These last few weeks have been absolutely insane. So much
has happened that I don’t quite remember the whole timeline but I’ll do my
best. Back when I was still in California, I officially was asked to teach a
Friday morning, one-a-week class at CWI. The only thing was that it was HUMA
101, not 102, meaning that I would have to pick up the other book when I was
back in town. I made an arrangement to do so and picked up the first volume,
which is Pre-history to the Renaissance. I also got a few copies of some
syllabi and spent the weekend looking everything over and trying to get a
handle on it all.
I decided that I wanted to meet with Brenda, my department
chair, just to walk through some things with her and ask some questions. The
morning of our meeting, I was at the Godwins so took Addy out for a run. When I
got back, there was a message on my phone from Brenda asking if I wanted to
take on two more sections on Tuesday and Thursday. I got breakfast with Abbey
and then headed over to CWI to give her my answer. I wasn’t worried about
teaching more classes, but it did mean that I had to be prepared by Tuesday the
26th instead of Friday the 29th. Those three days seemed
like a huge amount of time. She also gave me more examples of syllabi and we
talked through some questions that I had. Over the next few days, I agonized
over the calendar and the syllabus, and then struggled through posting the
things that I needed to on Blackboard. Because I didn’t ever have an official
orientation, I still feel like there are a lot of things that I’m not prepared
for or that I’m missing. I’ve had to email the poor administrative assistant
for the department so many times. In my defense, a few of the questions that I
had when I couldn’t find things were not because I was just an idiot: they weren’t
actually accessible to me at the time that at least that makes me feel like I
have a slight bit of competence. I’e also been working on putting together my
power points, adding questions to the online discussion board. It doesn’t sound
like a lot, but man, am I mentally exhausted. I haven’t looked at some of this
stuff in years and I certainly haven’t studied in depth the humanities
(culture, music, art, drama, literature, etc.) side of things so it’s a bit
overhwleming but also fascinating and a nice challenge.
Meanwhile, I also am doing a lot of different work at C of
I. I only have one class but it’s got 21 kids in it. Way too many. We barely
fit into the classroom. It’s awesome. Please read that with heavy sarcasm.
Meanwhile, instead of a class, I’m going to have open office hours for students
to drop by and get learning support help. I also have planned these mini
seminars over the first six weeks for small groups to talk about various study
skills issues. I’ve created fliers and mini-fliers, talked to the faculty,
reached out to the coaches, talked to Mark who is working with the at-risk
athletes, talked to the basketball teams, attended meetings with the PEAK
center, a new, rebranded group at the college that covers any type of student
support, be it academic, professional, learning or disability support, student
affairs issues, etc. I feel fine
about the class since I’ve done it so many times- although never with this many
students- but all the other stuff has been a lot of work and to be honest, a
lot of stress about whether or not kids will actually show up. Part of me has
given up- not on the students and not on my job- but given up that things will
be any different and that the administration will actually realize that I know
what I’m doing and that the students deserve to have the attention they need.
So basically, I’m going to work as hard as I can for my students and for
whoever comes to my seminars, do the advertising that I need, keep detailed
records on who shows up and who doesn’t and go from there.
Needless to say, it’s been an exhausting few weeks. I also
have been working with the campus ministries worship team, meeting with al the
students, having an initial practice session and preparing for a retreat this
Sunday. That’s been a lot of work as well, especially since they’re in need of
a leader and that’s what my role is going to be. I’ve put together worship
packets and written up a list of expectations. None of this is necessarily HARD
work, but it just feels non-stop. Add to that the regular life things of
errands, cooking, working out, actually wanting to see friends every once in a
while, life, to say the least, has been exhilarating and exhausting.
