So far this term, I have kept my passive-aggressive grader on a leash. A very short leash. Soon, I may even try to put my PAG to sleep. The only problem is that I know a new PAG will be reborn. I am quite sure that as long as I teach, a passive-aggressive grader will be lurking in the shadows of my teaching identity. Rather than try and eliminate PAG, and convince myself I am an icon of pure benevolence and compassion to my students, I must work to always be aware and not let the passive-aggressive grader loose.

Just in case you have never met the passive-aggressive grader, let me introduce you to him. PAG is the one who cuts a few points here and trims a few points there on a smart alec student’s essay. PAG is the one who sniffs and hunts down comma splices with three or four readings because PAG heard that student talking trash about PAG’s human form in the cafeteria. PAG is the one who seeks to expose every possible flaw in the hippie kid’s and born-again Christian’s essays because they are vocal about their beliefs. PAG is the ghost identity in every instructor that gives just enough substance to students’ claims, “They gave me a cruddy grade cause they don’t like me” so that those claims persist.

I am quite sure that my house is not the only house he visits. Unfortunately, many students think that PAG does all our grading or that PAG is the only instructor who exists. This illusion leads some students to believe that there is no rhyme or reason to our grading. One of the best ways I have found to keep PAG on a leash is to make the grading criteria, rubrics, and expectations for my class as transparent as possible. This way PAG has fewer places to hide — fewer shadows from which to jump after a caffeine-riddled day. I am accountable for my scoring. If the scoring and rubrics are transparent, then there is far less room for students to claim that PAG isn’t the one who tells us we know better than our students; PAG is the one who urges us to feel superior because we have more experience. PAG is not the one who spots the errors; PAG is the one who uses errors to compensate for other issues. PAG is the one who insists we are helping the student “see the light” by learning through hard work, but deep down PAG assures us that the punishment is fun. PAG is the secret sipping temptation when there’s too many papers, too much caffeine, and a full-up email box filled with questions, complaints, and complications. PAG is the steam blown off from a relationship’s bad day. PAG is the closeted aggressor in the non-violent, peace lover’s world.

I have not met too many instructors who are willing to admit their subjectivity and humanity — no matter how skilled, experienced, and hard-working it may be — can occasionally slip into vindictive, bitter, angry, or retaliatory mode. Come on, we’re human, admit it. Once we acknowledge PAG the imp exists, we can work to keep it on a chain. Only by observing ourselves and detecting the conditions that let PAG loose, can we control the damage. Sure, this requires work. It is honest work. It is work that complements what we are trying to do — educate — instead of what PAG does: destroy.

Keeping PAG at bay is not easy, but it is essential to being a good instructor.

This post marks the 100th post I have written for Adjunct Advice. Some posts are short; some posts are long; some posts are little more than giving props and a quality link. I like it that way.

So far, Adjunct Advice has served me well. I can only hope it has also served you, the readers, well. I have learned a lot about tech stuff and Gmail; I have interviewed a number of exciting, polite, and generous colleagues; I have networked more than I thought possible; I have maintained a pretty regular writing rhythm. All of these are possible because of this blog. How can I not be grateful for all those benefits? And, on top of all that, Adjunct Advice is a little over six months old and has had over 50,000 hits. That is pretty astonishing.

Equally astonishing is that I have even more questions now than I ever had before. I am less the total-newbie than I was when I began, but I sense the breadth of my ignorance better than I did before. This inspires me, and it fuels my lust to know more.

Just as inspiring are the potentials that emerge from this kind of blog. It embodies efforts to actually engage in change instead of simply talking about it or whining. While I understand these efforts are small, they are essential. And the more people who engage in this kind of work, the more people who share their insights, errors, experiences, and tips, the better off the rest of us who listen will be.

There are many people who deserve thanks — too many to list. The short list, however, includes Dieterich, Nick Carbone, Rachel Losh, Kim Hampton, and David Ayers. To you I offer my appreciation and thanks.

Now I have to go grade papers.

