I submitted the last of my Spring semester grades on Monday night, so now I’m returning to the leisurely routines of summer: reading on the patio, writing in my journal, and walking Roxy twice a day, in the morning and afternoon, rather than just once, after I’ve returned from teaching.
Teaching is tiring in part because you’re the one responsible for keeping everyone motivated and on-task: you’re the one setting the energy level in the classroom. By the end of the semester, my emotional cupboard is bare, and I need to refocus and refresh. This is what summer is for.
For years, I taught online classes all year round, starting one semester as soon as the previous one ended. That perpetual teaching schedule paid the bills, but it was emotionally exhausting. These days, I juggle two part-time teaching jobs during the academic year, and I recover from this juggling act during the summer: a chance to refill the well.
Hoarded Ordinaries 
May 19, 2022 at 10:31 pm
What are the chances of your getting a full professorship somewhere? Would you want that sort of stability, or have you gotten so used to the current lifestyle that you’d prefer to continue as you are? What’s the five-year plan? Genuinely curious.
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May 20, 2022 at 9:09 am
Zero percent chance of full-time employment. When I’ve applied for full-time positions, those jobs have always gone to younger, hipper scholars with a robust publishing history. After so many years out of grad school, I’m not on the cutting edge of scholarship anymore (not that I ever was, really). And teaching leaves me little time, energy, or motivation to work on my own scholarship.
I’ve made peace with the fact I’ll be adjuncting until I retire. I’m a veteran bench player who can plug into any team, not an up and rising all-star.
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