Apologies for the late posting! It was a crazy weekend, three kid concerts and one for me… And we had the first snowstorm of the year so it is now officially winter and the roads are a sloppy mess. Next week she has one and I have three… For some reason this year everything is going on everywhere, busy but fun.
Here we are at our last goal-setting week! For comments this week, how about we try to give advice to our January selves? What would you like January-you to keep in mind about this year, about planning for next year, and about life in general?
Goals below, session ones coming next week!
Daisy
BUY GIFTS!!
Finish all marking and collect all term grades
Set all exams
Compile data for report
Write something for new or old paper, literally anything will be better than
nothing…
Unpack new samples, start prep work with students
Keep practicing
Dame Eleanor Hull
- finish commenting grad drafts
- finish note-taking on LA and JG
- prepare for final classes
- yoga x5, gym x5*, weights x2
- process grad apps
- do something fun
JaneB
Second-to-last week of
teaching. Students flagging. Staff flagging. Christmas chores becming more
urgent. So. Tired...
1 SELF-CARE. Remember I'm still recovering from burnout and be kind to myself
(i) do at least one mildly creative-with-the-hands things
(ii) read at least three days
(iii) play D&D with nibling or do D&D planning
(iv) three days of stretchy/bendy type intentional movement for at least 15
minutes
2 HOUSE-LIFE ADMIN
i) at least 75% of regular chore list
ii) catch up on dishes
iii) wrap/write international cards/gifts, start UK cards and friend gifts.
3 TEACHING AND ADMIN
i) prepare everything for teaching next week (not much)
ii) marking - do the remaining smaller assignment completely and at least 20 of
the big assignment.
iii) check next trimester timetable and make edits as needed
4 RESEARCH
i) at least one hour integrating other people's comments into the consultancy
paper, ugh!
ii) look over files for an outside researcher's project and give them feedback
iii) spend an hour working on notes for Other Grant Idea ahead of a meeting the
following week (I have triple checked that THIS meeting actually EXISTS)
heu mihi
1. prep final exam
2. review editor's edits of short essay
3. CATCH UP ON THE JOURNAL: Second proofs, "new" submission (now
weeks old)
4. Final Italian readings (due Tuesday)
5. Prep for rescheduled dissertation defense
Julie
1. More marking
2. Teaching prep for last (yay!) sessions of term.
3. Organise transcription/data entry
4. More Xmas.
5. Mock university interviews for my kids' school.
Keeping it minimal again as I have a lot of teaching and meetings scheduled.
Susan
1. Get through chapters
1 and 2 of Famous Author working on style
2. Read grad student's dissertation chapter
3. Keep making progress on my public lecture
4. Do something fun next weekend
5. Do expenses for conference travel
6. Get tickets for post-Christmas travel
7. Keep up with exercise/ eat as healthfully as I can
Greetings from London, where I am in Big Library waiting for a book to be fetched that I was unable to get on interlibrary loan. I have just today to read it before I get the train home this evening. I stayed with my sister last night and had a good catch-up, and a leisurely start this morning in winter sunshine over London, so I feel invigorated for the final week of term.
ReplyDeleteAnd that is one thing January self should note: breaks, changes of scene, scheduling some time for different things all good. Otherwise, realistic goal setting, recognising that some weeks have to be minimal, but trying to look far enough ahead that things don't come out of nowhere.
How I did:
1. More marking - YES (but still so, so much to do)
2. Teaching prep for last (yay!) sessions of term. - MOSTLY
3. Organise transcription/data entry - STILL NO
4. More Xmas. - YES
5. Mock university interviews for my kids' school.- YES
This week:
1. Day in library, read book, work on article.
2. Teach final sessions
3. More marking.
4. Whatever end of term admin needs doing.
5. More Xmas.
6. One final mock university admission interview.
I hope you managed to finish with your book in Big Library! Excellent point about breaks and changes of scene. May the last sessions go beautifully and the students be appreciative.
