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[ruralartist]

We recently started a new semester last week, and I am off to a horrible start already. In my very first class I was laying my materials for class (an art history class) when the first student came in. They were also laying out materials. At that point I glanced over to realize they had a different textbook. I asked the student about it and then went to the office to confirm it. The college had changed the textbooks for both of the courses I teach. I just had taught the one Fall semester (a few short weeks ago). I never received an email or anything letting me know they decided to change. The office didn't even have a copy to give me, they had to go to the bookstore to get me one. Therefore, in my first class I had to tell them to disregard the outlines and other materials I had already posted on line.

I have taught both of these classes before, but last week I was at a loss for words. Yes, textbooks are similar, but not the same. At a certain point, it's like starting a majority of my teaching material from scratch yet again. I gear my lectures to what is in the book. If I am using lectures that don't have any examples from the text, then why should students have the book?

As an adjunct at more than one college/university I juggle more than a couple of classes like most adjuncts, but when does it get any easier? I feeling like the last couple of years I have had one new class or art history class after another that eats up weekends and evenings in research and preparation. I can't find a way to streamline my process and not feel like I am slacking as a teacher. Even when I have taught a class before, I always find things to change or add. Now, with two new textbooks, I am seeking any suggestions or tips anyone might have to offer.

Thank you.

[cc_and_grad]

OP, first I will apologize on behalf of all of us who manage adjuncts. I admit I have come close to screwing some of mine in this way (not the first day of class but certainly a lot later than the should have known). I (we) try our best, but sometimes book choices get changed by committees and the consequences are not properly distributed.

I agree that ignoring the book completly is a disservice to students who had to buy one, but having been burned by new editions and so forth over the years, I have tried to make my class somewhat book neutral. I never put page numbers on my syllabus. Homework can be problematic, but I often find end-of-the-chapter questions less than satisfactory anyway so I don't say "do questions 2, 7, and 11 on p. XXX" or whatever in my syllabus. If I intend to assign these things out of the book, I announce them in class each week when we are all holding the same book in our hands. This has an added advantage of students having to come to class if they want to know the assignments. Mostly, however, I just don't assign them. By the same token, I say week1, week 2, week 3 instead of January 16, January 23, January 30.

Lots of introductory textbooks have chapters that follow roughly the same order, so if your new book and the one you thought you were going to use do so, then a quick fix is to distribute a new calendar (one page or so) with the new order of subjects which hopefully looks a lot like the one you had with a few slight changes in chapter titles or order. What teaching materials do you use? If you are a power point person (handy for art history I would think), does the new text come with its own power points? Can you get them by next week? Lots of publishers have web sites where all of those things are downloadable. If they are on DC/DVD instead I would hope your dept. would scramble to get them for you considering they screwed up.

[systeme_d_]

Can't you change them back to the books you selected?  

I've never heard of such a thing.  But maybe it is because the use of conventional textbooks is not widespread in my field, and everyone, whether tenured or adjunct, is usually expected to select their own books and other readings for their own classes.

Perhaps you could meet with the chair and ask why this happened, and why this was sprung on you in such an inconsiderate fashion.

[spinnaker]

I don't have anything to add to cc_and_grad's suggestions but this is an opportunity to note that orientation for new adjuncts is often sadly lacking. Even if they neglected to inform you that this textbook requirement has been changed (unexcusable), they could have brought to your attention that it could be changed, and that you need to be in touch with a committee member at the end of each semester. To compound the problem, adjuncts often tread lightly because they have no job security, so problems often don't get reported.

[biologist_]

If you already have materials such as ppt slides and lecture notes prepared based on another book, don't change them all to fit the new book.  If you keep some (or much) of the material that is not in the textbook, you are enriching the class by giving your students additional examples beyond those in the book.  Just try to integrate some of the material from the new textbook to give the students some landmarks that help them relate the reading to the lecture material. 

If you assign homework based on the old book, it may be a touch harder to adjust.  Don't hesitate to copy or transcribe homework questions from the old book and give the students handouts of the questions if it helps you get through this semester with the new book.  Do check to make sure the information necessary to answer the question is in the new book

I alternate a couple of my classes with other faculty and we have changed books twice in recent years.  At this point, I have lecture slides containing at least a few figures from each of the three textbooks, a fourth textbook used in a prerequisite class, a fifth (grad level) textbook, lots of primary journal articles and my own animated ppt objects.  It all seems to work fine as long as I take the time to explain whatever I am showing them.

[mickeymantle]

We just had a similar situation happen at my cc.  The departmental staff was supposed to order the shorter version, but did not provide the right information, and the bookstore staff ordered the bigger version.  Now I have the first version, but the students have the second!  Supposedly there's no big deal, but I would have liked to have known this slip-up before the first class.

Perhaps the lesson is: always personally check the bookstore before the first day of class.  You never know what will happen.

