Hope everyone had a good week! Session goal review week is always interesting, good to know we can drop some goals that are no longer helpful.
This is the part of the term for me where I feel things coming off the rails a bit. Things pile up, people get stressed, students and teachers are worried. So we need an instant remedy…
Remember how great spontaneous dance parties were in kindergarten and school and college? This week we’re having one! For this week’s prompt tell us about your go-to music for a quick pick-me-up for yourself, or the songs and genres that give you get an instant energy boost!
Goals below, and for extra points go and put on your happy
dance party music when you check in and set next week’s goals! Why should toddlers have all the dance party fun??
Dame Eleanor Hull
- grade a set of grad papers
- set up two new discussion boards
- read at least 500 lines of Irrelevant Romance
- some other scholarly reading
- work on F&C chapter outline (expanding from article)
- rest, walk, yoga in good measure
- try to get driver's license appointment
Daisy
URGENT Accounting for conference
and research purchases
URGENT Requisition forms for equipment
URGENT Ship off samples for processing (hard part, finding the relevant POs)
Two conference abstracts
Marking for 2 classes
Continue with local joint paper
Exercise every day
Keep doing physio (blah…)
Heu mihi
Catch up and move forward!
1. Finish/print conference paper
2. Draft concluding section to chapter 3
3. Look at totally terrible half-draft of chapter 1; freewrite about where the
chapter ought to be going
4. Catch up on work for both journals
5. Brew beer
6. Read for fun (finish one book; return to another)
7. Re-establish all routines, including language work
JaneB
1) self-care: more fruit and veg,
prioritising stretching breaks, listening to podcasts in the dark and relaxing
to at least rest my body and distract my brain instead of anxiety-spiralling
during insomnia episodes - I've started listening to "No Such Thing As A
Fish" so have over 400 episodes of people with voices that don't annoy me
chatting about Random Facts to listen to. It's always reassuring to have a big
podcast back catalogue to work through when I'm stressed!
1a) environment: do the small chores
2) R - do something else concrete towards the teaching-related R project. do my
items on multi-author paper which is crawling towards submission.
3) T - Get sixth week materials onto all the ViLEs, finish writing feedback on
the draft projects that came in on time, remind everyone else to do the same.
4) read a bit (might be time to reread book 1 of Murderbot to kickstart the
reading bit of the brain again); play D&D. Excavate the crochet blanket
from the pile of "one more wear" stuff on the chair and put it
somewhere obvious so I might work on it. work out what to get my mother for her
birthday AND for Mothering Sunday/Mother's Day (which is mid-Lent in the UK).
Julie
Last heavy teaching week, yay!
1. Submit the article!
2. Write final lecture
3. Review article I foolishly agreed to review.
4. Start marking
5. Movement - try not to sit for too long, walk, exercise.
6. Zoom call(s) with friends.
Karen (carried over)
KL article - pull apart and outline structure for the two articles
Teaching prep - have everything up to week 3 fully polished apart from the bits being done by the digital learning team
End of year exhibition - send out info to sound/session people
3 x yoga
Plant winter seeds
Susan
-- Do two more essays for Big
Collaboration
-- Start reading book for review
-- Do tax stuff
--Keep up with administrative stuff
--Plan Wednesday's Lenten service, make soup
--Eat, exercise, do something nice, sleep
Ha, good prompt! I am in the lucky place that things are winding down here rather than coming off the rails. We have 10 week terms and started a week earlier than usual, so there are only two weeks left. Most of my teaching is done, as we tend to front-load seminars and leave them time for assignments at the end. I have a lot of marking to do, one batch already in, the next due the 16th. But we also have three strike days the last week, so the end is definitely in sight. Though we have snow forecast for this week, which feels like a step backwards.
