I'm not griping, really I'm not. I'm okay with this. Really. I just need to get it off my chest, and writing it here helps me do this. So don't bother reading this, because it's not a gripe, just me not-griping. Hence, nothing here for you to read.
Here's what I'm not griping about:
• I'm not funded this term.
• J has a TA for his class.
• J will be gone on Thursday when he has a class.
• *I'm* the one teaching J's class on Thursday.
See, there's good reasons why I'm not funded: J's grant is over, and I'm not making "satisfactory progress" in order to get a TA position. J's TA, however, *is* making satisfactory progress and hasn't been hanging around for as long, and thus deserves a TA slot. However, I know way more about the field than J's TA. This is my research field, whereas J's TA is merely placed as his TA in order to be funded, since that's the way the TA positions ended up. I am here for love, the TA for money.
Since I know what I'm talking about, and the TA probably doesn't (at least, not as much), J asked me to "guest lecture" his class on material I wrote a paper on. People in my field give guest lectures all the time. I have given a guest lecture before. However, I imagine most don't give free guest lectures when they're living off of their savings. But I'm *not* griping. I know why my financial situation is the way it is, and it's not J's problem. Plus, I'm already here, so there's no travel expenses to be reimbursed for. (Heck, even the local buses are free.)
But, the thing is, I'm not *really* giving a guest lecture. I'm a substitute. It's one thing to expand my 20 minute conference presentation into a full class lecture, but another to give me related material (where I have to redo the slides to expand them and correct the mistakes) and then fill up the remaining time with the material I did research on. Does that sound like a guest lecture to you? But I'm *not* griping. This is good for me. It's teaching experience, which will make me a better teacher.
It would be kind of nice to be paid for it, though.
But I'm *not* griping.
I think right now is a good time to walk over to the post office and mail H's socks. I'll start the slides after that.
6 comments:
Did I see the magic words "mail H's socks"!?Yippeeeeeeeee!
As for the "guest lecture", I can say that it seems much less of a burden when you're being paid. Even when it's not payment directly for that lecture, you can still hope that the regular lecturer can pay you back "in kind" some time.
Not much comfort, I know. Come back to Winnipeg!
H
I don't follow instructions well. I read it anyway. *HUGS*
I know what you mean by understanding why the situation is the way it is, and being generally okay with it, but you feel the need to gripe anyway, just to get it off your chest. It's the whole "I'm irrational sometimes, but at least I KNOW and ADMIT that I'm being irrational" that I tend to live by. *shrug* Did the rant make you feel better? (I hope so)
It did help somewhat, and the walk was nice too.
So, the department is so hard up for money now that you must be making "satisfactory progress" in order to get funding?!? When did that happen?
I think it's always been this way, but they don't enforce it except when they have more students than positions.
geez, you'd think there would be a few bucks in the dept's budget for an "honorarium" at least.
Post a Comment