Fall Break is almost here at my institution. For most of us this means a three day weekend. Because I teach on a Tues/Thurs schedule it means a four day weekend for me. My question is: do you rest on these occasions? Academics in particular, but also many of us I suspect, don't actually take … Continue reading Rest
academia
Celebrate Your Wins
This will be a short post today because my hubby and I are heading out of town for the weekend in 15 minutes. Before we go, I wanted to encourage you all to find some way to celebrate your wins. This is rather common advice in productivity and academic circles, but it strikes me that … Continue reading Celebrate Your Wins
Teaching Tip Tuesday: Get Into the Weeds
I can't tell you the number of times I've had students send me unsolicited emails thanking me for explaining what a scholarly article actually is. For years, they tell me, their instructors have demanded scholarly sources, but never explained to them what makes a source scholarly or not. I not only explain what a scholarly … Continue reading Teaching Tip Tuesday: Get Into the Weeds
Do You Plan an Ideal Week?
How's it going? My second week back was somewhat uneventful, but a few colleagues have had covid positive students pop up. The uni has said to proceed with class as scheduled while the department of health does "contact tracing." What could go wrong with that plan? I am celebrating some personal good news today...my chapter … Continue reading Do You Plan an Ideal Week?
Grief in Academia
cw: miscarriage, grief You may have noticed a slight gap between my last post and this one. I was not certain I should write this post. Contrary to what my robust digital footprint might suggest, I am not one to post a lot of intensely personal information online. But it felt weird to simply resume … Continue reading Grief in Academia
Am I an Early or Mid-Career Academic?
The other day I was scrolling through Twitter when I saw this tweet asking, "Am I early-career or mid-career? A Memoir." And, man, I felt that. I am arguably early-career, having only had full-time employment in higher ed for the past 2.5 years. On the other hand, I've been teaching college classes since 2009. My … Continue reading Am I an Early or Mid-Career Academic?
What You REALLY Need to Be Productive
(Nerd Alert!) I happen to love academic productivity advice, but a lot of it is CRAP-tastic for early career academics. At best it glosses over the real systemic issues facing EC academics; at worst it is insulting. I personally find it oddly comforting to listen to podcasts about paper planners and read posts about finding … Continue reading What You REALLY Need to Be Productive
Congrats! You Do a Sh*t Ton of Stuff: Monthly Review
One of my favorite habits I've adopted this past year is doing a monthly review at the end of every month. Most paper planners have a dedicated page for this, but I like the one developed by Jo VanEvery in her newsletter (you should subscribe!) which is customized somewhat for academics. The reason I like … Continue reading Congrats! You Do a Sh*t Ton of Stuff: Monthly Review
Making Your Career 90% Awesome
Recently I was listening to this podcast by Cathy Mazak about designing your academic career to be 90% awesome. I found myself nodding along as she described how she wasn't willing to just muddle through an academic job that wasn't, for the most part, satisfying. I didn't realize this has been my M. O. since … Continue reading Making Your Career 90% Awesome
10 Tips for Virtual, Synchronous Participation
I was actually going to write about a different topic this week, but in a recent meeting a colleague mentioned how fatigued she was because her virtual synchronous sessions were basically all black boxes with the same four students participating each time. This particular colleague is up for a pretty rad teaching award this year, … Continue reading 10 Tips for Virtual, Synchronous Participation
