If my math is right, next week (week 16) is the last week of this session, though I think we're always confused about whether we actually set goals in week 16, or just report! Anyway, this morning I got on my bike and saw my sister-in-law was doing the same ride; she was way ahead of me, but by the end I saw I might catch up to her and really pushed. It occurred to me that there are two ways of ending the session, the semester, or even a bike ride: you can do what I did this morning, racing to the finish, getting as much done as possible; or you can slowly glide to the end gradually letting go of pressure. I've been both in life. Which are you this year?
Also, feel free to opine on whether we should do final check-ins next week, or set goals next week (December 10) with a final check-in after December 17.
Goals from last week or the week before:
Daisy
1) Catch up with literally everything
2) Continue with revisions for paper related to poster. Still FOREVER
3) Fun dinner out with kid
Dame Eleanor
Health: yoga x6, weights x3, medium walks, bed by 10:30 at least 5x.
Research: topic sentence outline to RL writing group; continue plugging quotes/citations into outline; Greek and T reading at least 3x each.
Teaching: Grade the stuff that comes in this week.
Life Stuff: renew car registration, finish joint account admin, finish pockets and replace buttons on a cardigan.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
More medical appointments.
Run P&T meeting, and write all the resulting reports..
Spend one hour on at least three days planning the AYU article.
heu mihi
1) Touch research daily and start to make some kind of clear progress on paper due in February.
2) Journal catch-up--mostly prodding late reviewers.
3) Personnel committee work: 1 promotion letter, review materials for a mini-tenure, update annual review guidelines.
4) Keep going with teaching; maybe even start grading this weekend? (Classes end on the 8th!)
humming42 (carried over)
1 submit three book reviews
2 submit article review
3 work on mentoring program application
4 catch up on grading
5 as noted, draft some lines every day
JaneB (carried over)
Once my grading arrives, do a little grading every day. Be KIND - to students, to myself. Drink more water, move some more, take time to breath. try to work out what is going on with the grant we actually got, but can't start due to paperwork issues.
Karen
Research: present small SOTL paper and celebrate no further work travel this year.
Teaching: get up to week 4 of next unit online prepped
Self and Home: have all seedlings in pots, garden or tubestock; get to bed at a reasonable hour.
Susan (carried over)
1. Enjoy family time
2. Finish Book for blurb
3. Grade next batch of papers
4. Eat well
5. Sleep
My list of tasks to be done before the Christmas shutdown and leave says push through, pedal to the metal, for the next two weeks. My motivation levels, though, are set for a gradually slowing down. Slight problem there. I'm happy to make next week a final session reflection/evaluation of overall goals, as I'll be on leave the following week and attempting to stay away from the computer.
ReplyDeleteThis week:
Research: present small SOTL paper and celebrate no further work travel this year - yes, presented paper, and celebrated with slightly pre-emptive drinks with colleagues fromt he other campus.
Teaching: get up to week 4 of next unit online prepped - no, but have made some progress
Self and Home: have all seedlings in pots, garden or tubestock; get to bed at a reasonable hour - all apart from 10 seedlings done, and I should knock that over one afternoon this week. Sleeping okay.
This week
Research: have some writing (let's say an introduction) prepared to share with writing group; have all postgrads up to date on meetings and feedback
Teaching: revised rubrics and up to week 8 on content for next sem online
Self and home: make Christmas shopping list and get started on it, sort out garden/pet sitter, yoga x3, beat last week's weekly steps average.
When we stop: this is what I said back in August: "we will set goals every week(end) for the following week through 11-12 December (so, on that date, set goals for the week that ends 18-19 December), and then on that last weekend there will be a goal-reporting, celebrate-your-achievements post." https://topleftquad.blogspot.com/2021/08/2021-session-3-lets-just-start.html
ReplyDeleteThat means that next week we set goals, one more time, and the following week is the true end-of-session where we report but do not set goals.
THanks for doing the research! I think that makes sense, at least for me.
DeleteLet's stick with what we planned, then! Thanks for checking, Dame Eleanor.
DeleteDamn, somehow I just deleted a whole comment. Where was I? Last week I was dull and grumpy, didn't set up calendar pages at all, did a lot of self-medicating with chocolate and fluffy reading, so the new goals are going to look a lot like the old goals. I guess I'm slowly gliding to the end. Or maybe stopping pedaling too soon, only to have to pick up and work hard to cross the line.
ReplyDeleteHOW I DID:
Health: yoga x6, weights x3, medium walks, bed by 10:30 at least 5x. YES, x2, YES, I don't know but at least a few times before 10.
Research: topic sentence outline to RL writing group; continue plugging quotes/citations into outline; Greek and T reading at least 3x each. YES, YES, NO.
Teaching: Grade the stuff that comes in this week. NO.
Life Stuff: renew car registration, finish joint account admin, finish pockets and replace buttons on a cardigan. NO, YES, NO, NO.
New goals:
Health: yoga x6, weights x3, medium walks, bed by 10:30 at least 5x.
Research: continue plugging quotes/citations into outline; Greek and T reading at least 3x each.
Teaching: Grade All The Things.
Life Stuff: renew car registration, finish pockets and replace buttons on a cardigan, order Xmas presents.
I feel like I'm shuffling back and forth between sprinting and winding down.... Teaching has slowed down (one more lecture, which will really be a sort of paper-planning session, and then The Grading), but there are SO many meetings etc. in the next week and a half! Plus I'm trying to rekindle my writing in preparation for a winter break push.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1) Touch research daily and start to make some kind of clear progress on paper due in February.
Yes, but sometimes I was *very* minimal in my "touching." Like, I read for five minutes and wrote something down. Still--progress was made! There are notes!