It can be exhausting attempting to explain every facet of being a good student to students. Truth is, it is not possible. All we can offer are highlights. It would be grand, yes, if we could record ourselves at our best — when we give our best tips — and then hit “replay” on some cosmic time-loop remote control. I wish! So, instead, we are left to repeat ourselves or, hopefully, to find a better solution.

One solution is providing a page of resources for students. This way you can say, “Did you check out my resource page? No? Well, go there and click X! Then, if you have more questions, come see me.” One of the first links I would put up is How-to-Study.com. It comes to you via props by the Librarian in Black. Using such sites allows you to cycle the work and efforts put forth by others while enabling your students to ask more specific, detailed, and relevant questions. Plus, they can go there at 2 a.m. instead of leaving a voice mail on your campus phone.

A recent correspondent — a non-tenure track instructor — asked a great question: Are they considered adjuncts? “Why yes,” said I without thinking. How can they not be adjuncts?

The more I think about it, the more I realize there’s a lot more involved with the label adjunct than there appears to be at first sight. For example, many non-tenure track folks have one year contracts. I know of other lecturers who have three year contracts. But are they truly equal with tenureds? Is that laughter?

And that is the point. As contingent academic laborers, we need to be very careful about who we do and do not consider adjuncts. Of course, there may be some NTT folks with Ph.D.s teaching at R-1 schools who do not consider themselves as being in the same boat as MAs who are teaching a sixty percent load at a community college. That is fine and dandy for some; to me that reeks of the same classism that regards NTT as being a sub-species not equal to those with full tenure. Some colleagues are more equal than others — and some instructors, under that approach, are just not considered colleagues.

When I think about adjuncts and issues surrounding contingent academic labor, the following questions come up:

1. Do you have academic freedom? Can you really teach and say what you want while remaining a responsible part of your university and academic community? Can you do so without fear? Do you know that your colleagues will help protect you?

2. Are you paid on the same scale as people with tenure? Really?

3. Do you have the same financial, structural, and support networks to empower professional development? This means, does your school give you cash, a place to work (an office), staff to assist you, and/or travel funds to improve your teaching and research?

4. Are you compensated for your publication and professionally related travel?

5. Do you have the same health care as tenureds? Is your domestic partner or non-married partner covered?

6. Do you have keys to the supply room?

7. Do you have an equal vote at department meetings, or are you 1/14 of a vote?

Again, these are just some of the questions.

It is vital that people who are performing the role of contingent academic laborers realize that they are adjuncts. Prefer the label contingent academic labor, associate faculty, or part-timer? Fine. No problem. Still, you are not tenured. You are part of the pool just like the rest of us. Similarly, those of us with semester-to-semester limited contracts need not be resentful towards our peers who have contracts for one or three years, who have health care for a limited time, or who are earning a better pay scale than we are.

As soon as part-timers start reinforcing our own class structure — who is more exploited, who is more credentialed, who is more professional, who has sold out more to “the man” — we are far weaker than when we started. Regardless of our relative privilege, it means little when compared to the pay, benefits, and protection of our tenured colleagues. And if you want to go off the scale, start examining administrators’ pay and benefits.

Fighting over this is absurd. Resentment towards other adjuncts because they make more money or have more security is misdirected and useless. Tempting, yes. And if those adjuncts with greater pay and longer contracts are snooty because the relative position or privilege they believe they have, fine. Delusions crumble.

In the mean time, the more inclusive, self-aware, and attentive we are to our identities and our colleagues, the more likely it is that we will be capable and competent in our teaching, our professional development, our job searches, and our activism.

Like many great resources and people, Vickie Willis came to my attention on the WPA-list. She issued her Call for Proposals for the anthology Don’t Panic!: The Instructor’s Guide to Assignments and Activities for First Year Composition. I found the ensuing thread intriguing, and I contacted her. Fortunately for us, she agreed to do an interview. I do hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

Please describe your current teaching position.

I’m a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) at Georgia State University, and I teach first year composition. Even though the position is called a GTA (or TA at other schools), I still have my own classroom, and I develop my own syllabus and course materials (while following our department’s course objectives, of course).

