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8:17 a.m. - March 29, 2004
If it were a challenge I'd feel differently
It is Monday and my regular assignment was cancelled this morning so I have the day - until 4:00 - free. On a free day that promises to be warm - mid-70s - I will attempt to learn not just how to write a project proposal but write one that shines and surpasses expectations. In other words, I don't celebrate warm, sunny days.

Several weeks ago I wrote an email to the dean of the summer program through which I taught cognitive science and language acquisition, informing her that I was recusing myself since by the time Summer 2004 rolls around I will no longer be enrolled in a Ph.D. program and am thus ineligible to teach. She sent me an email acknowledging receipt and conveyed a few words along the effect of what the hell are you thinking?, and then last week sent another asking if I'd be interested in a consultant position for roughly the same length of time. Since I first met her, she's sung my praises to a variety of people, one including the dean of Arts & Sciences at another colloquium university, and he had earlier mentioned he was seeking a person to head up a curriculum / course redesign project, and now I've become their main interest.

On my end I must formulate a proposal or a needs assessment, ennumerating the steps I'd take as project lead, providing for benchmarks and project assessment. On their end they've already created a needs assessment and if theirs and mine match up more or less, then I'll be hired to lead a group of 7 people. It strikes me as rather grown up. And nota bene, consultant rates are significantly higher (can we say inflated?) than teacher-pay.

Perhaps all this is confusing. I should better explain. The summer program is administered by one university but housed at several colloquium campuses throughout Washington, D.C., so rather than being off-site as it were, I'll be at program headquarters which happens to be my parents' alma mater. In other words, I may become an administrator of sorts, involved on a project that's right up my alley: Curriculum, language teaching, and assessment.

This is / would be a big step up. I feel the expectation vultures circling above but I ignore them. Some day I'll see the confluence of things for what it is and come into my own, but until then I rely on serendipity to play hide-and-seek with me until the right time.

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Sorry about the email problem, ye cookie-fiends. The cookies are baked and packaged and ready to go out, though I am disappointed in the overall quality. They're a bit off and as such, you're not missing anything.

 

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