Hello fellow bloggers and readers! I’m baaaack. Well, at least a little bit. I’m not up to posting everyday energy but I did miss writing my posts so I thought it was time to get back in the game since I was no longer fearing the giving up time to write the blog thing. Eventually I’d like to get back to a post a day, hopefully by the end of October. The new job is going fantastically, learning a lot more about publishing in a month than I ever knew there was to know. I’m even going to get to start traveling to conventions to scout writerly talent. Sound awesome?
Well. It’s not. It’s scary and intimidating and I feel totally unprepared. But it is also awesome. I get to make books. I get to build a network of writers to commission and make pub plans and manage slush piles. It’s all very official and job-like now. But I’ve finally found my rhythm.
My part-time Sunday job however, is not going quite as well. I wanted to keep it so I could continue to teach even though I wasn’t going to do it full time. I think of it as my giving back to the community job. Which sounds well and good but I hate the company I work for, their lesson plans don’t work, my co-teacher for ACT Prep thinks she can ask me to drop plans and cover her shifts at the last minute, and every staff meeting feels like a Ponzi scheme (as in, if you can get 2 students to sign up, they can get discounts for getting another 2 students to sign up, etc…). So why do I stay, you ask? Because our center head uttered the phrase “Anyone who can speak English can teach upper level English. We don’t need teachers who are certified in it” REALLY?! Sure, it’s not organic chem, but yes, to teach upper level English you need to know more than how to communicate. I am terrified to leave these students to those crappy lesson plans and a teacher who can’t teach it.
So I’m having a bit of a conundrum. I no longer need this job for money (it barely pays for the gas to get there) or experience. I hate the job. I don’t want to work for this company anymore. But I feel guilty leaving students who have paid a lot of money with a teacher who doesn’t know what they’re doing. Should I stay? Or should I walk?
And while you’re thinking about that, here are some pictures of my fabulous cross-stitch pattern come to life.