students" who may not be able to take the class during the day. I do not have a single non-traditional student. In fact, all of the non-traditional students are taking the section that meets at 12:30. I will stop ranting now. :)
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