Bright-Eyed Adjunct

Sudent: So, what's your *real* job?

Me: Uhm... this is...

Student: You just, what, go around teaching classes all day??

Me: Yep, this [Statistics] and College Algebra....

Student: Oh, that's.... cool (said while backing slowly out the door) So you're like a mathematician?

Me: Well, I guess you could say that.

So, I've made the (suicidal??) leap from adjunct instructor to fulltime, tenure track, instructor at my community college.  Here are my thoughts on the transition:

YAY BENEFITS!!

What happens to my whole adjunct advocacy plan?  Am I allowed to be/would I be accepted as a leader?

HOLY CRAP,  I'll be teaching 5-6 classes a SEMESTER?!

Oh, I can take classes for free at Big U?

I'll be teaching at one of the site campuses (not the main campus that I'm at now), so I'll definitely have to move.

If I'm at the brand new site campus, I'll be like, a charter/founding member!

According to BLS and other sources, the median income for a M.S. in mathematics is 50k+.  With my recent promotion, I'm a little over half that.  Boo.

Bad students are not bad people.

BUT:

What I submitted in response to the following prompts in the application to teach as an adjunct:

I want to teach at Techno Community College because it will give me a well-respected background in the classroom that will be necessary to achieve my future goals.  One such career goal is to pursue a Ph.D. in Statistics and go into Higher Education Policy and Administration as a College Provost or Dean of Education.  Positions such as these require extensive experience as an educator in addition to academic degrees.

I want to be a part of the reformation and restoration of American Academe; encouraging all Americans to attend an institution of higher education, securing optimal funding for those institutions, and designing a general curriculum that encourages individual growth of the student educationally and as a citizen of their local and global communities.  My time at TCC will help me hone this vision and passion, and give me the tools to see it through.

My teaching philosophy is to take a student-centric approach to all classroom activities and to encourage students to become self-sufficient learners.  Each student learns differently and to that end I make lessons as multidimensional as possible.  Dimensions include traditional lecture, instructor-student dialogue, small group in-class activities, and out-of-class activities.