Final Week: Ch-ch-ch-changes, reflections and wrap-ups

 Hello everyone!

This is it! The final week of our session is here, and we get to look back and reflect, and perhaps look forwards a little bit as well. So this week we can check in with our last batch of weekly goals, and with our adjusted session goals. For fun, tell us what you are most proud of for this session, or what you enjoyed the most, or what you were surprised by (or all three!). We can also think ahead to any changes coming our way in the next few months, the change-over from one session to the next always makes me want to look ahead a little…

And, if you feel so inclined, add whether you would like a new session for summer, when it could be, and whether you’d be a potential host…

Thank you for all the great posts and interactions, it has been great fun to watch fantastic cabins take shape and to chat about all kinds of interesting things along the way. We’ve collectively accomplished quite a bit and weathered a few storms, and I’m grateful for the lovely company along the way!

One last bonus point competition for checking in – what special cocktail or drink are you planning for you first night in your fantasy cabin? Or special dessert or treat? Extra bonus if they are one and the same...

Last week’s goals

Daisy

Continuing conference wrangling – it is 3 weeks away and coming fast!

Student thesis edits

Paper edits

Start writing 3 conference talks and one plenary address

Go back in time to slap former self about signing up for three conference talks

 

Dame Eleanor Hull

Health: cardio x6, stretch x6, track bedtime.
Research: 2 hours a day! Make progress on book: say, finish the frelling section I've been on for much too long, and start the next one.
Teaching: grade one new assignment and any stray stuff that comes in late. Order fall books.
Life stuff: do some gardening, bake something, mail a package.
Admin: fill in & file some forms.

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell (carried over)

Really start on the faculty report.
Continue recycling paper copies of articles.
Brainstorm two article ideas.
Change the conflicting doctor appointment.

heu mihi

1) Read and prepare to discuss two papers for a works-in-progress thing on Thursday.
2) Closely read reviewer notes on edited collection so that co-editor and I can discuss them and send them out to contributors ASAP.
3) Start "writing" ch. 1. ("Writing" must be in quotes there, because really. I am not ready to write, only to "write.")
4) Shorten Kzoo paper--this will probably wait till next week, but who knows.
5) Stretch nightly before bed.

Humming42

1 finish and submit book reviews: in progress
2 draft cfp for slash collection: in progress
3 organize judges for conference: done.
4 submit abstract for one-day conference: in progress

JaneB (carried over)

1) contact GP
2) prepare for week 11
3) make a list of the marking I have to do and see what might need delaying
4) other lists. Just make the lists.
5) move, eat reasonably, drink water, try to sleep at 'appropriate' times

Karen

1. Write 2 x NTRO pieces
2. Do 2 yoga classes
3. Block out marking time over the next week
4. keep VILE up to date, and make a start on next semester's VILE.

Susan (carried over)

1. Finish this chapter (doable) before trip to Library
2. Keep reading ms.
3. Do fun thing
4. Go to all the meetings
5. Keep up with exercise & good eating
6. Set up Mom's new computer (hangs over me . . .anxiety.)

 

ADJUSTED SESSION GOALS

Daisy

Stretch goal: Finish my Albatross paper! This has been an ongoing goal for ages but the paper keeps changing and is constantly being shoved aside for more urgent things.
Analysis and paper on fun Local Project
Make progress on Small Book Project (delayed from old grant)
Get fancy new grant project started off well
Support students through thesis proposal and writing stages

Dame Eleanor Hull

Stay healthy, sleep a lot.

Grade efficiently.

Finish WH chapter, work on FC chapter, work on introduction, write prospectus.

Write conference paper for April.
Do fun stuff!

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell

Connection

Gratitude

Self-care

heu mihi

1) Things that will happen, because they must:
a) Invited essay due in February
b) Kalamazoo paper due in early May
c) Stay on top of new graduate seminar
2) Research and write a series of vignettes. Make steady progress; work on this weekly.
3) Establish a good early-morning routine, with full awareness that this will change once it gets light enough to run in the mornings, and/or that it may not be identical every morning of the week. Build in flexibility, in other words.
4) Stretch and write in my journal at least every other night.
5) Keep the step-counter in perspective. It serves me; I do not serve it.
6) Sabbatical prep: Rent an apartment in France; rent out our house; apply for visas; enroll Bonaventure in school or, if that's not possible, create a concrete plan for doing so.