DeleteLoving the sense of a winter morning in London. Glad there is sunshine, and that Big Library is efficient at bringing the book, which will have enough that it justifies a day trip to London, and not so much that you'll panic! (Know that I can't pre-order until I've updated my card, so...)
DeleteChange is so important! As is staying home.... That's one thing that I'm looking forward to next semester--more time at home, out of the office. I hope that London was a nice little break!
DeleteI hope the trains behaved!
DeleteLovely quick trip and change of scene! I think sometimes we underestimate how restorative a quick event like that can be. Good advice to future self to include some of those when possible.
DeleteFor my January self: the value of setting goals you can probably accomplish. Trimming goals to be realistic is hard, but really wise.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
1. Get through chapters 1 and 2 of Famous Author working on style YES
2. Read grad student's dissertation chapter YES
3. Keep making progress on my public lecture NO
4. Do something fun next weekend NO
5. Do expenses for conference travel ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO
6. Get tickets for post-Christmas travel YES
7. Keep up with exercise/ eat as healthfully as I can YES
Made it through the procedure, got back to eating normal food, etc. I did most of what I wanted to do, but as always, I don't switch tasks easily, so I didn't get much done on the talk.
Goals for this week:
1. Three chapter revisions for Famous Author
2. One day on big talk
3. Last set of expenses
4. Pick up old computer from repair shop
5. Enjoy shopping expedition with colleagues who have promised to provide me with a "kick-ass outfit" for my public lecture
6. Send half my Christmas cards
7. Prepare for party next weekend. Should I make a buche de noel?
My son is clamoring for a buche de noel--I think that he and my husband will make it for Christmas eve. (I'm on cookie detail.) Enjoy the shopping trip; I would love to see the kick-ass outfit!
DeleteFor years I did the Julia Child recipe; then I discovered the Martha Stewart one, which felt simpler. But the real simplification came with making the filling a flavored whipped cream...
DeleteOooh, enjoy the outfit! Something for a special occasion really adds to the event!
DeleteWay to go on all the logistical and accounting things, enjoy baking!
Dear January me: Enjoy yourself, do NOT put too much time into reviewing graduate applications, insist (if possible) on scheduling graduate admissions interviews *after* the semester begins (and not during the break), read for fun, but also start drafting that damn essay.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. prep final exam - Yes
2. review editor's edits of short essay - No
3. CATCH UP ON THE JOURNAL: Second proofs, "new" submission (now weeks old) - Yes
4. Final Italian readings (due Tuesday) - Yes
5. Prep for rescheduled dissertation defense - Yes (today, Monday, but okay)
This week:
1. Editor's edits of short essay
2. Tie up all the email loose ends, seriously
3. Grade last essays
4. Send judiciously but not overly reassuring, yes-there-will-be-a-curve-but-you-need-to-study-anyway email to students (about the exam--I did a sample multiple-choice section today, and they bombed)
5. Process *other* new journal submission
6. Finish reading that biography of a 12th-c. monk that I've been dragging through forever, just because
And *then* I'm going to begin thinking about that blasted essay....
No interviews during break sounds like great advice! Definitely hold future self to that good plan...
DeleteLots of good things done! Good luck with blasted essay... those just keep haunting their owners but they can be defeated!
Dear January Self… Please remember that saying no to things is a perfectly fine response. If you have reservations about something a few months before the thing happens, chances are those reservations will grow up into massive regrets eventually. Also January Self… Please remember that if you do not seriously get moving on exercising regularly field work this summer will beat you up and you will have many regrets… So start early! Also, you know you have a show coming up in March so same as the exercise, start early to avoid panic and pain!
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goals
BUY GIFTS!! DONE
Finish all marking and collect all term grades DONE
Set all exams DONE
Compile data for report NOPE
Write something for new or old paper, literally anything will be better than nothing… HAHAHA NOTHING
Unpack new samples, start prep work with students ONGOING
Keep practicing ONGOING
EXTRA: pick up new grad student and get them settled DONE
What a week… So much stuff going on! Did manage some decent gifts, even if one of them was picked, bought, and picked up by the recipient… Whatever works right?