[spinnaker]

We just had a similar situation happen at my cc.  The departmental staff was supposed to order the shorter version, but did not provide the right information, and the bookstore staff ordered the bigger version.  Now I have the first version, but the students have the second!  Supposedly there's no big deal, but I would have liked to have known this slip-up before the first class.

Perhaps the lesson is: always personally check the bookstore before the first day of class.  You never know what will happen.

Everything you assign will be in their edition. But ruralartist said

I gear my lectures to what is in the book. If I am using lectures that don't have any examples from the text, then why should students have the book?

That would be more trouble, if that's how it is.

[seniorscholar]

Perhaps the lesson is: always personally check the bookstore before the first day of class.  You never know what will happen.

Yes, yes, and yes. I always do this about two days before classes start, when I'm on campus for other things. First, I know if the book is in. Second, I know if it's the right edition, Third, I count to see how many there are, and if there are 25 books for a class with 40 students, I make a fuss with the manager in person, show him/her the actuall class list print out with 40 names on it, and get a promise of an immediate order. Fourth, I know where the books are, so I can say to students that they're on the shelf facing the wall with the supplies for the art school's classes, towards the middle of the row (so they will at least be a bit embarrassed about having said "I can't find the books in the bookstore.")

That's also when I check the library to see if the books I asked to have on reserve are actually there, and go open the door of each classroom I'm using to count the seats and see if there are enough and find out if the grad students have made some major rearrangement of furniture in the seminar room that doubles as a grad student lounge when not being used for classes.

I'm long-tenured and have done this since I was a non-TT faculty member elsewhere a century ago. There has always been a screw-up of one sort or ahother, every year at every campus.

[educator1]

Seniorscholar,

I am glad that

Perhaps the lesson is: always personally check the bookstore before the first day of class.  You never know what will happen.

Yes, yes, and yes. I always do this about two days before classes start, when I'm on campus for other things. First, I know if the book is in. Second, I know if it's the right edition, Third, I count to see how many there are, and if there are 25 books for a class with 40 students, I make a fuss with the manager in person, show him/her the actuall class list print out with 40 names on it, and get a promise of an immediate order. Fourth, I know where the books are, so I can say to students that they're on the shelf facing the wall with the supplies for the art school's classes, towards the middle of the row (so they will at least be a bit embarrassed about having said "I can't find the books in the bookstore.")

That's also when I check the library to see if the books I asked to have on reserve are actually there, and go open the door of each classroom I'm using to count the seats and see if there are enough and find out if the grad students have made some major rearrangement of furniture in the seminar room that doubles as a grad student lounge when not being used for classes.

I'm long-tenured and have done this since I was a non-TT faculty member elsewhere a century ago. There has always been a screw-up of one sort or ahother, every year at every campus.

My pre-semester behavior exactly! Good to see that I am not the only one that does this. In addition, I insist on checking out the overhead projector, connections to my Tablet PC (which I teach with), and the operation of the screen and windowshades. I will insist on doing this at least three days before class and will track down someone to open the door for me if it is locked.

[mickeymantle]

(a) Yes, I know op's situation is different, but it does make an impact in terms of credibility if I say that's on page 41 and the students have a different version.  That is, if they purchase the textbooks.
(b) I always check the classrooms before the beginning of the semester.  This semester I found out that one of the power buttons wasn't working and alerted the technical staff.  Believe me, they don't doublecheck every classroom before the semester starts, to put it mildly.
(c) Ditto with the bookstore.  I suspect that our bookstore purchases textbooks because of the $ involved, and so they may order the bigger textbook without really looking at the ISBN provided. (No doublechecking there, either.)

[spinnaker]

(a) Yes, I know op's situation is different, but it does make an impact in terms of credibility if I say that's on page 41 and the students have a different version.  That is, if they purchase the textbooks.
(b) I always check the classrooms before the beginning of the semester.  This semester I found out that one of the power buttons wasn't working and alerted the technical staff.  Believe me, they don't doublecheck every classroom before the semester starts, to put it mildly.
(c) Ditto with the bookstore.  I suspect that our bookstore purchases textbooks because of the $ involved, and so they may order the bigger textbook without really looking at the ISBN provided. (No doublechecking there, either.)

Are you suggesting that the latest edition is not always an improvement over the previous one? That would be shocking, wouldn't it? ;-)

[adjunctprincipessa]

Ruralartist,

The only way I survived as an adjunct was to make my classes as portable as possible.  I worked very hard on developing core lessons in my field (education) that could be utilized in several different classes.  They were not central to any of the courses I taught, but they were relevant, so my students were happy and gave me very high course evaluations.  I don't know how specialized your field is and if this would be possible.  But it is very easy to burn out as an adjunct, and you should plan your syllabus and lessons to minimize that possibility.