Big Day: the classes begin

Over the weekend, I presented my long version Northern Renaissance Symbols class at church.  It was very successful.  I already have people requesting that I teach it again.

Today, I (humbly feel) that I totally nailed my Mission College short version of the same material.  True, I did deliver it in my usual frenetic style so as to keep it within the 20-30 minute time frame (25 minutes!), but I felt that it was easy enough to understand, and yet still “meaty.”  My college professor may have a different opinion.  I’ll see her on Wednesday and ask for her critique.  So far, it still looks like I’m on for guest lecturing in another class in November, so I must not have done all that poorly.

When I got home, I sort of collapsed after my “high” from teaching.  I did some reading and watched a little TV.  Before you knew it, it was time for my first class at NHU.  Ugh, the start of a year (or more) of four nights a week in the classroom.  This is going to be a major adjustment in my life.

I tried to drive the non-highway route to school and I took a wrong turn.  It still worked out OK, so now I have a third route I can take.  This third route took 30 minutes.  I’ll try the other two routes this week and see how they time out.

We had a substitute our first day, but what a substitute!  Our sub was the head of the student teacher program at NHU.  It was really good to meet her.  We really seemed to hit it off.  She now knows that I have a Masters and that I actually seek a position at a Community College.  I also found out that her son is taking an Art History class at SJSU and is struggling.  I may become a tutor for him.

She also knows that I applied to NHU.  I got the impression from her that because I lack a PhD, I will not be considered for the position (which now shows as closed on the job website – Oh ya, I also applied to be a substitute teacher today).  NHU is trying to become a 100% PhD school to gain credibility.

The class, by the way, was absolutely packed.  The teaching credential program is definitely the most popular thing on campus.  It was also a very ethnically diverse class, so I felt right at home.  Out of the 24 in the class, 7 (including me) are going for a credential in HS Social Studies – slightly more than one quarter of the class!  This got me a little depressed – there might be only one job in any given year in the Bay Area for a history teacher, and I am one of seven in this single class (not to mention all the other classes in all the other colleges) who will be vying for that single position when we graduate.  My adviser John was absolutely correct when he said: “Try for something else, everyone wants to be a Social Studies teacher.”  His graduating class had three; it looks like mine will have seven (and John is going for his PhD right now in part because he couldn’t get a job).  For the next year or so, I’ll try my best to treat my history classmates as friends and colleagues.  At SJSU, everything was graded on a curve and I wanted the “A” so I got a little competitive.  I’m not sure if NHU grades on a curve, but even if it does, teaching is about collaboration, not competition.