Dreams can come true!

I think that I may have finally hit the point where Cymbalta is no longer making me tired but I’m actually enjoying some increased energy. I have essentially cleaned the entire apartment myself. Well I’d say 95% of it. I told myself earlier that I was going to give it a stop so I could work on school work but then I find myself cleaning again. Come on girl, give it a break already.

Oh yes, I forgot to write about something absolutely amazing.

Thursday evening I came home from the preschool board meeting and found the following email from my communications professor.

Hi Carrie,

Are you interested in becoming a T.A. in this course next term and perhaps Summer or Fall Term too?  You have done such good work.  Your understanding of the course material via the Midterm Exam is also good. In your postings, you have clearly been integrating the course approach with the gender topics we covered. You are engaging in the material with complexity and insight. Your responses to others in your 2nd postings are very well done. Your approach to your group is thoughtful and respectful.  I think you would do very well in this position!

Your main tasks would include the posting assignment, reading and evaluating your student’s postings, tracking them and posting a response/feedback entry each week.  This involves collaborating with the other T.A.s, and with me, to ensure consistency, we do a lot of this at the beginning of term, so the first few weeks would be busier than later.   As the term goes on, the T.A.s check in with me if they are not certain of scoring, and I check scoring and get in touch with T.A.s if I have any concerns.

I usually ask people to make a two-term commitment because it helps to have some returning and new T.A.s in somewhat of a mentoring relationship.  It is okay if you could do only one term though. The course is completely online and there are no F2F class meetings, but I would like to have a F2F meeting with the T.A.s at the beginning of the term.  We have so much contact within our course site and on the phone that we don’t need to meet F2F more than this.

You would receive 4 credits, COMM 409 or WS 409, whichever works best for your degree needs.  These cannot be used as Cluster credits. These are credits I need to sign you up for, and they are like any other credits you register for, you need to pay for them and they go toward your degree.  

T.A.ing is a great way to learn the material at a different level, in part because you will be able to observe and assess a wide variety of learning styles. It is rewarding and very satisfying! 

If you are interested and available for Spring Term, please let me know right away! 

Thank you!

I think I sat there for a good 10 minutes with my jaw on the floor. I was all smiles, all shock, and all pride. I will be a teaching assistant for three quarters as I volunteered for Spring, Summer, and Fall. This is the kind of stuff I’ve dreamed about doing for so long. I told my husband now I want to go back and rewatch all of Felicity because I loved Neil and for some reason loved when he was the TA and yeah I’m weird…kind of like Neil. lol

I know some people find TAs to be stupid or hate them outright but I am so excited and proud to do this. I hope I can parlay this into a job within the university that I attend. This is the school that my husband went to when we first met and for 20 years now I’ve wanted to find a way to get a job there. I love being on campus. I want to be amongst the students. I want to be amongst the movements. I want to be in the thick of it all.

Now if only we can get this transfer back to Portland to happen quickly, maybe I could even get a job on campus even sooner!