Tomfool Thing to Do

I try to reign myself in. I try not to do new stupid things because my brain already has a vast collection of stupidity that it likes to pull out and polish and sort and fondle on a regular basis. My daily mantra: "Try Not to Suck too Much Today." Most days it works.

Then there was that day in February that's only catching up to me this week.

It's going to sound like bragging, but that's not how I mean it. To tell the truth, I'm scared spitless. Here's the rub:

I might be teaching this fall. Or winter. I don't know which. Or if I'll even get the job. But I found out last night that I've made the first cut - if that's what you call it - to become an adjunct online faculty member at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

Dumb. That's all I can say. Me? A teacher? My brain is adding on space to store the new, impending stupidities as you read this.

I guess it sounded like a good idea at the time. I have a co-worker who is also an adjunct online faculty member at BYU-I, and he seems to enjoy it. He teaches technical writing. I'm being considered to teach a foundational writing class, using course material prepared by somebody else.

It sounds impressive, but as far as I can ascertain, they're pretty desperate for teachers for this particular course. It's a required class for all students, so is heavily used and abused by the student body. It looks like for $815 a credit hour, I'll have to grade lots and lots and lots of papers.

Michelle thinks I'm nuts, except for this: if I can pull it off, pull the wool over the fuzz's eyes, I've got an in at BYU-I if something else comes along. And if it doesn't, at least I'm using a part of that MS in English I earned last July. Because as much as I enjoy my current job, a MS in English isn't a prerequisite. It's awful handy, though, pour epater les copains.

So I've got hoops to jump through. First, curriculum vitae and transcripts, plus an ecclesiastical endorsement. Then a class on the BYU-I learning model, and, likely, the Spirit of Ricks(c). Then if I keep my nose clean through that, another online course on teaching online courses. Perhaps by December I'll have the necessary juju with which I may summon the Invisible Swordsman and be shown the way to El Guapo's.

Wish me luck. Or at least minimal additional stupidity.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod Touch, like a pretentious pseudosnob.