Humming42

1 write Boredom chapter
2 write Food chapter
3 write Roma conference presentation
4 organize all the Tiny Project drafts
5 submit DQ proposal

JaneB

1) Survival-with-kindness in teaching

2) self-care - the big thing to deal with here is putting time for things I enjoy ahead of spending time on not-100%-essential-things for work (reusing some of last years recordings, not always fixing the auto-captions...)
3) be ready for Teaching Toolkit and Society Course by the end of this block

4) work steadily on Why and Annoying Chapter, & resist the urge to feel too responsible for any delays

Karen

1. Submit co-authored KL article

2. Have VILE (also love and am adopting that misread acronym) ready for sem 2 unit

3. Have all marking for sem 1 turned around in two weeks
4. Have winter garden planted and cared for

5. Finish one making project per month

Susan

1. Finish first draft of famous author, begin revisions
2. Start drafting essay for June conference related to Persistence
3. Keep up with teaching, don't get overwhelmed.
4. Do stuff for professional organization
5. Do garden stuff so I can plant new tree
6. Spend time with my mother
7. Spend time with friends
8. Read for fun

Week 16: Last goal setting week for the session!

 Hello everyone!

I absolutely loved all the wonderful advice you wrote down last week! Some of those things really resonated with a lot of us, it was fun to read and contemplate, thank you! It makes me want to repeat the prompt, but this time with “worst advice you ever got”, or if that just makes you mad, your favourite saying or aphorism… Just for fun!

Many moons ago we decided that the week of May 1^st would be the wrap-up week, so this is our last chance for some weekly goals in this session. That of course means that next week will be the time for checking in with our session goals. It also means looking ahead a bit at when the next session might start, so feel free to think about it and make suggestions!

For cabin check-in this week – what is your favourite feature of the cabin? And what are you planning to do for your first weekend at your cabin? It is ready, it is waiting, and you can go any time!

Last week’s goals

Daisy

Paper edits of course
Have awkward conversations with friends and colleagues
Accounting
Digital spring cleaning
Continue spring cleaning

Dame Eleanor Hull

Health: cardio x6, stretch x6, track bedtime.
Research: 2 hours a day! Finish & turn in sabbatical proposal. Make progress on book.
Teaching: grade two new assignments and give points to async-week stuff.
Life stuff: do some gardening, bake something, mail a package.

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell

Really start on the faculty report.
Continue recycling paper copies of articles.
Brainstorm two article ideas.
Change the conflicting doctor appointment.

heu mihi

1) Catch up on other two journal articles. Now getting urgent.
2) Outline ch. 1
3) OMG so many things.
4) My kid is on spring break right now, which just makes it more complicated. Also, all of a sudden we have a social life, to which I'm entirely unaccustomed.
5) Revise Kalamazoo paper to something like an acceptable conference length.
6) My own article proofs.

Humming42

1 finish and submit book reviews
2 draft cfp for slash collection
3 organize judges for conference
4 submit abstract for one-day conference

JaneB

1) contact GP
2) prepare for week 11
3) make a list of the marking I have to do and see what might need delaying
4) other lists. Just make the lists.
5) move, eat reasonably, drink water, try to sleep at 'appropriate' times

Karen (carried over)

1. Fill remaining VILE content gaps for next week before the weekend, keep boards under control
2. Make a plan for upcoming school holidays
3. Finish postgrad exegesis feedback
4. 2 hours of my writing

Susan (carried over)

1. Finish this chapter (doable) before trip to Library
2. Keep reading ms.
3. Do fun thing
4. Go to all the meetings
5. Keep up with exercise & good eating
6. Set up Mom's new computer (hangs over me . . .anxiety.)

Week 15: Collective wisdom

Hello everyone!

Happy Easter weekend to all who celebrate, and even if you don’t I hope you got a quiet day somewhere in there! Definitely a good time of the term/semester/session to have a little breather… I promised myself that I would have at least one day where I did not switch on my computer at all, and it looks like I will manage to keep that promise. Always so much harder to keep promises to myself than to other people!

I enjoyed everyone’s pick-us-up ideas last week, so in a similar vein this week I want to hear examples of “the best advice you ever got”! Can be for anything, career, writing, personal, child-rearing, cat wrangling, gardening, baking, really anything that springs to mind.

And because we are nearing the end of our cabin-building adventure, what have we missed? Is there anything we need in our cabins that we have not thought about yet?

Last week’s goals

Daisy

Last paper’s edits and submission, so close!!!!

