The teaching scene

Dan: My teaching schedule seems to be picking up. I’ve got 10 classes or so per week at Highlands now, most of them are private lessons, though a couple have been standing me up lately. Today I just talked to someone from another institute who wants me to start doing a couple classes a week as well. So far, other than one unexpected job I have tutoring Spanish (in exchange for beer and a few pesos), eliminating the middle man and getting my own private students has been a total crap-out. I’ve got cute business cards made up and I hand them out to anyone I meet. Lou has been using her design skills to make flyers, and sticking them up for me around town. We’ve seen that people have been ripping off the number from the poster, but so far no one has called. We just have to figure out how to market the Dan Bruski brand. There was a reason I became a teacher and not a business guy.

Teaching is a bit different. First of all, it has been awhile since I was primarily doing one-on-one instruction. For some reason, it requires more energy than with a group, which inherently has more energy. Also the education level and socio-economic status are quite different from that of my students at Adult Options in Hopkins. And the subject matter I’m being asked to teach is something I don’t think I’ll ever teach in an adult basic skills program in the states. A 2-hour class this morning was mostly dedicated to studying the conditional tense to set conditions and offer concessions in business negotiations. For example, “If you buy 2000 cases of wine, we will apply a ten percent discount. We will begin shipment if you provide a letter of credit from your bank.”

So far I think I’m received by my students pretty well, though maybe my style is more informal than what they’re used to. For example, they were a little hesitant when I asked them to move their desks into a circle so we could all face each other, instead of sitting in a traditional line with me in the front. I’ve been lucky, so far, to have had interesting students with senses of humor.

There are some things I miss from my “real job” at Adult Options in Education back in MN. Here are a few:
- regular, plentiful work hours and prep time
- being paid a living wage, on a predictible schedule, not just when it is convenient to pay me
- not having to ask someone to make copies for me
- a short commute to work, and a desk to leave my stuff on
- access to tons of curriculum resources
- sick days, health insurance (luckily I haven’t really needed them yet)

And of course it was nice to have intelligent, wacky, friendly, fun colleagues (you know who you are) who were willing to help each other out or chat from time to time. Here I don’t really feel like I have any coworkers, other than my supervisor. I just show up, teach, and leave. I can see more directly that I am merely a commodity to be bought for a service rendered. I’ve come to terms with that, and as long as it keeps the empanadas on the table, that’s ok for now.