ReplyDeleteSo a dance party feels appropriate! I tend to listen to music either while running or when I'm very tired in the evening but the kitchen is still a bombsite, so stuff that will help me power through. My Spotify list is a bit of a random mix - power ballad/rock music from the 1980s and 1990s, plus some more recent stuff that my kids tell me is lame (Pink, Katy Perry, George Ezra). Not sure if they think it's lame generally, or just lame that someone my age likes it. And the other pick-me-up is the soundtrack to the first Shrek movie, which was what we always played in the car on long trips when the kids were little.
Last week:
1. Submit the article! - FINALLY!
2. Write final lecture - YES (just)
3. Review article I foolishly agreed to review. - YES
4. Start marking - YES (only 3 essays out of 40, but it's a start)
5. Movement - try not to sit for too long, walk, exercise. - More some days than others, pilates x 1, run x 1. Now supposed to practise pilates, managed that once.
6. Zoom call(s) with friends. - YES (much-needed pick-me up)
This week:
1. Marking.
2. Research - plan next steps now article done.
3. Meetings with PhD students
4. Check in with undergraduate dissertation students.
5. Catch up with another friend.
6. Read book for book club on Friday.
A goodly amount of YES in there. And a bit of envy from me... we have a fair way to go, being semesterised, so we teach up until Easter then have three weeks of teaching after Easter too.
DeleteThat's great music! The Shrek soundtracks are great, I had three in my car going to field school earlier this year and the students loved them, played them the whole trip!
DeleteGood luck with the marking and getting the article done!
Thank you! Yes, very glad we haven't semeterised yet. It gets mentioned occasionally, usually by someone who thinks it will miraculously boost our international student intake, but luckily so far the voice of reason has prevailed.
DeleteGOALS FROM LAST WEEK:
ReplyDeleteI took a couple of sick days - I had a very grumpy digestive system, almost certainly a mixture of hormones and a bad eating weekend (because I worked... because I was so behind...) and STRESS, but I picked the two least teaching-disruptive days of the week and took them OFF and napped. Then ended up working 11 hours on Friday (my nominal day off) to deal with some research stuff that was becoming desperate and be ready for this week, which led to yesterday being a write-off and today being not very productive. I never learn - I don't trust myself to tell if I'm actually 'not well' or just lazy, I suppose...
1) self-care: more fruit and veg, prioritising stretching breaks, listening to podcasts in the dark and relaxing to at least rest my body and distract my brain instead of anxiety-spiralling during insomnia episodes a bit, some days, and yes
1a) environment: do the small chores that's what I did on the sick days. It helped
2) R - do something else concrete towards the teaching-related R project. do my items on multi-author paper which is crawling towards submission. went to a meeting. YES, and more, and it should go in TOMORROW
3) T - Get sixth week materials onto all the ViLEs, finish writing feedback on the draft projects that came in on time, remind everyone else to do the same. yes, just. Yes, just. Yes
4) read a bit (might be time to reread book 1 of Murderbot to kickstart the reading bit of the brain again); play D&D. Excavate the crochet blanket and put it somewhere obvious so I might work on it. work out what to get my mother for her birthday AND for Mothering Sunday/Mother's Day (which is mid-Lent in the UK). not very long but I did restart Murderbot and I love murderbot. My nibling says I can't relate to Murderbot as much as they do because THEY ARE MURDERBOT, which is marginally unnerving given Murderbot is very competent at causing lethal damage, but nibling still falls over their feet when they try to do yoga so... D&D - no, everyone was busy with coursework or exam revision or work at different times, but I did spend a couple of hours doing some preparation (which involved finding out how a watermill works and making a fake ransom note), I moved the project to somewhere more visible, and I ordered some random things
GOALS NEXT WEEK:
1) self-care: more fruit and veg, prioritising stretching breaks, sleeping when I can rather than when I should if necessary
1a) environment: do the small chores
2) R - do something else concrete towards the teaching-related R project. do comments on the text from ECR, make progress on the consultancy thing.
