Friday, July 15, 2005

Grading Break

Grading Break


And a bit of a rant. The class: World Civ. 1 -- to 1500 (and of course I chose the book on the fly, Bentley v. A, which barely makes it to 1000 -- fortunately not many complaints, since it's an 8 week term). The assignment: a review of a scholarly article, must be relevant to the topics covered in the course. So why am I getting proposals for articles on the Khmer Rouge?

In other news, I've cribbed my updates from my past post to this one ...

Update: Interviewed today. As usual, had a migraine. Not as usual, forgot to mention it to the committee. For a one-year job, they were interviewing for the TT person they want next year. Needless to say, I prepared for the one-year interview. And I rambled a bit. But I think I hit all the important points. And I hope I didn't sound like someone who is 'settling' for a CC job, because I really liked these people and was amazed at the autonomy faculty seem to have. I'm going to make sure my referrees all mention that really, I'm a teacher first, researcher second. That will always be the case, and this place, despite the heavy 3-3-3 teaching load, seems really supportive of scholarly activity on the kind of schedule I think I could manage, i.e., summers. And they have travel and conference money. And the first thing I saw when I got to campus was a ginormous tabby Manx, complete with collar and tags. And (elsewhere) almost tame squirrels. And gorgeous landscaping.

And did I mention they were very nice and very cool and that I want them to hire me? and yes, I know I have been in two minds about the kind of job I want, but I think this place would be no harder than a serious teaching 4-year, except that I would write because I want to, and not because I have to. Not something to sneer at. And best, I could stay in beautiful part of country where I would rather live than anywhere else in the US except those parts more easily accessible to Europe. So if you know people at local job, let them know how great I am as a colleague and teacher!

I am interviewing for the other job, too. Now slightly freaked out. I am interviewing for a job with big lecture courses and TAs. I have never had a TA. I have never taught grad students. Oddly, I am starting to think I *could* but on a month's notice? I am soooo going to need to prep this interview -- and pray that I get an offer for the other job? Except that I would really like to see if I could cut it in the minors of the Big Leagues. OTOH, with my track record this year, I could be doomed to adjuncting. Bugger. Yes, I am freaking. Back to grading now.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If they ask how you would handle TAs, ask them back if there are written job descriptions for TAs and what policies cover division of responsilities and work load.

In fact, you might want to ask them that whether or not they bring up that issue!


Sounds professional, doesn't it? And stuff you really need to know, at that.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with the interview! As for the TA question, did you TA? Can you think about the things you liked/didn't like from that point of view? I'm sure you will do well!!

Another Damned Medievalist said...

My Grad U didn't really have this kind of TA-ing. We did a semester that included ethics and practical training coupled with observation of a survey where we did some supervised grading and lecturing. Then, after we had passed comps, we had to teach a lecture course on our own. But I did have one class as an undergrad that was big lecture with TA sections...

BrightStar (B*) said...

OOO! Good luck! I have trouble focusing when I'm applying for jobs, too.