This week’s goals
Mark exams and submit grades
Sample prep and training with students
New student orientation and organizing
Practice for last shows of season
Grad student nomination letter and application edits
Organize something with friends
My favorite quote I think from Hilary Clinton is "No is a complete sentence". It reminds me not to feel I have to justify saying "no".
DeleteDear January self, please keep your troubles to yourself and let me not think about them for a few weeks! And don't forget how disposable we've all felt this last few months - use that energy to set and maintain boundaries and prioritise your self care.
ReplyDeleteWe don't OFFICIALLY know what's happening, but we all DO know who's leaving now. We're probably going to lose an entire programme for lack of people to teach on it - we have four inter-related programmes which share some modules and have some of their own options in my subject area, and staff can be grouped into three clear sub-subjects. Very rough numbers over the 3 undergraduate years, group A has about 40 undergrads, about 9 specialist options to deliver, and will have gone from 5 to 2 teaching staff (and one person in the general area but on 100% secondment to the Faculty for another couple of years at least) by January (and one of them is a Problem), group B has about 80 students and about 12 specialist options and is going from 6 and a bit to 4 and a bit staff (the bit is mostly contracted to teach masters content), and group C has about 20 students and 6 specialist options and has gone from 5 staff to 4 staff (plus one who is 100% in administration for the next couple of years). In other words, the process has likely killed area A, which is going to seriously damage one of the two programmes led by area B (which is sort of AB joint), which may take student numbers low enough we're back losing staff - or shut down - within a couple of years. Gah.
Also all my bad "I am burning out" habits and minor bodily issues are back in full force - thank GOODNESS I just (Tuesday) taught my last class of the year....
LAST WEEK
1 SELF-CARE. Remember I'm still recovering from burnout and be kind to myself
(i) do at least one mildly creative-with-the-hands things no
(ii) read at least three days no
(iii) play D&D with nibling or do D&D planning yes, we played
(iv) three days of stretchy/bendy type intentional movement for at least 15 minutes one
2 HOUSE-LIFE ADMIN
i) at least 75% of regular chore list no
ii) catch up on dishes no
iii) wrap/write international cards/gifts, start UK cards and friend gifts. yes
3 TEACHING AND ADMIN
i) prepare everything for teaching next week (not much) no (finished the last class this morning about ten minutes before walking into the classroom)
ii) marking - do the remaining smaller assignment completely and at least 20 of the big assignment.yes, 15
iii) check next trimester timetable and make edits as needed yes
4 RESEARCH
i) at least one hour integrating other people's comments into the consultancy paper, ugh! no
ii) look over files for an outside researcher's project and give them feedback yes
iii) spend an hour working on notes for Other Grant Idea ahead of a meeting the following week (I have triple checked that THIS meeting actually EXISTS) no. But we got a really RUDE rejection for the paper we submitted a few weeks ago so dealing with that will occupy the meeting
THIS WEEK:
Deleteonly two days on campus this week. thank goodness.
1 SELF-CARE. Remember I'm still recovering from burnout and be kind to myself
(i) do at least one mildly creative-with-the-hands things
(ii) read at least three days
(iii) do D&D planning (neither game is scheduled)
(iv) three days of stretchy/bendy type intentional movement for at least 15 minutes
(v) counselling appointment and other appointment
2 HOUSE-LIFE ADMIN
i) at least 75% of regular chore list
ii) catch up on dishes
iii) wrap close family gifts, work on more UK cards, get friend gifts and first batch of UK cards into the post.
3 TEACHING AND ADMIN
i) notes for putting teaching "to bed" from this trimester
ii) marking - finish big assignment
iii) chase up all students who did not make an appointment/did not attend their appointment for end of term check ins. SIGH
iv) if possible start commenting on grad student chapter.
