As the World Turns

I am an instructor at a small university in the mid west of the U.S. By choice, my job is 75% time which is enough to get benefits but not so much that I have to be on a bunch of committees. My university is small enough that I can teach a wide range of classes, which I really enjoy. My students include traditional undergraduates, adult students, and graduate students and I enjoy this wide range. I have students in more than one class across their years at the university, so I have the privilege of watching them grow up from post-high school to being adults. This job utilizes all of the skills I have developed over the years, from counseling skills to writing and teaching writing, from music to technology. I have wonderful colleagues to work with. Unlike professors at very large institutions that care solely about research, the people who teach at this school care about the quality of their teaching. When we have a student who has some kind of problem going on in his or her life, several of my colleagues and I will do extra things to try to help. It’s also nice that I get access to good technology and the support to keep trying new things. I love my job and am so glad that I have it. I look forward to going to work.

If you ask me that question every day, I would probably say that my day was filled with a series of emotions, some absolutely fabulous moments, and some not so fabulous moments. Myself, I usually choose to focus and talk about the nice things that have happened during the day. Nearly every day I learn lessons and better ways of doing things. I like to think of the day as a series of events that try to teach me something. Someone may be trying to teach me patience, while someone else is trying to teach me to be more accurate. I try to turn criticism into a positive thing. That is as long as I don’t get too much of it! Sometimes I view things as a “test” or a chance to do something nice for someone. I try to grab those moments as often as I can.

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