Tuesday, January 15, 2008

If I am going to get tenure, why am I so stressed out? (updated)

We started classes yesterday, which meant that I was at work at 7:30 (I'm teaching an 8:00AM class this semester). One big advantage of this is that I got an AWESOME parking space. Another is that my class is not full (they all scrambled to get into the other section taught by my colleague that is offered twice a week and later than 8!) I ended up staying in the office until 5:00, then had to go out again later for another meeting, so I was wiped out last night. It felt good to "sleep in" today, but I need to get a bunch of non-teaching work done today (my work-at-home day). OK, here's my to-do list:
  • make semester schedule for Big Grant, so that I can assign work to my RAs tomorrow done 10:15 a.m.
  • work on some data pre-processing that has become the bane of my existence- I don't know why I can't seem to get it finished. And I have to do it myself, because it's too complicated for my RAs to handle- we tried that. If I had PhD students that would be a different story, but we're a Master's only program.
  • work on grant proposal that I started before our trip to CA- it's due in a month, and not too terribly long, but I'm feeling panicked that it's just sitting there right now.
  • read grad student internship report for Friday's defense (may put this off until Thursday)
  • read grad student thesis chapter ASAP
  • walk on the treadmill for 45+ minutes (I actually spent about two hours cleaning D's MESSY closet, which involved carting many loads of toys down to the basement. It was more strenuous than my walks usually are!)
Wow. I actually feel better seeing it in a list, than I did when it was a blob of stress in my brain. The research stuff is stressing me out, because I feel pressure to not let anyone down. I want to the work to be good, but I am also pushing a lot of things to my RAs. They are good students, but don't have tons of experience doing this kind of work, so I need to keep them on the right track. I am also chairing a search committee. I started reading files yesterday and am optimistic that we have some good applicants. Our first meeting is next week.

I met both of my classes yesterday and think that they should be fine. I am testing out student response devices ("clickers") this semester, so it should be interesting. I made it a big part of their grade, so it should be interesting... My upper-level technical class is 85% male- and I don't know any of them, which is weird. I hope they aren't trouble-makers!

Alright- I better start tackling that to-do list. I'll update when I finish things (I know you'll be dying to know what I'm doing all day!)

2 comments:

Seeking Solace said...

I have 8 AM classes five days a week this semester. I keep telling myself, that it's a good thing, becuase I will be finished by 12:30 every day. But, I am so not a morning person!!!

Yay for the 45 min. on the treadmill!!!

Eddie said...

Our students absolutely love the clickers! I hope they serve you well.