Back to school

A new academic year is breathing down our necks. Once again I say "our" because not only do I have to get Pseudonymous Kid ready for school again (like his parents, he's a night owl, so getting back to normal people sleep and wake cycles is a huge nightmare), but I myself am returning to a classroom near me.

Which I'm pretty excited about, really, even though I'm also going through the same old "crap, which text? Ahh!" freakout that always characterized my syllabus planning. This time things are a little more complicated by the fact that I'm adjuncting (for now....), which means I was hired about three weeks before classes start (now down to two weeks). And since I'm teaching comp, which I haven't done in a while, I have to either pick a reader or come up with a bunch of readings that are all available online--no time to do a course packet this semester.

For now, though, I'm psyched. I missed teaching composition at my old job. (No, really, I did! I'm one of those freaky people who likes general-ed courses.) And the college is literally three blocks from my house*. And the class meets every day, which I predict I'll be bitching about by the end of August, but which does have the advantage (since it's only the one class) of actually giving my days some structure again.

So since I'm gonna be back in academia again, I've managed to convince the folks over at Inside Higher Ed that my checkered career makes me uniquely qualified to offer advice to other academics or aspiring academics. Feel free to go over there and pick my brain.



*We're hoping to be moving in September, to a new house that we're in the process of buying; luckily it, too, is close to the college, because remaining a one-car family is a priority to us. Assuming the inspection doesn't reveal unseen horrors, the monthly mortgage payment will certainly preclude new car payments. It also makes me extra hopeful that this course will lead to more steady work.