A few weeks ago we gave ourselves gifts; last week we let go of things. This week I want to allow us to reflect on the community here. What has moved you this session? Is there something someone has done you wish to celebrate? What gifts would you like to give? What do you have that you wish you could share?
Session Goals
Bardiac
Semester goals:
1. Keep up with grading and class prep. (I'm teaching two classes I haven't taught in a LONG time, so they're pretty new, with new texts and such, and one class I'm pretty sure of.)
2. Keep up with prep and committee work
3. Do a good job chairing the committee I'm chairing, and working on two other big committee projects.
4. Write a big report.
5. Write a the statue paper that's part of the bigger paper.
6. Exercise three days a week. (Does mowing count?)
1. Keep up with grading and class prep. (I'm teaching two classes I haven't taught in a LONG time, so they're pretty new, with new texts and such, and one class I'm pretty sure of.)
2. Keep up with prep and committee work
3. Do a good job chairing the committee I'm chairing, and working on two other big committee projects.
4. Write a big report.
5. Write a the statue paper that's part of the bigger paper.
6. Exercise three days a week. (Does mowing count?)
Dame Eleanor
Hull
*Live with uncertainty and work the process w/r/t the house.
*Finish and submit a very old R&R.
*Polish a chapter and write an introduction to my book-in-progress so I can submit it to the press of my choice.
*Keep up with grading and other administrivia so they get their due attention but not more.
*Keep up with exercise, stretching, FODMAP-safe cooking, and other necessary physical maintenance.
*Finish and submit a very old R&R.
*Polish a chapter and write an introduction to my book-in-progress so I can submit it to the press of my choice.
*Keep up with grading and other administrivia so they get their due attention but not more.
*Keep up with exercise, stretching, FODMAP-safe cooking, and other necessary physical maintenance.
Elizabeth Anne
Mitchell
Steal outright JaneB’s idea of setting an alarm for 45
minutes, so that I get up, move about, and take a break.
Instead of haunting the vending machines, make lunches the night before.
Declutter the work office, at least as far as to see the surface of the desk and to have all the books standing, not laying, on the bookshelf.
Outline the Aurelius project.
Edit the Illuminated project.
Instead of haunting the vending machines, make lunches the night before.
Declutter the work office, at least as far as to see the surface of the desk and to have all the books standing, not laying, on the bookshelf.
Outline the Aurelius project.
Edit the Illuminated project.
Heu Mihi
Research:
1. Proofs and indexing for my book. Due mid-Oct., and I need to start tomorrow. If I do 12 pages per weekday, I'll be fine.
2. Abstracts: Two due Oct. 1
3. Conference paper: For mid-Nov.
4. Edited collection proposal: ASAP
Self: Maintain good routines.
5. Sit a reasonable amount. I've had good luck these last two weeks meditating at 8:00, after Bonaventure (age 7) gets on the bus.
6. Language work: Finish this textbook already.
7. Daily writing/research/reading.
8. Don't prep on the weekends. (I hate, hate, hate prepping on Sunday afternoons. It makes me monstrously grumpy.)
1. Proofs and indexing for my book. Due mid-Oct., and I need to start tomorrow. If I do 12 pages per weekday, I'll be fine.
2. Abstracts: Two due Oct. 1
3. Conference paper: For mid-Nov.
4. Edited collection proposal: ASAP
Self: Maintain good routines.
5. Sit a reasonable amount. I've had good luck these last two weeks meditating at 8:00, after Bonaventure (age 7) gets on the bus.
