I think a batch of people didn't come back after the tea break, or maybe they're still behind the scenes or in the gift shop. It's the nature of a museum tour, I guess. Nonetheless, let's work with this idea: what can you let go of, or leave behind, that would help you focus on the truly important things, this week? Alternatively, what loss are you mourning or still searching for, that's sapping your energy?
As always, answer one or both prompts if you feel inclined, or ignore them both and just check in. People who've been gone for awhile are welcome to pop in and say hello, even if you don't have it in you to reflect on goals. Our good wishes and supportive energy flow your way, whether you're actively participating or just reading along!
Move like water, float like mist, stay chill as ice when facing difficult situations!
Daisy
1) Paper off to journal
2) Set 30 take-home exams, each student gets a personalized one…
3) Grad seminar content and reading list for coming weeks
4) My intentional thing for the week: walking coffee with 2 colleagues
Dame Eleanor Hull
*Health: daily cardio and stretching, weights x 3, try to eat carefully and sleep enough.
*Teaching: Grade 1 set discussion board posts; comment on drafts from both classes.
*Research: work on revisions; some time on both dead and live languages; some other reading.
*Service: set up drafts for some recommendation letters; admissions; another small thing.
*House/life: do some responsible-adult things.
*Track time, at least roughly.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell (held over)
One article and annotations 1x5.
Paperwork for planning next semester.
Pick up new glasses and contacts.
Write 300 words on Illustrated 1x4.
Walk 2x7; meditate 1x7; something positive 1x7.
heu mihi
1. Read and take notes on ch. 1 and ch. 2 of review book
2. Grade everything that I have in order to clear the way for future grading
3. 3 hours of writing
4. Journal proofs, to the extent possible (waiting on a couple of authors)
5. Two yoga classes (plus all the running)
Humming42
1 edit a creative piece to prepare for submission
2 write weekly blog post
3 grade every day
4 write and submit current book review
5 finish reading next review book
oceangirl101 (held over):
1. Copy edits Ch 3-8
2. Review article, book series, and PhD
3. Walk/exercise x 4
4. Healthy meals
5. Vet for cat, set up Dr appts for me
Susan (held over):
Teaching:
1. Get last week module up
2. Grade next batch of projects and create groups
3. Get book orders in
Service:
1. Get in touch with the press re. journal
2. Deal with any other stuff that comes up re Big Proposal that is terrible
3. Deal with Church stuff
Research:
Four hours on famous author
Fun:
Keep reading new book
Keep working out
At least one fun zoom
I need to let go of my expectations of the past. Last week, for instance: I did not do much of what I had planned to do. Because it was Thanksgiving! And my son was off from school, which makes more of a difference than you would expect, given that he's home all the time anyway. Plus there was Christmas decorating on Sunday. Work just didn't happen very much.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm also getting tired of working at my desk, now that it's not pleasant to work outside. The sun sets at 4:15. We're in the house, cooped up, just TOO MUCH. It affects things.
Anyway. Let last week be last week. Here's my report, and my plan for the future.
Last week:
1. Read and take notes on ch. 1 and ch. 2 of review book
-Did ch. 1. Read most of ch. 2, but no notes yet.
2. Grade everything that I have in order to clear the way for future grading
-Umm...yes? I think so. More late stuff has come in since Saturday but I haven't looked at it yet.
3. 3 hours of writing
-1 hour. The hour that I wrote before I set this goal. I'll try again this week.
4. Journal proofs, to the extent possible (waiting on a couple of authors)
-Finished my part today (Monday)
5. Two yoga classes (plus all the running)
-One. It's really hard to motivate myself for two Zoom yoga classes, I have to say.
This week:
1. 3 hours of writing/research
2. Catch up on journal stuff (again, forever)
3. Read and take notes on ch. 2 and 3
4. Catch up on all the "urgent" emails
I'm having oral surgery tomorrow--gum grafts--a procedure I've had before, which isn't as terrible as I expected it to be but is still somewhat unpleasant. Then there's an online conference I'm attending (not speaking at) on Thursday, and all my papers come in on Friday. So I think that this list is ambitious as it is.
Hope the surgery went well. And that the online conference is satisfying!
DeleteTiny amounts count! An hour of writing is much more than no writing.
DeleteEchoing Daisy's good wishes for the surgery.
