Restructuring our Professional Identity
I just finished re-reading Jeff Andelora’s award winning article in TETYC, “The Teacher/Scholar: Reconstructing Our Professional Identity in Two-Year Colleges”. It was originally published in March of 2005, and if you have a subscription you can access it through the TETYC website. Though I thought I knew quite a bit about the history of English faculty at the two-year college, I continue to be informed by Jeff’s article.
I especially appreciate his emphasis of the call for two-year college instructors to be both teachers and scholars. He writes “If we don’t transcend our institutional culture and take part in the discourse of our discipline, there’s little hope of attaining professional parity.” Yes, I have a significant teaching load (15 contact hours per week, about 100 students a quarter), I have committee work (2 standing committees and usually 2 or 3 more short term committees), I have around 20 advisees, I participate in formal assessment and departmental program review,….. you know the drill. What I didn’t understand until recently is that if I do not write about my classroom, my profession, my growth as a scholar, I am, as John Lovas used to say, “invisible.”
Does it take effort? Yes. But the rewards of writing for publication in TETYC, and other relevant journals far outweigh the complications. Even when I write an article which is not accepted, the act of putting my thoughts into the work, of reading the relevant work of other scholars, and of being a writing teacher who writes is worth every bit of time I can find.
Can I write multiple articles each year? Heavens no. I try to write one article for submission each year. That is a good goal for me because I can fit the work into the space I have.
I especially appreciate his emphasis of the call for two-year college instructors to be both teachers and scholars. He writes “If we don’t transcend our institutional culture and take part in the discourse of our discipline, there’s little hope of attaining professional parity.” Yes, I have a significant teaching load (15 contact hours per week, about 100 students a quarter), I have committee work (2 standing committees and usually 2 or 3 more short term committees), I have around 20 advisees, I participate in formal assessment and departmental program review,….. you know the drill. What I didn’t understand until recently is that if I do not write about my classroom, my profession, my growth as a scholar, I am, as John Lovas used to say, “invisible.”
Does it take effort? Yes. But the rewards of writing for publication in TETYC, and other relevant journals far outweigh the complications. Even when I write an article which is not accepted, the act of putting my thoughts into the work, of reading the relevant work of other scholars, and of being a writing teacher who writes is worth every bit of time I can find.
Can I write multiple articles each year? Heavens no. I try to write one article for submission each year. That is a good goal for me because I can fit the work into the space I have.
posted by sharon | 9/12/2006 10:52:00 AM
3 Comments:
Now you make me want to go back and reread Andelora's article.
Two-year college faculty definitely need to become a louder voice in the discipline.
You are so right. And I think we know that if we don't speak for ourselves, others try to speak for us. I realize they may come from a position of good will, but their context is not authentic.
I accidently dropped my iphone in water. I removed it imediatly and put it in rice. I also removed the sim card. THe battery was dead when it fell in so it was not on. How much will apple charge to fix it if I send it to them. The water damage indicator is still white but I am sure they will be able to tell some other way.
________________
[url=http://unlockiphone22.com]unlock iphone[/url]
Post a Comment
<< Home