Now that it’s officially winter break, it’s time to reflect on the past semester and consider what changes you want to make going into the new year. This task can really help improve your teaching practices, along with other elements of your academic life. In today’s post, I go over three teaching reflection activities that you can use to improve your teaching. Each approach is very different from the next, so you can do all three, or just your favorite of the bunch. As teachers, we often ask students to reflect on what they’ve learned in our classrooms. It’s time for us to reflect on our own classroom experiences, as well.
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At this point, you’re probably starting to get distracted more and more by the knowledge of how much you have to get done during this last month of the semester. Grading, final meetings, exams, papers, etc. are all going to be due pretty soon. So, how can you prevent yourself from feeling super overwhelmed? From failing to keep track of an important task and needing to scramble to get it done? In today’s post, I start with a short video with a few simple productivity activities to help keep you on track. Then, I offer a couple extra tips that will help you end the semester on a productivity high note!
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There are about four weeks left in the fall semester, which means times of epic stress and overwhelm are likely coming up in your near future. I’ve already written one post about how to carefully plan this time in ways that account for self-care, but I thought I’d write from a different perspective this semester. There’s a short video you can watch with my six self-care activities suggestions, or you can read the quick list in this post. In any case, let’s take the time to take care of ourselves as the semester ends.
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Now that I’ve finished my series on designing your course materials and activities for the first week of class, I’d like to take a moment to provide some advice for those of you wondering how time management for graduate students who teach is even possible with all you have to get done. Plus, how you can keep up healthy habits while so overloaded with work. I realize that not all new college instructors are grad students. But, teaching assistantships are quite common for PhD students and even some MA students, so I want to make sure to offer advice to this large body of new instructors. Earning a graduate degree while living the rest of your life can be a struggle if you don’t go in with the right mindset and a plan. And even after years as a grad student, I’ve still needed to improve my own time management skills and self-care habits year after year. In today’s post, I’ve provided some time management tips and healthy habit tips to help you start your academic year off on the right note. FYI: If you’re a grad student but aren’t teaching as part of your responsibilities, many of the tips in this post are more general to the grad school experience.
Continue readingHere’s a video all about the theme for the next five weeks of my blog: designing the first week of a college class! Not a video watcher? I recap the content in this post, too. Here’s the link to access the workbook, if you don’t already have access to our resource library.
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With the standard academic year complete, grad students and faculty alike tend to turn their attention to their research. Sure, research can’t be completely ignored during the academic year, but for those of us who aren’t teaching in the summer, research takes over our minds and schedules. Summer shouldn’t just be all about research, though. Relaxation and fun needs to play a role in our plans, as well. Here are a few ways to create a summer research routine that works for you.
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