Not a bad week for research! I got the paper done and submitted, and I’m really happy with it. And as an added bonus my graduated grad student submitted a paper too. That one had stalled for a while after we did a lot of work on it in the summer, so it is nice to see that moving on.
ReplyDeleteTeaching is horrendous… The class with the take-home exams started so well, now it is just a mad scramble for the end. I planned that the take-home exams would only be for a back-up, the idea was that everyone would do enough of the assignments that they would not need them, but no… Instead of my anticipated 5 or so students needed those, almost all of them need to do them. So much for designing tons of assignment choices with flexibility for students to choose… I’m losing sleep over that one, about a third of the class has literally not handed in a single thing yet, despite weekly check-in emails and offers of help and nudges and automated reminders… Ugh… Almost done, almost done. I hate that my teaching feelings have been reduced to wishing for the end, that’s not how I want to teach… But, it will have to be good enough for now. The other class is fine, that one had a traditional structure with hard deadlines and more testing (open book but timed) so guess what I’m doing next term?
Last week’s goals:
1) Paper off to journal YES!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!
2) Set 30 take-home exams, each student gets a personalized one… NOPE
3) Grad seminar content and reading list for coming weeks DONE
4) My intentional thing for the week: walking coffee with 2 colleagues DONE
This week’s goals:
1) Set 30 take-home exams, each student gets a personalized one (and regret making this an option)…
2) Make plan for next paper
3) Overdue reviews
4) Overdue Society things, three little ones, one big one
5) Lots of admin things, take a day and do them all
6) Grad seminar marking and feedback
7) My intentional thing for the week: buy a few pretty local-made gift things
I have a bunch of students who have handed nothing in on their final projects and I'm just wishing they would do something!
DeleteWOOOOT!!! Actual research not only done but FINISHED and SUBMITTED! You are an inspiration!
DeleteI think it's clear that the classes that are more like "real" classes go better than the all-asynchronous ones. One has to adapt to the online format, but I'll be changing things in the spring to make classes more traditional.
So my first thought when I read the prompt was, well, what's truly important? I know I don't need more postcards from the shop, and my usual purchase in museum shops of earrings and scarves (easy to transport home) also represents things I don't need. I don't need stuff. But is the truly important my students? The admin work which helps the university tick? My friends and family? My research? My spiritual life? I think in all these worlds I need to let go of rules, and just try to be the kind of person I'd like to encounter in them myself. Which doesn't help with triage much.
ReplyDeleteI fuzzed out last week, but maybe I just needed a week off. My brother & his kids came for 2 days, so that was nice. But bringing my mother over made it clear that my mother is more frail, and weaker than she was a few months ago. It was good to have 2 days off.
Goals from two weeks ago:
Teaching:
1. Get last week module up YES
2. Grade next batch of projects and create groups YES
3. Get book orders in NO
Service:
1. Get in touch with the press re. journal YES
2. Deal with any other stuff that comes up re Big Proposal that is terrible YES, and now it's all DONE
3. Deal with Church stuff YES
Research:
Four hours on famous author 2?
Fun:
Keep reading new book YES
Keep working out YES
At least one fun zoom YES
Well, I've done in two weeks what I wanted to do in 1, but that's fine. The only thing not done is book orders, and that's because I looked at my enrollments, and one of my classes will almost certainly be cancelled, and I'm not sure which. (One was an overload, so this is very good news.) I am *so* glad to be done with the terrible proposal, and the memo is written and sent. I'm trying to slowly clear out email, but the quantity is just overwhelming. And it keeps arriving.
My class tomorrow morning is the last one I really have to prep for -- the last week we're talking about the posters that students have developed, but that's pulling threads together. So that's getting easier.
Goals for the week ahead:
Teaching:
Grade the next part of the final projects
Touch base with the absent students
Get book orders in when I know which class I'm teaching
Admin:
One more memo to draft
Clear out emails
Be ready for whatever comes up
Research:
6 hours (3 x 2 hours) on Famous Author
Life:
Keep up with exercise
Get adequate sleep
Keep reading
Do things with friends, locally or distant
Help my mother with stuff
I'm hoping that as things slow down, I can pick up the pace on Famous Author. I would love to finish this chapter by the end of the year, or at least before the next semester starts.
Yay for getting the terrible proposal done and gone! So nice when those sorts of things go away... Good luck with all the email clearing - that does take forever but is satisfying to tick off a long list!
