Wednesday I finished my semester's masterpiece, "A Sociolinguistic Approach to Teaching Academic Literacy to ESL Students."
But there was no time to catch my breath after finishing that big paper. The very same day there was an all-day teacher training to attend, a crash course in the nitty-gritty details of teaching composition at our university.
There are seven of us, brand-spanking-new university teachers, colleagues I will be seeing a lot of come fall.
It is the strangest thing, this university life. There is no permanence to it; people come and go-- your classmates, your colleagues, your students.
Half of my graduate program cohort is graduating tomorrow, and half of us have another semester to go. The people without children blazed through, while the parents are doing it at a different pace. A couple of my undergraduate friends are graduating too. All in all, I have seven friends graduating.
The energy is building on campus, as you can imagine. As I was driving away today-- from the second all-day teacher training session-- the traffic was unpleasant, out-of-towners doing erratic things at all the intersections. I was happy to get out of there.
There will be no more of those trainings again until August, until which I have to plan out my class, plan each day's lesson, write the syllabus, choose the readings. The powers that be have assigned us a textbook from which to choose readings. I had different ideas, but I think I can make this work.
For summer work, I am applying at the Immersion English Language Institute, where I hope to teach English to foreign students. I never did hear back from CR, after submitting the best resume, cover letter, references and transcript of my life, they never even called me in for an interview. I am still not sure what to make of that.
So life moves forward. I will be glad when the festivities of graduation, the receptions and parties, are over so I can breathe the huge sigh of relief that I survived yet another semester of grad school. One more class and a thesis to go. I'm tired.
7 comments:
"It is the strangest thing, this university life. There is no permanence to it; people come and go-- your classmates, your colleagues, your students."
Yes. Whatever Arcata was in the years before 1913, it is the home of impermanence now. The friendships you make are real and wonderful, but then so many of your friends disperse to other parts of the globe.
Ah well. It's OK. It's just another adjustment to make, and a much less traumatic adjustment than others we have made.
It's just life in a college town. Think of it as part of its charm.
I remember how exhausted I would be at the end of the semester. But I also remember how excited I would be to start again.
I'm experiencing a bit of school envy reading this;>
Anonymous, that is a wonderful line: Arcata is the "home of impermanence." Wow, wow, wow. I really like that. You should write a poem or something with that title. I wish I'd thought of it!!!!
It's a good thing there is facebook to shrink the distance a little.
Kym, at the moment I can't imagine why anyone would envy the way I feel, but thanks for the reminder about the beginning of the semester excitement that is around the corner.
Thank you, Indie. If you'd like, you can title your first book "The Home of Impermanence."
All I ask is that you give me credit for the phrase. (I'll tell you my real name just prior to publication.)
Is it a deal?
I agree with Kym...I remember that, even in elementary school, how we couldn't WAIT for the end of the year/semester but would begin to 'play school' more as the summer progressed because we missed it. I think that just gets more intense as we get older, taking college classes and beyond.
Having worked at HR at CR, I can tell you that the application pile becomes very high with faculty searches. Here's hoping yours radiates in the pile and floats its way to the top.
A whole week has gone by, Indie. What's been happening?
Beachcomber, that is funny! I remember playing school in the summer, too, now that you mention it.
The job in question is called Student Development Adviser, by the way.
Anonymous, spurred by your interest, I wrote a new blog entry. Thank you for caring enough to keep up with what's going on! :-)
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