Blog — Toddler on the Tenure Track

Weekly Update: 4/1 - 4/7

This week marked the official start to my third spring term. My first year on the tenure track I “eased” into the school year, meaning that during my first quarter I served as an advisor but was not in the classroom. My second quarter I added one class, and my third quarter I added another class so that I was teaching two courses and had a full advising load. This strategy worked well, particularly because when fall term started, Ellie was four months old. It gave me a little bit a of chance to catch my breath before jumping into classes.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillApril 7, 2019weekly update, course prep, working out, meditation, goals, reflection, aprilComment

Weekly Update: 3/25 - 3/31

Spring break was meh. My online class opened up on the Friday of spring break, which meant everything needed to be ready to go by then. I’ve taught the class before so this shouldn’t have been a big deal; however, I’ve also decided to ditch the textbook this term and do a decent amount of content revision. So, while I wasn’t starting from scratch, I did need to go through all of the readings, replace anything from the old book that was relevant with an article or other online resource, and then also had to get my videos ready for the first week. Sure, all this was self-imposed, I didn’t have to do it, but I think it focuses the course a bit more (which helps me out in the long run).

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillMarch 31, 2019weekly update, course prep, working out, meditation, goals, reflection, marchComment

Weekly Update: 3/18 - 3/24

We took an impromptu trip to the beach (very unlike me… the impromptu part, not the beach part). I was joking with a friend the other week that I needed a beach trip. While she couldn’t provide me with a trip to the beach, she did offer up a night in her guest room, free of charge. We took her up on the offer and had a family sleepover (last week), which was lots of fun. We tried to have all the kids sleep in one room (two 2 year olds and one 4 year old)… didn’t work so well! Doing a little local getaway made me want to go to the beach even more!

Weekly Update: 3/11 - 3/17

Sunshine and blue skies have returned! Not sure how long they’ll be around so we’ve all been trying to soak up as much as possible while it’s here. There have been many trips to the park and working outside. I worked from home 4 out of 5 days this week, mainly trying to get grading done for one of my classes before the final assignments start pouring in for the second class. Grades are due on Tuesday of spring break and while I’ve already accepted the fact that I’ll be spending spring break prepping for spring courses, I’d prefer to be done with winter grades before spring break actually starts. One class down, one to go!

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillMarch 17, 2019weekly update, course prep, working out, meditation, goals, reflection, marchComment

Weekly Update: 3/4 - 3/10

Started off the week not feeling so great. I had planned to be on campus on Monday but chose to stay home to try and get some rest, which meant cancelling office hours, rescheduling a research related meeting for later in the week, and not attending a workshop. While I didn’t actually take a sick day, I did try and get a nap in during the day… which didn’t work out so well. When I was trying to sleep Ellie was screaming, about what I’m not sure. All I know is that I got out of bed to see what was going on because it was kind of intense. I go into the living room and see her with her feet propped up on the couch, hands on the floor (in an elevated plank position) and screaming incoherently.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillMarch 10, 2019weekly update, course prep, working out, meditation, goals, reflection, marchComment

Weekly Update: 2/25 - 3/3

This was a week where pretty much everything went the way I hoped… no major curve balls thrown my way, which felt really nice. After feeling like I couldn’t “catch up” from our January trip, it was nice to finally get to a place where the pace of work feels more manageable. So… the 5 day/4 night conference trip that we all took in January had about a month long impact on work/home life. Is that worth it? I’m not so sure. Granted, it would have looked a lot different had I not been teaching or teaching fewer classes or if both classes were 100% ready to go before the term started. Certainly helpful to think about for future conference travel and the ripple effect it has on stress levels returning home.

Weekly Update: 2/18 - 2/24

Had my last 9-5 teaching day this past Friday (until next term) and it feels nice to know that I get a few weeks off from being on for 8 hours straight. Slowly but surely I’m infusing more research time back into my schedule as prep for my online course winds down. I’m curious to see how prep for next term’s online class goes since I’ve taught it once before. Fingers crossed that it’s not as intensive as this term. I’m continuing to do a decent job at putting boundaries around work time, not letting it slip into personal/family time. On a lot of days this means that all the things I wanted to get done don’t actually get finished… which is okay because they’ll be there tomorrow and the next day and the next day.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillFebruary 24, 2019weekly update, course prep, working out, meditation, goals, reflection, february, paper writing, writingComment

Weekly Update: 2/11 - 2/17

Progress this week. I’m feeling more and more like a whole person again. A person who is more than just a professor. In addition to grading and course prep and office hours and writing papers and meetings (and all the other things that go along with academic life), I did puzzles with Ellie, I had pizza with friends, I worked out, I vegged in front of the TV with Mike, I wrote for the blog, I read a book for fun… and so many other things that often get pushed to the side when work gets hectic, but are all very necessary for my version of a sustainable life.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillFebruary 17, 2019weekly update, course prep, working out, meditation, goals, reflection, service, february, paper writing, writingComment

Weekly Update: 2/4 - 2/10

Blue skies outside right now and I can’t help but think of Pete the Cat… “The birds are singing. The sky is bright. The sun is shining. I’m feeling alright.” Not sure about birds chirping but I am feeling alright about this past week. Yes, there were long days but once I was done with work, I was done. I didn’t come back to it after Ellie went to bed or on the weekend or in the early hours of the morning.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillFebruary 10, 2019weekly update, course prep, working out, meditation, goals, reflection, service, februaryComment

Weekly Update: 1/28 - 2/3

This week was better than last, but still not ideal. I went to bed at ~1:30am on Thursday night in an effort to finish course prep so that I could have all of Friday (for the most part) to work on my 3rd year review that is due on Monday. While I got course prep done and was able to have the day for third year review work (which included working until ~9:30pm), staying up late, skipping dinner with the fam, and sitting hunched over a computer all day is really no way to live. As I look at the coming week and my ever growing to-do list I’m struck by the fact that there is really no possible way to get everything done (which I have to remind myself time and time again) and that academic life is just a perpetual cycle of triage.