DeleteI'm glad you got to see your family.
DeleteOh my. I worked out goals on paper on Sunday, so why has it been so hard to get back here and comment? Monday morning I did some research, and the rest of the day went to teaching. Tuesday was online-course-cleanup under delete-deadline pressure, plus Zoom with translation team to celebrate the appearance of our book. Today has been commenting on late papers (so students can revise before the final due date).
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
*Health: daily cardio and stretching, weights x 3, try to eat carefully and sleep enough. MOSTLY. Some skimping on stretching, weights 2x.
*Teaching: Grade 1 set discussion board posts; comment on drafts from both classes. YES! There was a glorious chunk of time when I was ALL caught up again!
*Research: work on revisions; some time on both dead and live languages; some other reading. A little, yes, some---since we're saying "tiny" counts, YES.
*Service: set up drafts for some recommendation letters; admissions; another small thing. NO, YES, YES.
*House/life: do some responsible-adult things. NO.
*Track time, at least roughly. VERY roughly, but I do have an idea of what happened each day, so that's good.
New goals:
*Health: daily cardio and stretching, weights x 3, try to eat carefully and sleep enough.
*Teaching: Grade stray stuff.
*Research: work on revisions; some time on both dead and live languages; some other reading.
*Service: set up drafts for some recommendation letters; admissions; prep for Friday meeting.
*House/life: pay bills, order Xmas presents.
*Track time.
I'm still distracted by the feeling that "real life" is going on somewhere just out of sight, rather than being able to believe that we're ALL working from home. I don't know why I can't get my mind around this. I hope that maybe this weird feeling will make it easier for me to go back to "normal" next year, assuming that we do.
DeleteSince it's already Wednesday and after a 2-day run of headache I'm in emergency catch up mode, I have no comment on goals but wanted to check in and say hello. It's the last week of class and grading crunch is underway, but there are only 29 days left in 2020. Looking forward with hope.
ReplyDeleteHello! It's good to see you! Sorry about the awful headache. Good luck with grading!
DeleteI think some malevolent force spiked my tea. I seem to have passed out behind one of the bookshelves in the museum shop, and was summarily tossed out on the street.
ReplyDeleteI apologise for dropping out of sight. I began to feel worse and worse, ending up in a endoscopy center last Monday. Biopsies were taken, but the doctor does not think they will find anything life-threatening.
What can I leave behind? My need to say yes to every request, hoping those asking will think better of me. Secondly, I need to leave my classwork behind, as it has ceased to offer me any benefit. The annotated bibliography assignment dragged on; with my usual ADD, I long to get on with something more germane to my interests.
What should I concentrate on? The things I can do that my colleagues cannot (i.e., working with our foreign language materials, and the relevant documentation for the same), leaving the rest to others. Secondly, the scholarship that I'm good at, and that, more importantly, interests me.
Last month's goals:
One article and annotations 1x5. Yes, a total of 16 articles, and 11,637 words of annotations.
Paperwork for planning next semester. Yes, and it changed my plans completely for next semester.
Pick up new glasses and contacts. Yes, what a lovely shock to be able to see again!
Write 300 words on Illustrated 1x4. For two weeks, yes, for a total of 2385 words.
Walk 2x7; meditate 1x7; something positive 1x7. More like x4; yes; and most days.
Next week's goals:
Translation study articles 1x4.
Write 300 words x 4.
Walk 2x4; meditate 1x4; something positive 1x4.
I'm glad to be back in this company. Float like mist, everyone.
SO GLAD to see you back! I feel like a good guide would have kept better track of the people in her group and noticed when you passed out in the gift shop! But seriously, very sorry you haven't been well and I hope that the tests will both show nothing life-threatening and indicate something that they CAN treat effectively!
DeleteIt's a pity that the classwork isn't working for you. But you know Roger Sherman Loomis never got a PhD, and if he didn't need one . . .
Thank you, Dame Eleanor, for your positive hope and for reminding me about Loomis. He certainly works as a role model!
DeleteI'm so sorry about the medical crisis. "Not life-threatening" is not the most reassuring thing I can imagine hearing, but better than some things.
DeleteI hope recovery is going well.
Thank you, Susan. I'm focused on not having heard those far less welcome words. I should get the results soon, which will help, as well.
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ReplyDelete