Accounting

Read student’s complete thesis, very exciting!!!

Program book for conference

Continue budget-wrangling

Continue spring cleaning

Dame Eleanor Hull

Health: cardio x6, stretch x6, track bedtime.
Research: 2 hours a day! Write sabbatical proposal.
Teaching: grade ALL THE THINGS.
Life stuff: deposit a check, do some gardening, maybe bake something.

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell

Start thinking about what to teach the summer intern.
Write talking points for the meetings with higher-ups.
Go to dentist and doctor appointments.
Change the conflicting doctor appointment.

heu mihi

1) Come up with a rough outline of chapter 1 in order to clarify my sense of what I ought to be doing right now.
2) Read dissertation prospectus.
3) Do as much as I can with the three journal submissions I have to deal with

Humming42 (carried over)

1 oh those two book reviews
2 make progress on grading
3 start work on April conference presentation
4 twenty minutes a day cleaning office
5 some tree trimming

JaneB (carried over)

1) call GP about anxiety etc. because this is not going to defeat me
2) do teaching prep for week 10
3) make time to read or do D&D prep 4 days
4) Send an email to the "Why" author group
5) move intentionally 10 minutes a day
6) read & comment on second half of draft text for grad student
7) continue grading two lots of projects from the fives
8) grade essays for the fours
9) write comments for the fives on their project ideas

Karen (carried over)

1. Fill remaining VILE content gaps for next week before the weekend, keep boards under control
2. Make a plan for upcoming school holidays
3. Finish postgrad exegesis feedback
4. 2 hours of my writing

Susan (carried over)

1. Finish this chapter (doable) before trip to Library
2. Keep reading ms.
3. Do fun thing
4. Go to all the meetings
5. Keep up with exercise & good eating
6. Set up Mom's new computer (hangs over me . . .anxiety.)

Week 14: Emergency pick-us-up measures

Hello everyone!

I feel like this part of the session is always the hardest section… It is a long way from the beginning but still quite far to the end, and given how academic terms work there are always quite a few obstacles scattered around over the next few weeks. It is a long stretch and we need a little pick-me-up, or really a little pick-all-of-us-up for the week I think!

So, for this week’s check-in if you feel like it, share your weirdest, most unusual, or just your favourite pick-me-up tip, and we will run a little challenge: bonus points for everything you try off some-one else’s pick-me-up list and you report on next week! Can be big, or little, or one for those moments at your desk when you just want to cry/yell/curse…

And of course we cannot forget the cabins, so, think about how we can build a pick-me-up into a physical space to help with the mental part!

Last week’s goals

Daisy

Finish equipment and software purchases
Last paper’s edits and submission
Student chapters
Get other people’s budgets sorted
Do something with friends
Start spring cleaning

Dame Eleanor Hull

Health: cardio x6, stretch x6, track bedtime, eat safely.
Research: talk to as many people as possible at the conference, have a good time.
Teaching: grade one longer assignment and two short ones.
Life stuff: do necessary hunting and gathering in unfamiliar town, do Covid test before flight, get to airport on time.

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell

Ask for help on the early education search.
Cook with the unusual ingredients for my diet.
Shovel off the home office desk.
Start the faculty activity report (sigh).

heu mihi

1) Finish school registration, if possible
2) Determine (and start on) next research steps
3) Grade a batch of papers
4) Next sustainability group task

Humming42

1 oh those two book reviews
2 make progress on grading
3 start work on April conference presentation
4 twenty minutes a day cleaning office
5 some tree trimming

JaneB (carried over)

1) call GP about anxiety etc. because this is not going to defeat me
2) do teaching prep for week 10
3) make time to read or do D&D prep 4 days
4) Send an email to the "Why" author group
5) move intentionally 10 minutes a day
6) read & comment on second half of draft text for grad student
7) continue grading two lots of projects from the fives
8) grade essays for the fours
9) write comments for the fives on their project ideas

Karen

1. Fill remaining VILE content gaps for next week before the weekend, keep boards under control
2. Make a plan for upcoming school holidays
3. Finish postgrad exegesis feedback
4. 2 hours of my writing

Susan (carried over - we are thinking of you and hope you are ok!)

1. Finish this chapter (doable) before trip to Library
2. Keep reading ms.
3. Do fun thing
4. Go to all the meetings
5. Keep up with exercise & good eating
6. Set up Mom's new computer (hangs over me . . .anxiety.)