Hi there,
I've managed to get some of my thoughts together regarding my time as a full fledged, bona fide (albeit part-time, lowest tier of the totem pole) professor. There have been some ups and downs but so far I'm loving the job. Of course, I say this now before I've had a chance to grade the first exam. I don't want my memories of my first few weeks ruined by my disappointment at those grades. =)
Just before the semester started, I decided to take on two classes. I thought it'd be great for me financially and would allow me to reach more students. Thus far it has been a wonderful experience but my schedule is brutal during the middle of the week. I was originally scheduled to teach one evening class on Tuesdays and Thursdays (6:30 - 9:20pm). When I was offered a second class, I had the choice of two morning classes: (1) another Tues/Thurs class (9:25am - noon) or (2) Monday/Wednesday - same time.
I reasoned that being in school from 9am to 9pm was not my idea of a good time despite the long break for the afternoon. If I worked the Mon/Wed class, I'd still be able to work the afternoons at my other job in Brooklyn. What I didn't consider was the Tuesday night/Wed morning turnover. I feel like I'm working a double (I suppose I actually AM working a double!) and it's extremely difficult for me to get up on Wednesdays for class. It has more to do with the late night on Tuesday night than it does with me not being a morning person. FYI, me and early morning sunshine do not get along!
I'm not sure how the Fall 2009 schedule will shake out but I know I would love to continue teaching two classes. I've already submitted my request for days and times so we'll see what happens.
Well... without any further ado...
Notes from my first month as Professor Gonzalez:
Week 1:
I DEFINITELY should have planned this past weekend a little bit better. After going out Friday night (bull riding, drinks, and diner food.. woohoo!), I drove down to PA on Saturday and visited Philly and Baltimore on Sunday. I came back late Sunday night. Now some of you may start telling me that 2 AM isn't that late and that I should quit my bellyaching. Also, I didn't have to drive the last leg of my trip so it wasn't all THAT bad. However, without a finalized syllabus in hand (I had already completed a draft of it) and a class scheduled for 9:25 Monday morning, it was going to be a looooong night and an even longer day!
On Monday morning, I made it to class several minutes late (at least I made it!) and I managed to trudge through the finer points of my syllabus in zombie mode - completed at 3:30am for those of you keeping track - including a mini-lecture on lateness. I may be a hypocrite but I meant every word I said about how much I despise students coming in late!
Damn, I was sleepy... zzzzzzz.... I don't think I managed to scare any of them into dropping my class. Shoot...
The night class went a lot better. I still didn't manage to scare anyone away with my opening day lecture. *sigh* Oh well. At least they were more attentive and took great notes on my Day One introductory lesson. I expect big things from this group. I don't care if it's unfair to say that since they seem more engaged that the day class.
I quickly realized that the day class was going to be my "guinea pig". I'd learn from my mistakes with them and the evening class would reap the benefits. I didn't tell them that but I knew that would be the case. This is especially true since I would always have a day and a half to tweak the lesson for the evening class.
Week 2:
WTF!?! My night class has gotten worse and my day class got better!!
OMG... Noooooo. How is this possible? lol..
The good thing is that they were now on par with each other in terms of attentiveness, question asking, etc. Let's see how long this lasts.
It was around this time that I started seriously thinking about getting the first exam completed. I didn't think I'd finish it but if I could start figuring out what will and won't be on the exam, it'd go a long way to saving me time later.
Week 3:
Oh man... I got pretty sick on Monday morning. I had to cancel class.
[Memo to self: No more late night runs to Tacolandia for tacos when you have class the next morning!]
I suppose this was a good thing because now the night class is the experimental class. I wonder if it will actually matter... though the exam date is now pushed back another day. I wanted both classes to take the exam on the same week so neither class would have an advantage over the other (a.k.a. a full weekend to study for the exam). Selfishly, this would also allow me to grade ALL the exams over the weekend. Oh well, done bun. Nothing I can do about it now.
Also, I found out that one of my students is friends with someone I know. I don't want to know who it is or which class he or she is in... OH, TOO LATE!! My friend spilled the beans and now I know who it is. Fortunately, she is one of my better students so I'm not worried about her trying to take advantage of our mutual friendship.
Week 4:
Reviewed for the first exam this week with my classes. One class takes the exam this week, the other next week. I had decided to use the first half of class for the review and go over issues with the first lab assignment during the second half of class. The Tuesday night review went relatively well and I felt they were adequately prepared for the exam on Thursday night. The review for the day class on Wednesday was going well also... except that... we had a freaking fire drill during our review... grrr.
Don't get me wrong I wasn't upset that the review was interrupted. I was actually upset for my kids because I knew that if I had just 10 more minutes, I would have been done with my review and the majority of the students could have left during the fire drill. However, after approximately 20 minutes, they all had to come back for the last part of the review session.
It was at this time that I thought it was a good thing I had gotten sick on week 3 because otherwise the fire drill would have interrupted the exam. I can't even imagine how I would have handled that headache! The evening class got the exam first and I'll grade them over the weekend. The day class gets it Monday morning with the luxury of time to study over the weekend. We'll see how that works out for them...
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This week's MCB (2-20):
T.I. - Dead and Gone (featuring Justin Timberlake)
Rosi Golan - Been a Long Day
Boxer Rebellion - Semi-Automatic
Temple Scene - Somewhere in the City
Drenalin - Healing Time
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I've got a lot on my plate for the weekend. I wonder if there will be anything noteworthy to talk about later... hmmmmmm....
Until next time, faithful reader
