Most people retire from their working lives to have more time for socializing. I retired from socializing to fit more work into my life! What could entice me to give up some much-needed gym time? I'll give you a hint- my new middle name is "Adjunct."
Yes, as in Temporary Adjunct Professor. I am teaching my first ever college class, Introduction to Speech Language Pathology, at American River Community College. There are only 2 programs for SLP-As (assistants) in Northern California, and one of them is literally 5 minutes from my house. Fortunately, that is the one that hired me.
Until my arrival, the whole department consisted of one visionary, overworked, full time professor. In the grand tradition of great speech pathologists, her name is totally unpronouncible: Zajics, pronounced "Zikes". This is the first time in my life that my last name was simpler than the alternative!
I was offered the class literally as I was walking out the door for Christmas Break, and didn't get any materials or instructions until one week before the class started. So it has been an exhausting and harried few weeks of trying to prepare lectures and figure out how campus works and trying to look like I know what I am doing. So far, we are 0/4 at successfully having the print shop have copies ready for class, and every week has been besieged by technology fails (mostly not my fault). But there have also been some good discussions and interested learners, and the class is moving in the right direction, so I am pleased. I enjoy the challenge of teaching and am excited to introduce others to the field I love. They may have noticed that I am clueless, but I am enthusiastically and amusingly clueless!
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