Opportunity Knocks. I Answer.

A sad fact of blogging is that the more that is going on in one's life, the less time and attention for blogging there is.

So I guess I'll just pound this out. Really it should be several blog posts. We'll see what spills out onto the—monitor.

Update on Daughter: She loves her new class. Her teacher requires no homework turned in, and her grade is based entirely on tests. I know, you're thinking what a terrible teacher. But she says he is really interesting and engaging as a lecturer, and she does well on tests, so for her, this is a perfect class. I bit my tongue about the whole testing-only thing because, as I reminded myself, if it works for her, it works. I have loved my share of great lecturers, too, and they will always have a place. Also, he has a disability which makes grading homework very difficult, so it actually does make sense. A good reminder that results trump theory. I just love that she trusts herself and chooses the teachers and methods that work for her. It's all about choice and self-directed learning, and she is really pretty damned good at this.

Job news. I hardly know where to begin. I tried explaining this via text before and the intrigue is thick. So it really doesn't translate to print well.

The pilot program is a flop, IMO. We prepared for 99 students from four different college prep classes. Only one of the four teachers was on board with the idea, and only 2 of his/her students decided to participate. They are going to get some hefty one-on-one help! So, any results from that are really going to be not terribly meaningful. In any event, the tutors can handle anything that comes along, so my attention does not need to be on it. I am very curious about what will happen next semester, and I guess I will find out, because the summer position I'm in appears to be turning into a temporary position for the next year. I am extremely happy about this.

It's temporary because when a tenure-track faculty position is vacated, it is no longer automatically filled. The position has to go through the approval process with the Academic Senate, which takes a whole budget cycle, one year. I don't know why this particular position didn't make it into the last cycle. I guess because of when the person left. But there is a year-long gap now. They are doing what is called "back-filling" the position, meaning they hire two part-timers to do the job. They could also post the job as a full-time temp position, but they often choose not to do that. I'm not clear why, but I am cynically guessing it's just more work to do that.

This is one of two of these positions, and last year, the other position was vacated as well, so there are two people, Miss A and Miss B, who split that job last year. Miss A is now permanently and happily employed in a different position in this same area.

Long story short, I am now one-half of the replacement for this job, which happens to be a job that I most voraciously want. Unfortunately, the other half of the replacement, Ms. B, is a rather highly qualified person who has done this before, and I am pretty sure she also wants this job. I think my only edge is the fact that I am going to kick ass on this job. Probably be some ass-kissing in there as well, let's be honest.

I've already started preparing. The aforementioned awesome woman who did this last year, Ms. A, got a good start on revamping many of the workshops. They had all been in Powerpoint before, and she's been making them Prezis, with embedded videos and links and various media to make them more interesting and non-linear. Her work looks very engaging. She's given me a binder of what she's done so far, and we're going to share the Prezis. Now, what was my password, again?

I've already taken over the academic integrity workshop for July, to her great relief, and I plan on taking on any and everything that they will give me this summer. The more prepared I am, the better I am going to look. I am a placeholder still, but I am going to be a damned good one. If I don't get the permanent job, it will not be because I didn't take my best shot.

Even if I don't get the tenure-track position—and let's face it, the chances are good that I won't, given their disturbing tendency to value outside applicants over those already here, in addition to the aforementioned highly qualified person likely to apply—this is great exposure. Workshops I will be presenting are taken by people all over campus, not just students. And I work in the same building with many of the people who are likely to be on hiring committees for jobs I want in the future. I'll be a known—hopefully excellent—quantity. Practice speaking to groups of people is precisely the weak point on my resume that I need to beef up, which is good for no matter where I end up applying.