finals week part 2

Still fairly well caught up on grading. Easily able to get it done by Friday, which is when grades are due. Technically, only grades for seniors are due Friday with the rest due on Monday. But I have mostly seniors, and it's just easier to take care of all the grades at once rather than try to sort out students.

I'm kind of dreading the begging and negotiating of the next few days as students try to improve their grades, but hopefully students that are graduating will have more perspective than that. Maybe it'll be better in the spring?

finals week

At first, I thought I was a little behind on grading this week, but a student took much longer on my final this morning that all of her classmates, so now I am caught up, maybe even a little ahead.

I have quite a bit of grading to do this week. I was hoping to get a little done over the weekend, but it didn't happen. However, I still feel pretty relaxed about the week.

I voted this morning for outstanding student in my division and outstanding organizational communication. There were a couple in my class that I thought were worthy, and it was a tough choice between the two.

I am reviewing candidates for visiting lecturer positions later today. I am biased, considering that I wrote one of the letters of recommendation, but other people on the committee know that, so it shouldn't be a problem. It will be an interesting process.

Classes are done!

It's great to be free. Two finals next week. I'm mostly caught up with grades, so it should be smooth sailing as far as that goes. I volunteered to judge writing samples again this semester, a way to make a little extra money, so that will keep me pretty busy between now and the time grades are due. I'm really looking forward to the summer although I wonder a little bit about this project I'm working on.

Good News

I got my letter today saying that I had successfully passed pre-tenure review! I was good to very good on teaching and service and very good to outstanding on research. It's nice to get that feedback. And I've already started working on the things that the committee recommended to improve teaching and service, so that's kind of nice.

I figured out the problem with the machines that I vented about on Monday. It wasn't really user error in the sense that I claim no responsibility, but it was sort of user error. It basically boils down to using technology that is so old no one really understands all of its "nuances" any more. So the data collection from Saturday and Sunday still has to be made up, but it won't be a problem any more.

I'm on a thesis committee with the student defending today. In my opinion, the thesis is not ready. No fatal flaws that will keep the student from finishing, but it needs serious rewriting. Probably multiple drafts to go.

Frustrating Data Collection...Stupid Machines

I'm having trouble collecting data for this summer's research project. Three of the five machines that are supposed to be collecting data aren't working. We also have two machines that are converting the data into a usable format and one of those isn't working and one just now started working after not working all last week (so we're behind on that point also). It's days like today that turn me toward being a technophobe. Yes, I know that it's almost certainly user error, but that doesn't change the fact that it's the machines fault. To make matters worse, the tech person for my division doesn't really know these machines that well, so he isn't particularly helpful on this project (although he is normally amazingly helpful). So the other professor and I are basically on our own. Aggghhh.

The end is in sight!

A Vision of the Next Two Weeks

I think it's starting to hit me how busy I'm about to get over the next two and a half weeks. I have a meeting Monday during my only free time of the day to hammer out details on the summer research project that I'm working on. Three faculty, three students. My preference was that we figure all of the details out among us faculty and then let the students know, but one of the other faculty members told the students to be at the meeting, so we'll see how that goes. Part of me thinks it may be better that way, so I'm hopeful it will go well. I just remembered a commitment Tuesday evening. Wednesday, I may have a little bit of time in the morning, but it will be spent getting ready for a thesis defense in the afternoon. The thesis covers a topic that I'm not familiar with at all, so I'm not sure why I'm even a committee member. The thesis itself should be stellar, but that's not really the point. Thursday, I've got teaching and then packing for a brief trip that I leave for on Friday. No need for details, but suffice it to say that I won't get any work done over the weekend. So far, busy but not too bad, right? I've got students turning in papers Monday and other students turning in two assignments over the weekend. None of that will take lots of time to grade (all short), but they will take some time. I give a final on Monday and Wednesday of the week after next, so grading to do there. Those will take a little bit of time to grade because I made one of them less about multiple choice questions and more about listing and short answer. All of that is still busy, but manageable. But then I also volunteered to rate writing portfolios for my university's writing center (which I've done almost every semester that I've been here). It's a great way to earn a little extra money, but it's pretty time consuming. And I don't think it hit me that I've only got two and a half weeks to do it. That task may put me over the top. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings

Plan for today:

8:15, last mentor breakfast. I'm not sure how good of a mentor I've been, but hopefully he'll do OK.
11:00, grad committee meeting
12:15, assessment meeting
2:00, summer research meeting
2:05, faint because of too many meetings.