Things that piss you off?

[silverwhisper]

color me educated on the problems of being an instructor.

and yeah, you could probably bribe him to do so w/ a jelly donut or something. :>

ed

 

[Sarojaede]

Adjuncts don't get TAs; Lecturers don't get TAs. Some tenure-track faculty don't get TAs; it depends on the department they are in to be honest.

TAs in many departments teach the lab section of classes, while the professor teachs the lecture portion. But that's rare in the humanities. In English, a graduate teaching assistant is fully in charge of his/her own classes. So, being a TA is really a misnomer when you are in English and some other humanites departments.

Anyway, I am getting off track.

Eilan--She's teaching 7 classes this fall?!?! I take it she's not part-time then. But still, 7 classes in one sememster. Is this a quarter system school instead of a semester system school? I mean, I think 4 classes in one semester is bad enough, but holy fuck, 7 classes?

If they were the same 7 classes maybe. No forget that. Even if they were the same 7 classes I wouldn't do that. Then again, if you "outsource" the grading, it's not so bad, I suppose, since the grading is the most time consuming part.

Being a part-time adjunct is teh sux!

Part-time adjuncts get paid by the credit hour per semester. So, if you get paid $600 per credit hour and you teach one 3 credit hour course for the semster, you are making $1800 for the semester. That's $1800.00 for 15 weeks of work. And one class, if the instructor is invested in teaching well, probably is a 12 - 15 hour a week job. So...yeah...

Part-time adjuncts are really slave labor at colleges and universities. It's pathetic, to be honest. BTW, $600.00 per credit hour for the course of the sememster is considered good pay by some part-time adjuncts. Some places pay as low as $350.00 per credit hour for the course of the semester

 

[midwestyankee]

<snip>

Eilan--She's teaching 7 classes this fall?!?! I take it she's not part-time then. But still, 7 classes in one sememster. Is this a quarter system school instead of a semester system school? I mean, I think 4 classes in one semester is bad enough, but holy fuck, 7 classes?

If they were the same 7 classes maybe. No forget that. Even if they were the same 7 classes I wouldn't do that. Then again, if you "outsource" the grading, it's not so bad, I suppose, since the grading is the most time consuming part.

Being a part-time adjunct is teh sux!

<snip>

When I was slaving in the adjunct world I knew more than one other instructor who taught classes at two different colleges, all on an adjunct basis of course. One guy was teaching either seven or eight classes per semester that way - and he still had a hard time making ends meet. The only member of the adjunct faculty that I knew who made a decent living on his own worked at the race track part time as a cashier taking bets and made five times as much there as he did teaching. But he loved to teach and he thoroughly enjoyed doing the coaching that he did for the school as well (golf as I recall). The rest of us either starved or got by with a little help from our spouses.

 

[silverwhisper]

OK: my lunch hour was consumed by the single most unpleasant business meeting i've ever had. my client, who wants to buy several styles from us, has what they think is a slam-dunk to their client, a major department store. our client was crystal clear from the get-go that all of these styles were to include a feature. unfortunately, there are 2 ways to refer to that feature. we understood them to mean the wrong way.

so now we have to scramble to do this extremely difficult thing and send revised samples so they can get them to their client.

it's all a fucking miscommunication issue, there's nothing i personally can do to fix it and it's fucking poisoned the entire relationship w/ this client which means that as a fucking relationship manager, my responsibilities may be reduced considerably through no fault of my own and there isn't a damned thing i can do about it.

that's what's fucking pissing me off right today.

ed

 

[center_stage]

I got my math test back today, and even though my answers were right, half of them were marked wrong because I didn't do it the way the teacher taught us how to do it.

I learned how to do a lot of this stuff in high school, and I've been doing it that way for years. It's not like I can't explain my work. If he just asked, I could clearly explain it to him.

I tried talking to him about it, and he just didn't want to hear it.

I am so fucking pissed.