4 RESEARCH
i) at least one hour integrating other people's comments into the consultancy paper, ugh!
ii) look over files for an outside researcher's project and give them feedback
iii) meeting for rejected paper
iv) last week with international visitor - get the short report ready to submit, plan journal article, make sure we have a Plan for what next.
v) review overdue paper for journal
OK, the A-B-C student/staff numbers look like a total mess! Are the 20 students in C extremely well connected or something? Because it looks obvious that C is the program to lose, and A-B should reduce the number of specialist subjects so as to work with the people they have . . . . Is this mess the result of letting staff decide for themselves whether they want to (are able to) leave?
DeleteI hope your game with Nibling went well!
The whole process and outcome is so extremely bizarre and demoralizing! So sorry to hear that the effects will be so far-reaching and negative. One always hopes that saner minds will prevail but sometimes they definitely don't...
DeleteSorry about the rude rejection! Those are the worst. Normal constructive ones are a totally different thing... Hope the meeting provides everyone with a good vent, and possibly cookies for solace!
Hang in there and plan some nice things for the break!!
The A-B-C outcome is the result of ignoring the needs of programmes when defining the pools of people at risk (that was purely on pay band - we need to lose three very expensive people and 2 quite expensive people and one cheap person, etc. - rather than starting with minimum programme needs and using that to say OK 1 person from area A, 1 from area B, 3 from area C. or even "we'll have to cut a programme and all the staff, because we can't make the savings by trimming all of them"), and then ignoring who had taken voluntary severance/early retirement when deciding who to get rid of from the pool that went all the way through to the rank-and-bin-the-lowest-scores state. The two people "binned" were an A and a B (and we have only two Bs and one reluctant C who are able to teach a vital employability skill needed by A, B, C AND one programme from another subject area not currently in our unit - the reluctant C is really miffed because the B who left by choice and the B who was binned are the two Bs who could teach that skill, so now it's ALL going to be his problem again - he'll have a HUGE core module that students dislike - this is a tedious skill to practice - and a higher level option module which also tends to be large, and have to give up some of his subject area teaching. Because Faculty have refused for YEARS to pay the about 3000 pounds each it would cost to send a couple of other staff on a training course that would qualify them to be part of the lower level course because "you have three people who can do it!").
DeleteIt's all rather rubbish!
Utter rubbish. I deplore the cost-cutting measures being taken in many areas of academia, but if they are vital to the survival of an institution, then there are more intelligent ways to downsize than what you have described. There's pain, and then there's stupid unnecessary pain!
DeleteIt is remarkable how incompetent and thoughtless this whole process has been. And of course they are probably using very expensive consultants who have produced this garbage. I'm so very sorry.
DeleteIt certianly gives one little confidence in the future of the institution under this leadership. Or the longer term future of my subject area or job....
DeleteAlso an error in my example above - it's not a reluctant C who has to take on employability skill, none of the C's have that skill, that would be useful, it's a reluctant D where D is the only programme taught by the other subject area in our administrative unit (they didn't lose any staff because they were already understaffed...)
DeleteI'd like my January self to give some advice to my present self, but the timeline never runs that way. I doubt very much that she'll be willing to get up early enough to hit the gym on teaching days, so I guess I will advise her to do yoga on those days, get to the library to do some stair-climbing, and go to the gym four days a week since there will be three days when it's not possible. I also hope she'll set up writing appointments and stick to them, maybe even find someone to work with (my campus writing group has fallen apart).
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
- finish commenting grad drafts: YES
- finish note-taking on LA and JG: YES (yay!)
- prepare for final classes: YES
- yoga x5, gym x5*, weights x2: YES
- process grad apps: NO
- do something fun: YES (folk dancing again; re-reading comfort fluff)
New goals:
- Grade All The Things (and pace myself)
- Process grad apps
- Write two letters of recommendation
- Some scholarly reading/note-taking
- Re-establish regular bedtime
- Gym x6, yoga x5, weights x2
That is great future-self advice... Need to be realistic about can or cannot happen with different schedules and external constraints.
DeleteGlad the fun things happened this week!