2) Journal catch-up--mostly prodding late reviewers.
Late reviewers have been prodded and not a one has responded. Again. HARUMPH.
3) Personnel committee work: 1 promotion letter, review materials for a mini-tenure, update annual review guidelines.
Yes, Yes, No (not urgent)
4) Keep going with teaching; maybe even start grading this weekend? (Classes end on the 8th!)
Um...yes? Hard to see how I wouldn't keep going. I did grade 3/23 papers, so that's something.
This week:
1) Touch research daily
2) Finish grading this paper to clear the decks for a VERY RAPID grading of the final paper (due Friday)
3) Survive a prospectus defense, a dissertation defense, a promotion review, and a mini-tenure. Prepare for next week's prospectus defense
4) Exercise at least three times
5) Finish Christmas shopping
I’m definitely in the “hurtling madly towards the end with the engine smoking and tires screeching around the corners” category… I’m glad we get another shot at goals, I’m not quite ready to give up on this session!
ReplyDeleteI had a decent week, got my fibreglass cast sawed off for new x-rays and was told I could get a soft splint cast if I wore it religiously and didn’t do anything stupid… So I promised and have been very good. The soft cast is so much easier, can take it off for showers and it is adjustable so for cooking or more difficult activities I can tighten it and loosen it for sleeping. Huge improvement! I got a huge amount of stuff done this week, happy to be functional again!
Last week’s goals
1) Catch up with literally everything PRETTY GOOD
2) Continue with revisions for paper related to poster. Still FOREVER. ONGOING
3) Fun dinner out with kid SUSHI!
This week’s goals
1) Continue with revisions for paper, just finish it!!
2) Association meetings and individual councilor catch-up meetings
3) Go through Albatross paper material and send things to coauthor for help
4) Try some gentle exercise that does not hurt broken bits
5) Catch up with new project coworkers
6) Do something fun with friends
I'm glad you are now in a soft cast! They are so much easier.
DeleteI missed what happened to your arm! Clearly I neglected the comments last week. I'm glad at least that you're more comfortable!
DeleteFor a person who has “show up” as a theme for the year, it’s clear I am still working on that one. I’ve been reading posts every week and cheering you all on, despite my lack of contributing. But I don’t want the session to end without actually showing up. It’s the usual end of semester rush. There is still a great pile (what do you call a digital pile?) of grading to do. I am determined to dole it out daily but have not managed to do so since classes ended Friday. With hope, I can see that as a weekend off and now get back to work.
ReplyDeleteMany weeks ago:
1 submit three book reviews: done
2 submit article review: still working on writing this tactfully
3 work on mentoring program application: done
4 catch up on grading, since there are assignments due this week: getting wrapped up
5 as noted, draft some lines every day: some, yes
This week:
1 submit two article reviews
2 set a schedule for grading to wind down rather than race to the finish
3 clear a shelf for new books as part of office cleaning
4 do four things on the 22 before 22 list
5 schedule research priorities and create deadlines for winter break projects
Wishing you a peaceful week ahead!
Well, I managed to show up halfway through the week instead of at the bitter end, like last week, so there’s some improvement there. I got through the P&T meeting fine, but there is still a lot of work for this case, as well as preparing for the spring case. “Get involved in an important committee,” I said to myself. Well, here I am, with no one but myself to blame. So, clearly, I am hurtling toward the end of the semester, more than winding down. While I don’t have papers to grade, I have several students who are coming to see me for various reasons in the next week, so I’m not yet able to clear my mind.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I will be hurtling until I get in the car to leave for the Christmas visit with the kids and grandkids. I should be able to relax for a few weeks at that point.
Last week’s goals:
More medical appointments. Yes. I verified that my back pain is indeed a kidney stone, with the resultant relief that it is not something worse, while cursing the ease with which I produce the darn things.
Run P&T meeting, and write all the resulting reports. Yes, meeting occurred this morning, and the reports will continue till next week.
Spend one hour on at least three days planning the AYU article. Yes, although it still feels very disjointed. I’m not sure what the next step should be--reread sources? Ignoring it hasn’t worked; no elves have finished it in the night, either.
Next week’s goals:
Get better food in the house.
Write better transitions in AYU 1 hour times 4.
Figure out what tasks to do on the Christmas visit to afford me the opportunity to “touch research every day.”
Wrap presents.
Take puppy to vet.
Bonne courage to all those grading papers and other projects. Float like mist, everyone.
I am, to the best of my ability, gliding to the finish. There was a whole pile of grading for a while, and now that that's done, I just have the stragglers. This is the last teaching week, next week is exams, and there will be the final grading, but it all feels manageable. I'm tired, and I won't struggle.
ReplyDeleteHow I did over two weeks:
1. Enjoy family time YES
2. Finish Book for blurb DONE, blurb written
3. Grade next batch of papers YES
4. Eat well Yes
5. Sleep YES
It was exhausting, but went well, and I really took time off. That meant I was behind on grading, but I made the last paper optional, and all but (I think) 1 student took the option to not write it! Yay! Getting the blurb done was great, as it had been hanging over me. But I do hate reading on the screen!
Otherwise, I'm ready for term to end. I still have to do a fair bit for my mother, and deal emotionally with her decline. (Today she said she needed help listening to the radio, but she meant watching TV.) And like almost everyone I know, I'm tired. There's something about a semester that is normal but really not normal that is strangely exhausting.
Goals for the week ahead (now that half the week is gone):
1. Start work on next chapter - outline it, order ILL books
2. Do promotion review
3. Grade stragglers work
4. Work on Christmas service for church
5. Do fun stuff at the weekend
6. Get tree
7. Keep getting good sleep.