Student-wise, I’m in the Ph.D. program, too, with a primary specialization in Literary Theory, and a secondary in Rhetoric. I’m currently in my third year at GSU, and I’ve been teaching first year composition for five years.

How did adjuncting encourage you to work towards a Ph.D.?

When I began adjuncting, I still wasn’t clear about where I wanted to go. I had just completed my MA (in literature, with a focus on Modern and Contemporary American), and I had never taught before. And once I was in a classroom, I quickly fell in love with teaching.

Adjuncting was very much a growing and discovering process for me. I gained a lot of confidence in who I was and what I was doing. And it seemed natural to take the next step, and apply for Ph.D. programs. By the time I applied, I knew that teaching was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. And the idea of teaching forever made (and still makes) me very happy.

There was also the poverty factor. I only adjuncted at one university, and my course load was a 3-3-2 (three courses in the fall, three in the spring, and two in the summer). And this was in Richmond, VA, which can be a randomly expensive city to live in. So I was also working in a hospital laboratory to make ends meet, and that still wasn’t enough. Since I was already going into debt, I figured I might as well go whole hog, and come out with a Ph.D. and a career I loved.

For those of us with MAs in composition or English, what is the most significant difference between being an MA student and a Ph.D. candidate?

Well, I never taught as an MA, so one of the weirdest things about starting a Ph.D. program was teaching classes and taking classes at the same time. It took me a couple of semesters to wrap my brain around that.

Another thing is the level of involvement, in a sense. As an MA student, I did far less stuff than I do now. As a Ph.D. student, I feel like I have three jobs: I’m a student, a teacher, and a professional in the field. When I was an MA student, I was more focused on being a student.

Ph.D. programs, I think, encourage a student to stop being a student and start being a member of an academic community in a more professional sense. I know that’s a strange way to phrase it, but for me, it was a very real transition between a “passive” role and “active” role. I don’t think that’s true for everyone, and I don’t mean to imply that students are “passive.” And I know a lot of MA students that are certainly way more active and involved than I was at that stage. But there’s a role switch involved. I think part of it is learning to trust your own ethos while continuing to develop it. At some point you stop writing papers for classes, and start writing them for conferences and to submit for publication.

How did you get your idea for your book?

There were a couple of things that inspired me, actually. One was SAMLA’s (South Atlantic Modern Language Association) conference here last year. I attended both of the panels for First Year Teaching Strategies, and they were so great!! It was fascinating to hear what other people were doing in their classrooms, and there were so many great ideas and activities that I spent the whole time frantically jotting down as much as I could.

One of my closest friends, who is at GSU with me, also inspired me — she had gotten stuck teaching analysis last semester. And as we talked about it, and as I was thinking about all the times I’ve been in that same boat, it just seemed to click. I had just seen all these great presentations at SAMLA, so what if there was a way to compile teaching ideas and make it available to teachers?

Are you working on it alone or with others?

Well, both, in a way. I’m doing the CFP, and organizing, and talking to people about it—all the stuff that involves putting a book together. But I want the submissions to go through a blind peer review, so I’m going to get an editorial board to review the submissions and probably help collaborate with the final organization.

Plus, I have my very supportive and encouraging boyfriend, and lots of support and encouragement from friends and family.

And I’m getting a lot of mentoring and help, which is just fabulous. With a really good mentor, I don’t think you’re ever really alone.

Is anyone guiding you, or are you flying by the seat of your pants?

I have an excellent guide and mentor, and that is Dr. Marti Singer. She’s our Director of Lower Division Studies, and she is super awesome! We meet and discuss things like how to put together a CFP and what needs to be included, where it should be posted, what publishers to consider, how to write a letter to a publisher to shop your work—just all kinds of invaluable help and information. If I was flying by the seat of my pants, I think I would get stuck.

You know that Family Guy episode, where Ollie shouts “Who wants this dog?!” for the news bit with the animal adoption? Well, I saw that right before I started thinking about putting together a letter for publishers, and all I could think of was “Who wants this book!?”

Lord only knows what sorts of things I would have written if I didn’t have Marti.

How did you decide what kind of text you wanted to create?

