First Day Hang Ups, but Great Students

A busy first day, as usual. I didn't have the last minute students begging to be added that I've had in the past. But one class was in a classroom that is much too small (as in not enough chairs--count people) and I have 10 minutes for lunch (lesson learned--I think they asked me if my schedule was acceptable). But the students seem great. One class meets for the first time tomorrow, but I've already met all of those students. Ask me again once the semester gets rolling, but I think I've got great students this semester.

Two other really cool pieces of news. One, I got a revise and resubmit late on Friday. I looked through the review, and most of it will be really easy to fix. Things like "think about this a little more" or "flesh this out in the discussion." And I need to shorten the paper to get under the page limit. But all very fixable. The second cool news was I got a journal today that included an article of mine. The article had been accepted last fall, but it was cool to see it in print today. Woo Hoo!!!

Final Preparation

Well, I'm in the final throes of preparation today. I've printed my copy of my syllabi, and posted the online versions for students. I've set up course management stuff. I'm finalizing and printing lesson plans. Put me on the starting line and turn me loose!

As I mentioned earlier, my university is pilot testing a new course management system, and I'm participating in that. It's called Sakai, and we're trying it out as an alternative to Blackboard. Kind of fun to be on the cutting edge, even though I still hate technology as a general rule.

Speaking of which, I've had to learn even more HTML as I work on a website for a friend. Yuck!

I feel pretty good about the research that I got done this summer. I would always love to get more done, but I feel pretty good.

I've got several projects in mind for the coming year, but I'm hoping to involve graduate students and other faculty in those so it's not just me doing all the work. And listening to other faculty's external grants at our retreat earlier this week made me really want to get one in the next year. Nose to the grind stone.

Today is our orientation for new graduate students. I led part of their discussion earlier this morning, and I've got a pretty big role in this afternoon. Kind of fun.

Lots to do

Busy week, for sure. In addition to research and getting teaching ready and working grad student orientation, I'm working on a friend's web page. I hate html, but I'm trying to tweak a template for the page. Worked till my eyes burned yesterday on it. But it's a nice skill to improve.

More Retreat

So whereas last week was my department's retreat to plan for the coming year, today was my college's retreat to do likewise. Challenges and calls for continued striving from administrators. Tour of a new campus addition. Overall a lot of fun.

Lots to do this week (hence the incomplete sentences). I'm still trying to move forward on some research stuff, but I've got to finalize syllabi, update the online course mgmt system that I'm using, and get some lesson plans together. Plus go to some student orientation things. I'm tired just thinking about it.

Finishing Up, Starting Anew

I'm trying this week and next week to finish up some projects from the summer, and I'm making decent progress. And of course, I'm also working on getting lesson plans together. I've got several weeks of 2 of my 3 classes planned out, and I'm working on the 3rd. One class is a new prep, one is a class I've taught before but with a substantially different class size (so a little work there), and one is a class I've taught before, but I thought it would be cool to completely change the way I teach it (so basically a 50% new prep). Fun, fun, fun.

Retreat was nice

So throughout the first two days of our department retreat, we shared the scholarly activity we've been working on, we shared teaching problems/tips, and we discussed recurring problems in our curriculum/class offerings in an effort to brainstorm solutions. It was a very effective time of meeting together. It's hard to stay in meetings for two straight days, but I felt like it was a great time to get to know my colleagues better and to address common problems.

Not only that, our tech person introduced some new teaching software options, and I raised my hand as interested in implementing the change this year. Me? Embracing technology? What? I feel like I don't even know the person in the mirror anymore.

Retreat Today

Today, we began our annual retreat in my department. But as someone pointed out, the word "assessment" is not in the agenda anywhere, which is in stark contrast to previous years when it has been the only topic. It's nice to see the interim chair listening to suggestions. The morning session has been great so far, and I'm really looking forward to the rest (unusual for me).

"Last Day" of summer

Yes, we don't start classes for a couple of weeks, but my department has a "retreat" two weeks before classes every fall, so I kind of think of that as the beginning of the fall semester. So today is officially the last day of summer break. Kind of sad. Yes, I'm really excited about students being back with all of that energy, and I'm pumped to get back in the swing of things. But I really like the way I can control my schedule more over the summer. And I really like that I don't have to do many meetings over the summer. And I really like the fact that I don't have to do much advising over the summer. So here's to you, Summer of 2009. I'll miss you!

Jury Duty all week

I was selected as a juror, so I'm in jury duty all week. I had planned this to be a lighter week, and I'm still able to get a little done during breaks and lunches, so I won't fall too far behind. And it's kind of interesting to compare the real life process with Law and Order.

Jury Duty Today

I'm on jury duty today. Definitely, I have that feeling like many people that there are other things I'd rather do with my time. However, I think that jury trial is such an important right that part of me feels proud to be here to do this.

Meetings start one week from today. Summer is almost done, and I've got quite a bit of stuff to do in the next few days. But overall, a good summer.

I got a pseudo-rejection letter over the weekend. The editor of a journal where I had submitted something a couple of weeks ago emailed me to tell me that this was not the best outlet for that paper. The editor said "don't think of this as a rejection of your work." That's why I say "pseudo" rejection letter.

How the Meeting Wednesday Went

I met with someone Wednesday about analyzing communication in his organization. As I posted on Wednesday, I wanted to mention to him the idea in the New Zealand project about giving recorders to employees. I mentioned surveys, interviews, and observations, and he really liked those ideas. I mentioned the recording, and he just kind of smiled, so I don't know. But he's definitely gung ho about the study. After three years of practically begging people to let me study them, it's nice to have someone want me.

New Project Idea

I blogged last week about my inspiration for a new project. A few years ago, I read an article by Janet Holmes in which she described the New Zealand Language in the Workplace Project. Basically, they gave recorders to people in workplaces and had them record conversations and meetings. Pretty cool, but what organizations are going to be willing to do that, right? Well, I'm meeting with someone today, and I'm going to at least mention the idea. Don't get me wrong. I'm not devaluing the insights that you can get with surveys--I still believe in the power of generalizeability. However, organizational discourse represents a great, complementary approach. And it's very trendy these days, so I think it would look good from that aspect. So we'll see. Fingers crossed.

Another Good Weekend

Saturday, I focused on yardwork. Yesterday, I sold some stuff on ebay. In between, there was a lot of time for relaxation. It was a second recharging weekend, which was great after a summer of go, go, go. This should be a pretty laid back week. I'm working on data that was supposed to be part of my summer project but will now be worked on by students during the year. And I've got some of those engaged interviews. Only 2 weeks left until pre-semester meetings start.