Sunday, January 24, 2016

On Not Taking the Job

The Modern Language Association (MLA) issues recommendations for the profession of teaching languages (English and foreign). One of those recommendations is a minimum per-course compensation based on credit hours.

For those who don't want to click on the link, the recommended compensation for 2015-2016 for a three-credit course is $4,900 for a quarter-length class or $7,350 for a semester-length course; MLA recommends $5,320 for a quarter-length course and $8,020 for a semester-length course if compensation were to be more on-par with the recommended annual (and entry-level) salary of $48,180.

Thanks to these recommendations, I've decided to not even waste my time on applying for a job at the community college down the street. While the job seems to be generous at first ($50-60/hour), the truth is that compensation is only for time spent physically inside the classroom. It does not count the large (and often invisible) part of the job - course planning and grading.

Also thanks to the adjunct project, I was better able to pin down how that hourly rate translated to a final salary and frankly it was a mere third of the MLA-recommended salary.

While I sincerely and deeply miss teaching and would love to add a class or two to my life, the compensation isn't worth the loss of my free time. This is part of fighting back against the bottoming-out salaries in the profession; refusing to take work that does not meet minimum, professional association-recommended salaries means that I value my labor and its financial value rather than the "joy" or "satisfaction" of the profession.

I miss teaching and would love to be in a classroom, but I won't do it for less than my professional association says is fair recompense.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

New year, new cold

Missed Sunday's deadline because I've been battling a viral cold for most of a week and really out of things because of it. I'm finally feeling better, but not 100 percent there.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Podcasting is harder than it looks

About a year ago, my knitting buddy mentioned she wanted to start a podcast. We finally made it happen today. It's going to be called "Knit Two Together" (k2tog). It took a few takes and I'm letting her take the lead on preparing the file for uploading, but I think it was fun.

Work keeps me busy and school is about to restart, so I could only commit to doing something once a month, although Deb is going to probably record at least once a month on her own.

I haven't started on the unread books projects yet, although I dragged two books around with me all weekend and never cracked open their spines.

I finished two washcloths and all I have left to do is finishing on them.

Sorry this isn't my best post, but I'm running and/or have run out of steam.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

It's Snowing!

I made an impromptu trip up to Tacoma/Seattle area to visit some friends. Unfortunately, it snowed so much and the traffic and roads were so bad that it took me 4.5 hours instead of 3 to get back home.

I had wanted to see the Landscape Paintings exhibit at the Portland Art Museum, but today was the last day to see it. I guess I'll have to hope I can catch it in Seattle or something.

I have late start at work tomorrow; I'm off to bed.