This text is partly modeled on a book we do here: First Essays: A Peer Approach to Freshman Composition. In First Essays, which is a collection of undergraduate student writing and apparatus written in collaboration with undergraduates, we include the assignments for the essays in the book. So my format for the assignments and activities draws heavily on that. But I also wanted to include some kind of context and background about the classes that teachers were using their assignments and activities in—not exactly a teaching philosophy, but something to get an idea of everyone’s approach and classrooms. I thought that having a description like that would help situate each assignment, and also give readers a way to get a sense of different approaches and classroom dynamics.

And there are some things that have morphed. I’ve gotten a number of suggestions, and a lot of really good feedback, from people who have read the CFP (especially those on the WPA list-serv!!). So now I’m also going to include a section on further resources for assignments and activities.

Really, I’m just very audience centered. So what people tell me they want, combined with resources I wish I’d had when I first started teaching, is what’s directing me.

Where are you at in the book creation process?

I’m still pretty early in the process. Submissions are starting to come in (already!!), and that is very cool. And Marti is helping me shop for publishers, and we’re already getting some interest—which is also very cool. So, for me, the process started with an idea and a CFP first, to see what sort of response would happen. And then, if it looked like people were interested, going to publishers. I know that some people get a publisher first, but since this is my first project like this, I wanted to make sure I was adding something to the field, and that this was something that people wanted, before I started getting into the heavy-duty work.

What are some of the unknown or unexpected parts of the process that have cropped up so far?

The response. I was expecting to send out a CFP and wait. And instead, within 24 hours of posting the CFP to the WPA list-serv, there was a conversation on the list-serv and I was already getting emails and inquiries. I posted to the UPenn CFP site shortly afterward, and my email volume started increasing immediately. I was not expecting such an enthusiastic reception!! It was awesome and a little overwhelming, and it was really exciting to see how excited everyone else was.

Any piece — or several pieces — of key advice for grad students or adjuncts who are thinking of assembling a book?

Take your idea to a faculty member to get some advice and feedback. Even if you don’t know anyone very well, this can be a really great way to start getting involved and working with other people in your department!

Start by being organized. Have some sort of idea about how you want to organize all your information, submissions, inquiries, etc. before you even start.

Have faith in yourself. You WILL come up with a great idea (you probably already have a great idea!), and it’s important to get it out there. Remember, everyone wants to know what YOU are doing and thinking and researching. I think it’s really hard to find confidence sometimes, and not be shy. But teachers have a really awesome community, and people want to see you succeed, and help you succeed.

Allow yourself to be human. I think that we teachers sometimes get pulled into our students’ vision of us (I had one student tell me once that she imagined that on the weekends all I did was freewrite), and I know that we all work a ton as it is. But remember to take a break, step back, and take some you time.

Where did you find the time to do this?

For me, time is a very real issue. I’m taking my comps in my secondary this semester, helping with First Essays here at GSU, I’ve presented at one conference, I have another conference in March (the APA/PCA in San Francisco!), I’m the Social Director for the GEA (Grad English Assoc.), I’m the faculty assistant for my PDC (Professional Development Community—it’s like a mentoring group), I just finished two book reviews for Popular Music and Society, and I’m planning to start on my prospectus soon. PLUS, I have “a life” that includes my very wonderful boyfriend, who is at Purdue, and my fabulous friends and family. And I knit and scrapbook and watch TV.

I get things done by being very organized and time management oriented. One thing that helps a LOT is that I’ve finished all of my coursework. Since I’m not taking classes anymore, I’m able to devote more time to developing professionally by getting out in the field more.

The trick, I think, is moving from having a schedule handed to you, like when you take a class and get a syllabus, to making your schedule on your own, and using that time in a way that’s similar to when you took classes.

What tools or strategies do you use to manage your time?

My entire time management system comes from a side comment a friend made, about 10 years ago, about his new roommate. “I don’t know why,” he said, “my roommate lets all our messages pile up on our answering machine. Why doesn’t he just check them, and leave a note if one’s for me, then delete them? It takes two seconds. Leaving them all on the machine makes listening to the machine a 15 minute process, instead of a two minute one.”