3) T - Get seventh week materials onto all the ViLEs, organise the second year forms as soon as they come in.
4) read a bit; play D&D; do a little bit of crochet; make cards and wrap & post gifts for Mother's birthday and mothering sunday.
Tunes - can't beat a good bit of classic Queen or "Let's Dance" by David Bowie! But I have pretty eclectic taste. I do at least a couple of tracks from a dance exercise programme for the terminally uncoordinated called "Body Groove" nearly every day which has some great and varied music too.
Quite a lot of yesses on this list, despite the sick days! That's great--unless it's evidence that you're pushing yourself too hard, of course. The balance can be so hard to find.
DeleteWell done on the research! But yes, don't push yourself too hard.
DeleteOooh classic Queen! Your comment reminded me how much I like them, so I dug out some of my old CDs... That was fun for a drive I had to do this week.
DeleteYay for research progress with R too, even in a busy week.
Your nibling sounds absolutely delightful!
When I actually dance (which hasn't been for some time, boo pandemic), it's to things like "Mairi's Wedding." In other areas of my life, I tend to forget about music, and then when I listen to it, think I must do that more often. I use some sort of classical instrumental music to help me grade, but that's more a matter of soothing than picking up.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
- grade a set of grad papers: YES
- set up two new discussion boards: YES
- read at least 500 lines of Irrelevant Romance: YES
- some other scholarly reading: YES
- work on F&C chapter outline (expanding from article): NO
- rest, walk, yoga in good measure: YES
- try to get driver's license appointment: YES
ALSO: called insurance, got new local PCP, and made appointment (oh brave new world that lets one, even as a new patient, make appointments online without phone calls in office hours!). I've been putting this off for at least a year and it turned into a horrible big deal in my head. But it was so easy.
New goals:
- grade a set of undergrad papers
- prep dead languages
- read submission for writing group
- read at least 500 lines of Irrelevant Romance
- some other scholarly reading
- work on F&C chapter outline (expanding from article)
- rest, walk, yoga in good measure
- organize tax documents
A lot of yes! Well done.
DeleteFunny how things that get built up as big deals sometimes are so small and easy once we get them done... Yay for getting that and lots of other things done!
DeleteScottish dance/fiddle tunes are so great for energy, hope you get to play something this week!
Prince. So much Prince. If I had to pick a song, right now it would be "Pope." Or else Parliament--it is impossible to remain in a bad mood while grooving to "Up For the Down Stroke." (I tire pretty quickly of Parliament, though, so Prince is the surer bet.)
ReplyDeleteLast week:
Catch up and move forward!
1. Finish/print conference paper
YES
2. Draft concluding section to chapter 3
NO, but I rewrote the intro by hand in a fit of inspiration, and feel much better about the whole chapter now
3. Look at totally terrible half-draft of chapter 1; freewrite about where the chapter ought to be going
YES, wow, it's a mess, but I'm working on it
4. Catch up on work for both journals
YES
5. Brew beer
YES
6. Read for fun (finish one book; return to another)
YES to finishing the one; I haven't returned to the other, but I'm taking it with me on my trip this week, so I'll be obligated. To be honest, this reading is not entirely for fun: it's the last volume of Proust's *In Search of Lost Time,* en français, and I am determined to finish. But Proustian French is rather a lot of work.
7. Re-establish all routines, including language work
YES
This week:
I leave tomorrow for a conference in Germany, so I don't expect to get a huge amount done. Everything will have to take place on the plane rides, basically.
1. Read colleague's chapter
2. Answer and write some emails (grad student, neighbor/colleague, brother)
3. Make some amount of progress--any amount at all--on ch. 1
4. Run x 1, sit x 1, language x 1
Oh, yes, Prince. Sounds like a lot of writing. And a conference in Germany (or anywhere!) is exciting. Enjoy!
DeleteProust in French sounds suspiciously like work to me, but I'm impressed. Enjoy your conference!