 

[Eilan]

eilan: how the fuck does that work? TAs? quid pro quo w/ other instructors? voodoo? inquiring minds wanna know!

ed

I don't know how it works. The powers that be probably don't know about it. I think she pays another co-worker to grade her work for her.

Eilan--She's teaching 7 classes this fall?!?! I take it she's not part-time then. But still, 7 classes in one sememster. Is this a quarter system school instead of a semester system school? I mean, I think 4 classes in one semester is bad enough, but holy fuck, 7 classes?

She's still considered part-time, but she's teaching almost twice as much as a full-timer would. But, hey, she's not grading the papers, so It's not that much work for her. And it's a semester system.

I think she's under the impression that if she shows a willingness to do as much work as the department can give her, she'll be rewarded with a full-time position. Not gonna happen. Two English faculty members are retiring after this year and they won't be replaced; they've been short two full-time faculty since 1998, the year I started teaching there. The English major is being phased out so that only the English classes that are relevant to other programs will remain.

One of the adjuncts makes a decent living at what he does, but he also teaches classes at one of the prisons. That's where he makes most of his money.

For the record, the school pays $400 a load hour.

 

[EJFan]

i don't know why these damned people don't think more when posting here. don't you all know that i'm never around from 4pm to 10:30pm eastern time? don't you realize that all the posts that accumulate in that time take far too long to read? how am i supposed to catch the hell up if you're going to keep discussing things for that 6 or 7 hour period of time?

 

[Eilan]

how am i supposed to catch the hell up if you're going to keep discussing things for that 6 or 7 hour period of time?

Cliff's Notes?

 

[midwestyankee]

Cliff's Notes?

Who's Cliff?

 

[EJFan]

Who's Cliff?

it's a little known fact...

 

[Denae]

---damned mosquitoes. Could you please go find another body to puncture?

And the worthless citronella candle is headed to the trashcan.

 

[EJFan]

---damned mosquitoes. Could you please go find another body to puncture?

And the worthless citronella candle is headed to the trashcan.

have a dryer sheet handy? they tend to repel mosquitoes and bees.

 

[Guest]

 

[EJFan]

Fuck You, asshole.

just leave me alone, will you? I heard you the first fucking time. Just let me do my job, and stop beeping me on that fucking radio phone.

25 times in one day is a little ridiculous, you know

ok. i'll stop.

i just thought it was appropriate to call the day after we had sex is all.

 

[Guest]

 

[silverwhisper]

scaly: remember, EJ's spent time in jersey. that means he's well-eqiupped w/ a middle finger.

ed

 

[Guest]

 

[silverwhisper]

well, that's certainly reasonable. he might be able to scavenge a few hunting rifles from the gun racks of the local rednecks. :>

ed

 

[EJFan]

actually, you might just be within a couple hours drive of this guy.

what do you own for weapons?

SW has already pointed out my only real option for weaponry. i've never owned or shot a gun (and given my feelings for the locals, it's probably best that i don't have access to any).

chris ferguson can throw a playing card at 70mph. maybe that could help you?

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

 

[EJFan]

well, if it has a really sharp edge, it might do the trick.

paper cuts are brutal... he can slice carrots from several feet away.

and just for the record, I'm up to 12 separate calls/conversations from this guy today.

if that ain't love, i don't know what is.

 

[bobsgirl]

I had a really good idea for a story this morning. I was typing furiously and really getting into it, then I had to stop to drive B to work. Now that I'm back--pfft. The muse is gone. I hate it when that happens.

 

[midwestyankee]

I had a really good idea for a story this morning. I was typing furiously and really getting into it, then I had to stop to drive B to work. Now that I'm back--pfft. The muse is gone. I hate it when that happens.

Maybe she needs cookies.

Or brownies.

 

[bobsgirl]

Maybe she needs cookies.

Or brownies.

Um, no. I need *ahem* something a little more earthy than that.