Today I went to an LTC lunch where a couple professors presented on their use of clickers (or Personal Response Systems) in their classes. Not only was the presentation interesting (I think I’ll try these clicker things in my classroom), but we all got to click away in response to questions they posed, and we got Oreos (to help us try to answer the question of when Oreos were first invented). Fun presentation + clicking + Oreos = happy Iris.
Comments closedI don’t know of anyone who’s actually a fan of evening reference shifts. They’re long, they’re tiring, and they’re… well… in the evening. But once I’m here I always kind of marvel at what a different space this is in the evening. This is a side of the library that relatively few adults ever see, a side that I love.
During the day we see students working on the computers, napping on the couches, and printing (there’s always the printing).
In the evening, study groups gather around every single table in the reference area, our SMART boards host group projects and presentation preparations, students hang out, and the noise level bumps up a notch. The atmosphere is more… unconstrained. The two things that don’t change are the napping on the couches and the printing. Those things never change. Clearly the person who first talked Death and Taxes hadn’t recently hung out in an academic library. In reality, the four constants of life are Death, Taxes, Napping On Couches, and Printing.
Comments closedJust looking at my calendar makes my insides crumble. We’re in the middle of week 3 of our 10-week term, and I don’t think I’ll survive until week 10. So far, in 2 and a half weeks, I’ve had student appointments, classes, meetings, and presentations fill up all but 25 of my working hours. That means an average 1.9 hours each day to do all the preparations for those appointments, classes, meetings, and presentations, plus answering an unending stream of email. My next two and a half weeks are already similarly full, as well. No wonder I’ve had to do so much class prep and email answering in the evenings and on weekends! When you tally it up, it all makes sense. No wonder I’m feeling overwhelmed!
My worry is that with so much stuff scheduled like this, my students won’t be able to find a times when I can meet with them. It would be so discouraging for a student to realize that he or she was completely stumped, zoom over to my calendar, and see no more red “I’m Available” slots left between now and when the assignment is due. So discouraging.
And really, that’s the main thing that worries me. I enjoy my work enough that I don’t mind the being busy part. It sure beats being bored! I actually look forward to my work days (almost as much as I look forward to weekends, and that’s saying a lot!). I just wish I could spread the crunch that is Fall Term out into the surrounding terms just a little.
2 CommentsWalking through the student union just now, I was reminded again that the first week of classes in Fall term is probably the worst week of the entire school year. Sitting at one of the tables was a young girl that I think I recognize from New Student Week. She was making herself as small as she could, and trying so very hard not to cry. So very hard. Poor thing.
Being away from home and then inundated with work and promises of work with no idea how that work can possibly get completed in 10 weeks is just about the most helpless feeling in the world. All I wanted to do was go over and hug her. But then I remembered that when I’m in that state if anybody is nice to me that’s it, that’s when the crying starts. And once it starts, there’s no way to turn it off. So I didn’t hug her.
I hope I made the right choice.
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