DeleteYay for Prince and conference!! Both are energizing I think! I'm on the side who thinks even Proust in English is a lot of work... Lots of things done, hope you have a great trip!
DeleteMy pick-me-up dance music is a combination of Pink and Katy Perry, with a side of Queen and Fun. And some days you just need some loud Taylor Swift even if one would not usually gravitate towards it!
ReplyDeleteFor quiet working I listen to a lot of Radio 3 online, but most days I forget. For getting a lab full of students energized there is nothing better than local fiddle tunes, lots of bands for that, Great Big Sea is a good one for high energy.
Last week’s goals:
URGENT Accounting for conference and research purchases SOME
URGENT Requisition forms for equipment NOPE
URGENT Ship off samples for processing (hard part, finding the relevant POs) SOME
Two conference abstracts DONE
Marking for 2 classes DONE
Continue with local joint paper SOMETHING SMALL
Exercise every day NOPE
Keep doing physio (blah…) FEW MORE WEEKS TO GO
It was actually a great week for science, I did a bunch of lab work which was nice. As a surprise the conference abstracts sparked a conversation which lead to other conversations, which lead to the rediscovery of a collaboration that almost started before covid and then was forgotten… So that’s back on and is very exciting! One of those things chatted about over coffee that clearly needed to happen.
On the flip side all the science meant I neglected the less fun stuff like accounting. That really has to happen this week, I have 2 hours set aside on Monday to start, hope I make enough progress to encourage me to finish all of it during the week.
This week’s goals:
URGENT Accounting for conference and research purchases
URGENT Requisition forms for equipment
URGENT Ship off samples for processing (hard part, finding the relevant POs)
Concert practice
Continue with local joint paper
TRY AGAIN Exercise every day
Keep doing physio (blah…)
The science sounds very satisfying, and I love those kinds of conversations that spark other conversations - that's how academia should be all of the time! Boo to the accounting. I hope you can grit your teeth and just power through it (would Taylor Swift help?).
DeleteDance music: I dance to any and all music. If it's on, I'll dance to it. I have a few spotify lists that lead me to dance, but I'll dance to Bach as much as Prince or David Bowie. But I forget to put music on most of the time, so I mostly live in silence. But you can occasionally see me bopping around the kitchen to music in my head...
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
-- Do two more essays for Big Collaboration ONE
-- Start reading book for review BARELY
-- Do tax stuff YES
--Keep up with administrative stuff YES
--Plan Wednesday's Lenten service, make soup YES
--Eat, exercise, do something nice, sleep NO, NO YES
Last Tuesday my mother tested positive for COVID, and I had taken her to the dr the day before, and I've felt semi-crappy all week. There have been good days and bad days, but never at full strength. I've tested negative every morning, but clearly fighting something off. Lots of naps, sleeping etc. Not exercise. And no getting together with someone: zoom drinks were the extent of it.
In the midst of all this, it is for me (like Daisy) the time of semester when things go off the rails, and my admin job makes this my business; it included a call at 9:30 Saturday night about one student, and texts Friday and Saturday about another. I kept up with that.
Otherwise, I spent enough time with the other essay from Big Collaboration to know where it needs to go (complete reframing) but not enough brain power to figure it out.
Goals for this week:
I'm supposed to leave early Wednesday for a conference in Puerto Rico. I want to go. I am watching my health because I am a good citizen. But I want to see people, hear papers, talk to colleagues. Assuming I go:
1. Read more of book to review
2. Re-read book by speaker
3. Keep up with the minimum admin stuff
4. Enjoy conference
5. Get back to walking/ exercising
If I don't go, I'll do the other paper for big collaboration. But I hope to go...
I really hope you recovered well enough to your conference! Crossing fingers for you! If not, the collaboration paper is a nice replacement, even if not exactly the same amount of satisfying interaction...
DeleteDespite the bug you did a lot last week, hang in there!