Getting Hired to Teach Two Days Before Classes...

... is at times extremely stressful and annoying.  If you haven't found out already, vacation was cancelled a few hours after I had posted that I was going on it.  I got a call from Broome Community College (hereafter referred to as BCC), and I am teaching a section of Elementary Algebra and Trigonometry.  Although I've only taught two classes, I'm already very much excited to be there and excited to finally be teaching.  Not to say I'm not nervous a little bit, but to have students and a class is wonderful.

What isn't wonderful is that apart from having a class and 24 students, I really have nothing else.  The first day of classes was spent running to one end of campus to the other attempting to obtain any of the objects required for a staff member of a college.  On the first day of classes, I have no e-mail address at which to be reached at, no payroll information, no parking pass, no ID, no computer access, no class list, no office, and no office hours.  Since my class also involves some online material, I also didn't have any of that and let alone any of th knowledge to know how to us it.  Three days into the whole experience, I've only managed to obtain a class list and a few pieces of software and code I need for the class.  With those victories at hand though, I feel accomplished, but realize there is a lot more to go.  Hopefully by the third week, teaching at BCC will feel like a well oiled machine... but maybe that's me being too optimistic.

Since I've vented, I'll go back to tell you how content I am with the situation.  Getting hired by BCC not only gives me some much needed experience to put on my resume, but it also keeps me in the area a bit longer so I can continue being a part of the church community that I'm becoming a part of.  Also, because I got a late-afternoon class, I'm still able to substitute teach at the public schools, which keeps me plugged in to what's going on there.

This has been wonderful to write because a year ago, I didn't think I would be in this situation.  I thought I'd have my own classroom, with five classes of students, and teaching math in a public high school.  However, God has shown that sometimes our vision for our life isn't what we thought it would be.  And if you had asked me a year ago if I would have been content with anything but that, I would have answered no.  But writing this today, I am content with what has been given to me.  From a spiritual point of view, it is easy to see how God has been steadily working and molding me for a situation like this.  And I'm confident I am here for a reason.  It's now up to me to uncover it.

Should be an interesting four months!  Certainly, it will be a new adventure for me!