6. Language work: Finish this textbook already.
7. Daily writing/research/reading.
8. Don't prep on the weekends. (I hate, hate, hate prepping on Sunday afternoons. It makes me monstrously grumpy.)
Humming42/Linda
1 Complete and submit five book reviews
2 Complete two article reviews
3 Submit grant proposal
4 Submit residency proposal
5 FInish and present Perform
6 Write and submit DQ paper
7 Write and submit December paper
8 KR abstract
2 Complete two article reviews
3 Submit grant proposal
4 Submit residency proposal
5 FInish and present Perform
6 Write and submit DQ paper
7 Write and submit December paper
8 KR abstract
JaneB
1) self-care. key features here are sleeping enough (or at
least spending enough time in bed, if I can't sleep), moving enough my stupid
joints/back don't get too noisy, saying "no" or "not now" more
often, working on slowly getting my house and finances into order, and taking
some quality time to think about what I might do if I do lose my job and
identifying some practical steps (I think, and my most pessimistic and
university-politically-savvy colleague thinks, that academics in our area are
probably safe from involuntary severance until Summer 2021, and that our
subject area is likely to survive if the university does - but who the hell
knows in this world of Brexit and Boris-the-career-liar-who-can't-stop-lying
being our prime minister and the general cultural turn against experts and what
feels like a big looming recession?) (this means a) working on preparing some
job materials which manage to sell my strengths (I am very experienced at preparing
new teaching, especially in the unpopular areas of "skills in the
discipline") and explain my weaknesses (lack of grants) as contextual (new
teaching every year, lots of papers despite lack of people) not personal and
looking for jobs (unlikely, but...) and b) probably doing one of those short
courses in editing or proofreading or indexing, as my specialist writing skills
seem like the most potentially non-academic lucrative skills I have (given my
creakiness and age, and that even at senior levels industry positions in my
research field are both very badly paid and involve quite a lot of outdoors
work, hiking and mud and travel)
2) Research: finish and submit at least one substantial grant application, complete benchwork on FavouriteIslands samples, get the paper ProblemChild1 submitted somewhere and FlatProject1 fully drafted and ready to go, and do the equivalent of another paper's worth of data analysis and writing (lots of options, mostly depending on others).
3) teaching: I am leading a complete redesign of the two key first year modules (which will save quite a lot of money as we change out the field trip venue), I have to look after all exchange students going out or coming in, I'm supposed to be setting up a new programme with industrial placements... this trimester I also have a solo honours module which I taught for the first time last year (but it's moved trimester, which changes the timing of everything, there's a big timetabling problem which messes up my teaching plan, and chunks of it were taught by Incoming last year so need to be rewritten so I can teach them - his materials are scrappy & students were not happy so starting over will be easier) and also will be covering some gaps in modules related to my primary research skills (we hired someone who said they could do it all, but I said they couldn't, and I was right, and now I'm the only person left who can cover some parts of what we need - and we can't change ANYTHING of the advertised content this year, so we have to manage), and looking after the final year project module for the big cohort of needy students and the tutorial/study skills support programmes for the other years. Whine whine! (But I am only on an 80% contract so I do feel kind of whiny!). And next semester will be worse. So, goals for this semester are: resist the urge to get fancy with the redesign of the first year and third year. Get the new degree programme to the stage of either progress to full paperwork or denied. Rewrite all the stats teaching for the second semester module so that it is as close to ready to go as possible. Be responsive to students, and focus on a pedagogy of kindness approach (because I will need kindness, my colleagues will, and often the best way to get is to give out. Plus students tend to be forgiving of slip-ups if they feel genuinely cared for, and kindness is a good way of summarising all the things that make them feel like that).
2) Research: finish and submit at least one substantial grant application, complete benchwork on FavouriteIslands samples, get the paper ProblemChild1 submitted somewhere and FlatProject1 fully drafted and ready to go, and do the equivalent of another paper's worth of data analysis and writing (lots of options, mostly depending on others).
3) teaching: I am leading a complete redesign of the two key first year modules (which will save quite a lot of money as we change out the field trip venue), I have to look after all exchange students going out or coming in, I'm supposed to be setting up a new programme with industrial placements... this trimester I also have a solo honours module which I taught for the first time last year (but it's moved trimester, which changes the timing of everything, there's a big timetabling problem which messes up my teaching plan, and chunks of it were taught by Incoming last year so need to be rewritten so I can teach them - his materials are scrappy & students were not happy so starting over will be easier) and also will be covering some gaps in modules related to my primary research skills (we hired someone who said they could do it all, but I said they couldn't, and I was right, and now I'm the only person left who can cover some parts of what we need - and we can't change ANYTHING of the advertised content this year, so we have to manage), and looking after the final year project module for the big cohort of needy students and the tutorial/study skills support programmes for the other years. Whine whine! (But I am only on an 80% contract so I do feel kind of whiny!). And next semester will be worse. So, goals for this semester are: resist the urge to get fancy with the redesign of the first year and third year. Get the new degree programme to the stage of either progress to full paperwork or denied. Rewrite all the stats teaching for the second semester module so that it is as close to ready to go as possible. Be responsive to students, and focus on a pedagogy of kindness approach (because I will need kindness, my colleagues will, and often the best way to get is to give out. Plus students tend to be forgiving of slip-ups if they feel genuinely cared for, and kindness is a good way of summarising all the things that make them feel like that).
