Yippee!

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   crashcromwellposted 16 years ago

   I have some non-hubpages news to share. For the past several months, I have been engaged in an incredible training and hiring process to teach for the University of Phoenix online. The last stage was to teach two sections of a class under the guidance of an experienced faculty member. I have just received word that I passed the mentorship phase and am now an official member of the faculty at the University.
   
   I am so happy beyond belief!

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      robie2posted 16 years agoin reply to this

      Kudos Crash:-) That's great!

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   Marye Audetposted 16 years ago

   congrats!
   What will you be teaching?

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   Mishaposted 16 years ago

   Congratulations!

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   jyuvaposted 16 years ago

   Congrats!!!

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   crashcromwellposted 16 years ago

   Right now I'm certified to teach Contemporary Business Communications. I have interest in some other classes, such as Critical Thinking, and they also have a wonderful program called the Center For Writing Excellence that provides support to students who are struggling with their English. I would love to do some work for them, because I saw first-hand how much good they can do with some student, particularly those whose first language is not English.

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   Mark Knowlesposted 16 years ago

   Good for you Crash

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   broalexdotinfoposted 16 years ago

   Nice one. Even though I would never like being a teacher.

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   webismineposted 16 years ago

   Good

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   crashcromwellposted 16 years ago

   Thank you everyone. Teaching is not for everyone, and it's somewhat of a surprise when I look back over the course of my professional career that I wound up in this field. But aside from having a regular paycheck, which is great, I also found that the interaction with my students was really inspiring for me. I'm not making the money now that I was making when I worked as a municipal administrator, but the level of satisfaction is off the chart.
   
   Thanks again everyone!

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      Rochelle Frankposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      That sounds very exciting... and I think half of the people who become teachers never intend for it to happen.
      Sounds like you have some interesting times coming-- hope you still have time for some hubs.

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    Uninvited Writerposted 16 years ago

    Woo hoo. Does that mean you have tenure now?

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    crashcromwellposted 16 years ago

    No, nothing like that. My classes will be continually evaluated, but as long as I continue to do the job well and enrollment remains good, I should expect to receive more assignments. My mentor said she teaches 4 classes for the University of Phoenix, one class for a local community college, and she also helps train new hires as a mentor, so she's doing OK.
    
    They typically assign two classes at a time, and my next two start on Sept. 29. I'm told by my mentor that I can expect to receive another two classes that will start roughly a month later. That's important from a budgeting standpoint, because it will mean that I will get a paycheck every month. The way they pay us is 2/3 early in the course and the remaining 1/3 after I have posted final grades. Whereas classes run 9 weeks, when I'm only teaching two classes, there's a month in between when I am not getting a paycheck. So I like the idea of having classes start at different times.

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    crashcromwellposted 16 years ago

    Thank you Robie!

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    Paragliderposted 16 years ago

    That's excellent - well done you!!

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       crashcromwellposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you Paraglider, Misha and Mark!

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    amy janeposted 16 years ago

    Very cool - congrats!  Sounds like a fun career move. Teaching "grown-ups" can be just as amusing as teaching young children. Best of luck!

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       crashcromwellposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Dating back to my time when I taught English Composition for a local community college, I have found that older, so-called "non-traditional" students were the best. They take their education very seriously. In my first set of classes this time, the best student I had was about 15 years older than me and the next best was 2 months younger than me.

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    Shirley Andersonposted 16 years ago

    Hey!  That's great news, good for you.  I hope you celebrated somehow.

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       crashcromwellposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Well, I've been reveling in the glory of this experience since I learned the news, but I haven't even had the chance to tell my wife yet! She's been out running errands since I found out and she's not answering her cellphone!
       
       I expect we will celebrate in some way, shape or form, though.

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    funrideposted 16 years ago

    Congratulations .

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       crashcromwellposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks funride, and Rochelle, I do expect to continue writing hubs. In fact, I continued to crank them out while in my mentorship, and I was still learning the ropes. Now I've got a good system down.
       
       In fact, I've got a series of hubs I'm starting to plan now. I just took a copy of the Democratic Party Platform, and I'm ranking the issues cited in the document, based upon their word count, to see what the priorities are this election. Then I'm going to write articles about their top 10-15 issues. My goal is to get these online in advance of the Nov. 4 election.

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    gamergirlposted 16 years ago

    Congrats!  Please tell me you do more with your classes than just post assignments and cool your heels waiting for emails with questions from students... That's all my instructors at UoP ever did.

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       crashcromwellposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       No, in fact one of the reasons why my students were so fond of me was because I was an involved teacher. My attitude is that you don't need a master's degree to post links in a forum, and I want to use what I have learned.
       
       I also strongly encourage my students to call me with questions they have, and many of them took me up on that offer.

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    ngurecoposted 16 years ago

    Congratulations crashcromwell. I can see this is a job you love dearly.

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       crashcromwellposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       I don't want to come off like too much of a University of Phoenix cheerleader, but at the same time I always give credit where credit is due. I taught for Kaplan University online a few years ago and it was a terrible experience. Their training program stunk and then they had issues with paying people in a timely fashion. It was with some trepidation that I started training here. From day one, they have been professional, and they have not let me down yet. The hiring process is very involved, so when I received word that I had passed my mentorship, it gave me an enormous amount of satisfaction and pride. I believe that also reflects well on the quality of the education students receive. They are very sincere about ensuring that highly qualified teachers go through their program, and I could have been bounced at several different times.

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    Just_Rodneyposted 16 years ago

    congrats

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    Zsuzsy Beeposted 16 years ago

    Good for you! Thumbs up for your patients. Teaching is not easy over the internet that's for sure. Congrats again
    regards Zsuzsy

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       crashcromwellposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       I guess it's different with everyone. I've found that students in my traditional classes can be more bold. I make sure everything is spelled out thoroughly in my syllabus so I have that to fall back on. At the University of Phoenix, they create the syllabus, and it's really thorough. It makes it simpler.
       
       Thanks Zsuzsy and others who have responded!

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          B.T. Evilpantsposted 16 years agoin reply to this

          Outstanding! Congratulations!!

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    Bob Ewingposted 16 years ago

    Now that is indeed good news.

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    Ryan Hupferposted 16 years ago

    Good news rules.

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    crashcromwellposted 16 years ago

    Thanks B.T., or should I say Mr. Evilpants?

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