Back to Work

I turned in my final grades for Fall semester on December 16th. Tomorrow, January 13th, I return to work. I've been on vacation for just under a month.

Community college teachers are sort of on the low end of academic prestige and money in the world. As teachers, I think CC instructors are largely seen as the B-list farm team of academia (which is unfortunate - but that's another post). Financially, we don't make tons of money. Notice you've never seen an English teacher on MTV Cribs nor do any of my colleagues drive Jaguars to work.

However, I've got to say -- I've got a pretty sweet gig going on here. Putting the general coolness of my co-workers and the fact that I like my students an awful lot aside, there's the time off. I had a whole month off for Christmas break. A month. I get a week off in the spring, all the regular legal holidays, and, even if I teach summer school, another near-month off between Spring and Summer semesters. If I don't teach summer, I get THREE months. Can you believe that? Frankly, it's kind of awesome.

I work hard. There's a lot of reading, a lot of grading, a lot of dealing with students who aren't always prepared, but who cares? It's a sweet gig and the fact that I get paid to do something I enjoy and am good at is a hot cup of fresh-brewed awesome. Here's to work.