Oceangirl101/Jenny
1) Transform two conference papers into two chapters for
edited volumes (due end September), finish Ch 7 of book
2) Writing three times a week, lab work one time a week
3) Do Master Naturalist class (one night every other week and one Saturday a month)
4) Decorate house with things from my parents
5) Exercise x 3 a week
2) Writing three times a week, lab work one time a week
3) Do Master Naturalist class (one night every other week and one Saturday a month)
4) Decorate house with things from my parents
5) Exercise x 3 a week
Susan
Academic
1. I will send off what I think are final revisions of Violence (the essay that would not die) this week.
2. I have a short blog post to write that will close a series on a major book in my field.
3. I'm speaking at a session celebrating 50 years of a journal in my field, so I have to read all 50 contributions to the special issue of the journal, and think about what I want to say. I'll call this journal
4. Start revising an essay I wrote a few years ago that needs rethinking. I'll call this "Race"
5. Keep working on Big, the edited volume I'll be involved in.
6. I'm likely to get another essay back from editors, so there will be time for a small amount of work on memorial.
7. Keep up with teaching. Neither of my classes is difficult, but both are semi-new to me, and involve a fair bit of thinking.
Life:
1.Take one day off each week
2. Keep walking - 10,000 steps a day is a goal
3. Start reading instaed of iPad at bedtime.
4. Try for 7 hours of sleep
1. I will send off what I think are final revisions of Violence (the essay that would not die) this week.
2. I have a short blog post to write that will close a series on a major book in my field.
3. I'm speaking at a session celebrating 50 years of a journal in my field, so I have to read all 50 contributions to the special issue of the journal, and think about what I want to say. I'll call this journal
4. Start revising an essay I wrote a few years ago that needs rethinking. I'll call this "Race"
5. Keep working on Big, the edited volume I'll be involved in.
6. I'm likely to get another essay back from editors, so there will be time for a small amount of work on memorial.
7. Keep up with teaching. Neither of my classes is difficult, but both are semi-new to me, and involve a fair bit of thinking.
Life:
1.Take one day off each week
2. Keep walking - 10,000 steps a day is a goal
3. Start reading instaed of iPad at bedtime.
4. Try for 7 hours of sleep
Goals from last week:
Dame Eleanor
*sleep, stretch, exercise, dentist, haircut.
*write one exam, grade All The Things, post grades.
*make research plan, work on something, dead languages.
*pay bills, reserve car, pack, deal with family.
*write one exam, grade All The Things, post grades.
*make research plan, work on something, dead languages.
*pay bills, reserve car, pack, deal with family.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell (from 2 weeks ago)
Begin carefully organizing the new cubicle with writing space
in mind.
Write my three statements for tenure and award meetings.
Edit Prudence 30 minutes a day.
Plan the timing of my research trip.
Write my three statements for tenure and award meetings.
Edit Prudence 30 minutes a day.
Plan the timing of my research trip.
Heu Mihi
1. Read 30 minutes x3.
2. LANGUAGE x3, damn it.
3. Everything for classes except the final grading.
4. Design syllabus for new spring class.
5. Knit a bunch of the first sock for a Christmas gift.
2. LANGUAGE x3, damn it.
3. Everything for classes except the final grading.
4. Design syllabus for new spring class.
5. Knit a bunch of the first sock for a Christmas gift.
Humming42/Linda
1 Step up and ask for extensions
2 Grade, grade, grade.
3 Write a bit every day
2 Grade, grade, grade.
3 Write a bit every day
JaneB (implicit in her report last week)
Working computers
Some sanity among PTB
OceanGirl101/Jenny
1) submit grant
2) page proof edits
3) 2 article reviews
4) comments to two collaborators
5) exercise x 2
6) make some social plans for the next 2 weeks
2) page proof edits
3) 2 article reviews
4) comments to two collaborators
5) exercise x 2
6) make some social plans for the next 2 weeks
Susan
Teach last class tomorrow
28 rough drafts back by Friday
Set up grades so final grades easy
Make committees
Use weekend to clear desk
28 rough drafts back by Friday
Set up grades so final grades easy
Make committees
Use weekend to clear desk
