{"id":551,"date":"2018-04-13T20:23:25","date_gmt":"2018-04-14T00:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/wordpress\/autisticme\/?p=551"},"modified":"2023-11-26T16:31:36","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T22:31:36","slug":"three-decades-in-pursuit-of-teaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/2018\/04\/13\/three-decades-in-pursuit-of-teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Decades in Pursuit of Teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I entered the <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"University of Southern California\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/University_of_Southern_California\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener wikipedia\">University of Southern California<\/a> in 1987 as a quad major. That eventually was reduced to a double major in <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"Journalism\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Journalism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener wikipedia\">print journalism<\/a> and English <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"Education\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Education\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener wikipedia\">education<\/a>, though I came frustratingly close to a general science degree for teaching science.<\/p>\n<p>Now, three decades later, I have been a substitute public <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"Teacher\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Teacher\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener wikipedia\">school teacher<\/a>, a part-time college instructor, a teaching assistant, a graduate assistant, a visiting professor, and an adjunct. Only briefly was I an assistant professor, in a program with too few students to support the course offerings.<\/p>\n<p>The reasonable question to ask, and one I have asked constantly for 30 years, is, \u201c<strong>Why do I keep trying to teach?<\/strong>\u201d My reasons include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The enjoyment of teaching and the time I spend with students.<\/li>\n<li>The schedule, with breaks, which allows me recovery time, something few other professions offer.<\/li>\n<li>The realistic option teaching offers most <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"Creative writing\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Creative_writing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener wikipedia\">creative writers<\/a>, who cannot survive on writing alone.<\/li>\n<li>The financial security promised if you attain tenure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I have admitted before, I\u2019d often rather sit at home and write than have a standard career. Home is safe, quite, and controlled. But, I also needed a stable career and truly enjoy teaching.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I\u2019m much older and that career proved too elusive. Any career proved elusive.<\/p>\n<p>I did try the \u201cmake your own career\u201d approach, and that cost my wife and I a lot of time, money, and heartache. I do not have the social skills that an entrepreneur needs and neither does my wife. Introverts need an extrovert business partner.<\/p>\n<p><strong>These<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>must be my final months pursuing an academic career<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The adoption of our foster daughters was delayed, so I politely declined interviews in other states. Until we are their legal parents, I have learned not to assume adoption is just around the corner. Last year, I thought the adoption process would be completed before July or August (2017). It wasn\u2019t, and I already know I don\u2019t want to relocate without my family. I could handle a month or two, maybe three, but not a year without my wife and daughters.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve had interviews and campus visits, but no solid employment offer. It seemed like I was close a few times. Twice I was asked about possible salary requirements and anything else I might require. In both instances, I referenced what I had earned as a full-time professor and offered an average of those annual salaries. I never heard back \u2014 no follow-up at all.<\/p>\n<p>Without an academic home, I am still putting together proposals and writing draft papers, alone and in collaboration with others. Desperation or delusion or something. I had imagined a job offer for 2018-19, so I kept moving forward with submissions. <strong>Reality is taking hold<\/strong>. Hard to admit the truth, sometimes, especially when the truth is a lot of time, money, and energy invested in a career path that was not to be.<\/p>\n<p>I was never great at anything, but <strong>I am a good teacher<\/strong>. The evaluations of colleagues and students reflect the quality of my teaching and scholarship.<\/p>\n<p>That wasn\u2019t enough to find a career path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I entered the University of Southern California in 1987 as a quad major. That eventually was reduced to a double major in print journalism and English education, though I came frustratingly close to a general science degree for teaching science. Now, three decades later, I have been a substitute public&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/2018\/04\/13\/three-decades-in-pursuit-of-teaching\/\">Continue Reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Three Decades in Pursuit of Teaching<\/span> <i class=\"fas fa-angle-right\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":29,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5,13],"tags":[127,144,268,589,699],"class_list":["post-551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-employment","category-writing","tag-career","tag-choices","tag-exhaustion","tag-regrets","tag-teaching","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Podcast-HD-1920x1080-comp-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfivLC-8T","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3698,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions\/3698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}