He would be surprised to learn that his side comment turned into my time management philosophy, but it did. I start on things immediately, I’m always doing several things at once, and I don’t let things pile up. I’m super organized, and have binders and folders for everything. I prioritize projects, and work a little on each one almost every day.

This is something I like to tell my students. At a four-year college, they take about five classes a semester. If they write, on average, ten pages of writing for each class, they will graduate having written about 400 pages of writing. But they don’t do this all at once. It’s spread out and broken down, so they write a little for each class, each semester. It’s really daunting to have someone say, “Okay, you have to write 400 pages. And you have this much time. Go.” But college automatically breaks that down. And I think that’s what it’s all about really—breaking stuff down. By doing things in small chunks, you just don’t realize what you’ve done until you’re finished.

So for me, it’s about managing time. I’m a big list maker, so I usually have a few lists going at once. There’s the daily list, the weekly list, and the semester list, and I keep all of these on 4×6 notecards (the daily list goes on big sticky notes), and I tape them to my computer or desk or day planner. So all the projects and whatnot get broken down, and become manageable.

Dr. Alexandra Juhasz experimented with teaching and learning via YouTube last Fall. She has some blog posts about her experience and her analysis/reflections on some of those experiences at her blog. Or you could skip the blog and go straight for the YouTube viewing experience of this project. The various media are interesting, and the theoretical and pedagogical implications of using YouTube are enormous. This is a very exciting field, and I am glad people are working with it. If online learning, digital delivery, digital media, web 2.0, or YouTube interest you at all, you will want to at least review Dr. Juhasz’s efforts. Consider engaging in an important dialogue!

Every now and then I post information about software and tech-tips that I find very useful. A lot of software — especially freeware — is difficult for me to figure out. Plus, between teaching, life, class prep, and travel, who has the hours to experiment with it? Here’s a solution: Floss Manuals. They provide free manuals to free software, like Audacity, that you can download online. This site can potentially save you money, time, and frustration.

AcademHack delivers again! Check out Dr. Parry’s suggestions for using Twitter in academia. Unsure of what Twitter is? Click the link!

I regularly post about how much I like Gmail, and I try to post tips for other folks interested in improving their Gmail efficiency. Saving a few minutes here and there on email adds up quickly throughout the day. Plus, it significantly improves my mood!

Fortunately, there are so many people using Gmail that quality tips appear pretty regularly. Today’s tips are from Matt Cutts via a solid suggestion at Lifehacker.

Adjunct Colleagues:

I am reposting material from a couple weeks ago. So far, the response has been abysmal — are there no adjuncts interested in going to the WPA breakfast? I simply do not comprehend.

If you are interested in going to the WPA breakfast, and you are an adjunct in the comp/rhet field, please read the repost below.

It’s silly to ignore generosity and opportunity — especially when they are combined.

Best,
gz

Yes, the Conference on College Composition and Communication is coming up in just a few months. First week of April. While the conference is going on, there are a lot of different research, interest, and identity groups organizing gatherings. The Council of Writing Program Administrators is one of them. That’s the WPA — the WPA-list is where I go for a lot of material, advice, and insights for my professional development and growth.

In the mean time, the WPA Breakfast is a great way to get to meet, greet, and interact with WPAs. That’s right, you don’t have to be a WPA to join the Council of WPAs. And if you are going to be in New Orleans for the 4Cs and have ever thought about program administration, this breakfast will probably have one of the densest concentrations of WPAs on the planet this year. It is a good idea to be there.

If you are an adjunct and don’t have the cash to go to the breakfast, send me an email: gz7comp@gmail.com. Some current WPAs and WPA-list members have offered to stake for adjuncts’ breakfasts. I’m running this on a first come, first served basis for as many slots as stakers provide.

If you are a graduate student, the breakfast costs $20. The WPA Council uses the Robert Connors fund to offset the subsidy.

If you are willing to donate to support the graduate student subsidy, please donate to the Connors fund. To stake an adjunct, please contact me via email at: gz7comp@gmail.com.

A big thanks to members of the WPA community who have responded with such generosity to stake adjuncts so quickly! Thank you!