Part-Time Job Number 2

Things never happen in a nice neat way and that's kind of the story behind my new part-time job.

This all started in early January. I was at school for a meeting with the other instructors who would be teaching Biology with me this semester and one of the FT instructors told me about some PT Anatomy & Physiology positions at another nearby technical college that needed to be filled ASAP (this was two weeks before the semester started). Now, A&P certainly isn't my forte, but I know enough that I could get through a course and I figured I had nothing to lose and I applied. I wasn't incredibly surprised when I heard nothing and a week into the semester I assumed they weren't interested.

Flash forward to Sunday, January 31st. I checked my e-mail around 11AM and found an e-mail in my inbox with the heading "URGENT." It was from the associated dean at the other technical college (from now on, my original school will be TC and the new one is NTC) saying that they still needed an A&P instructor, the course would meet 3 times a week for 3 hours each and let her know right away if I could do it. I debated for about 20 minutes. When I applied to teach an A&P position, I really didn't think I'd get it - and so I was now faced with having to teach students this subject that I wasn't that comfortable with. Also, NTC is actually in downtown of the city we live near and would be about a 45 min drive each way. Of course, more teaching experience is never a thing to turn down and the extra 9 hours of pay a week (I get paid by the hour, not a flat rate for a course, but that actually works in my favor) wasn't something to laugh at. I wrote back and said I'd do it. Five minutes later the associate dean called.

She began my thanking me, then explaining a little bit about the course and then started mentioning how, after looking through my CV thought I might be more suited to teach a Microbiology course. True, but what does that have to do with filling an A&P spot? Turns out that through a series of unfortunate events they also had a Microbiology course that was in need of an instructor. We agreed that that was the best route for me and so I was hired around 1PM on Sunday. My first class was going to be Tuesday at 8AM - and the course had been going on since January 25. So not only was I walking into my first week AMAZINGLY unprepared, but I was walking into a class mid-semester.

I went to NTC on Monday to meet everyone and get the paperwork started. That night I was up until midnight cramming Microbiology notes into my head. Tuesday wasn't the best lecture I've ever given, but I must say that the students were incredibly patient with the fact that I had just been hired. That whole week was rough - I didn't have keys to any rooms, I didn't have a copy code, and most importantly, I didn't have access to the NTC intranet - no e-mail, no Blackboard, which was a huge problem. I made it though and this week has been far more successful. I can post my lectures on Blackboard, I can contact my students and post their grades. Overall, everyone involved is much happier.

I'm incredibly busy right now, but I'm thrilled to be working more. I finally feel like I'm contributing again and I like not having a lot of time where I wonder what I should be doing. All I need now is one more PT job and I'll basically be working full time. All the baby steps in the right direction will get me where I want to be someday soon