Well, I’m hoping I have not bitten off more than I can chew.
Yesterday when I showed up at the Community College where I work doing academic research and designing programs to support student success, I received a frantic e-mail from the Director of Basic Programs, who is in charge of all remedial classes, GED, Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English and a Second Language (ESL). Apparently they had a GED instructor abruptly resign with no notice. GED classes were scheduled to begin last night and there was no teacher. What to do?
So of course I said, SURE! I can do that!
What was I thinking? Was I NUTS????
What this will involve will mean I will teach a class of 20 students from 5:00-8:00 PM every Monday and Wednesday night for the next five weeks. This is on top of having a very demanding full time job and then teaching two online sociology classes on an adjunct basis for a different college on the side. So I am now officially working three jobs.
My kids are grown and gone. My husband is wonderfully supportive. There is no reason why I can't do this, right? But when I think about what it will mean to have to balance all those commitments (along with church callings, family obligations and just trying to manage my LIFE) I just want to go running through the streets looking like that famous painting The Scream by Edvard Munch. This is just too, too much!
So I keep vacillating between wanting to kick myself for agreeing to do it and being nervous / excited about the opportunity.
Granted, I will have a very busy schedule. But here’s the deal. I LOVE teaching. I am passionate beyond words about being in a classroom working with students. When I am teaching I fall into a groove and it feels like all the planets have lined up. From the top of my head to the tips of my toes I KNOW I am doing what I was born to do. So I could not possibly have turned this down.
But wait a minute. REALITY CHECK! I love teaching SOCIOLOGY - something I know quite a bit about. Teaching a GED class means that along with the reading and writing I will be teaching MATH...not exactly my strong suit. Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My! What was I thinking??????
So this will be a challenge for me, to be sure. But I'm up for it. Last night was the first class and it went very well.
Ready or not…..here I come! Wish me luck. I’m gonna need it!
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2 comments:
Lots and lots and lots of luck. Wow. That is ALOT to chew. Do you get a commensurate salary increase at least?
The GED gig is a completely different assignment with a separate contract, so I will make some extra cash. It's not enough to make me rich and famous, but it will pay for my tuition for my OTHER goal.
My plan is to get myself certified as an ESL instructor. With this experience teaching GED, if I couple that with an ESL certification I should be able to find work in lots of different places.
I could see us buying a nice fifth wheel and traveling...spending a year in Apalachia, a year in New England, then move on to someplace else... or I could see us going to China for a while.
With my two online classes I qualify for health insurance from Wenatachee Valley College (my one consistent employment since '99) so I think it could be very cool to play the tumbleweed life...
Maybe it's a pipe dream, but who know? Whether I do it all over the world / all over the country or just pick one place where I can get a job - teaching is what means the most to me so that is what I plan to pursue.
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