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Academic Discussions => General Academic Discussion => Topic started by: nonsensical on September 07, 2020, 05:26:21 AM

Title: Goals for 2020-2021
Post by: nonsensical on September 07, 2020, 05:26:21 AM
I usually set some personal goals in December/January for the new year, but my academic year starts tomorrow and I haven't figured out if I want to set academic goals. I've sometimes thought about setting the goal of writing every work day, but I haven't actually done it because some days it's more important to do other things. Maybe this will be the year that changes, though. Do you have any goals for this academic year?
Title: Re: Goals for 2020-2021
Post by: Caracal on September 07, 2020, 05:29:39 AM
Quote from: nonsensical on September 07, 2020, 05:26:21 AM
I usually set some personal goals in December/January for the new year, but my academic year starts tomorrow and I haven't figured out if I want to set academic goals. I've sometimes thought about setting the goal of writing every work day, but I haven't actually done it because some days it's more important to do other things. Maybe this will be the year that changes, though. Do you have any goals for this academic year?

Make it through with with some semblance of sanity and dignity.
Title: Re: Goals for 2020-2021
Post by: nonsensical on September 07, 2020, 06:30:38 AM
Yes, I share that goal!
Title: Re: Goals for 2020-2021
Post by: secundem_artem on September 07, 2020, 06:34:04 AM
I have to set goals with my dept head during each annual review.  I wonder if I can amend them all to read, "Get out of this shit show alive."
Title: Re: Goals for 2020-2021
Post by: mamselle on September 07, 2020, 08:47:01 AM
Get at least two articles done and sent out.

Finish at least two book chapters, submit them, and follow up.

Keep doing the Ppts for my music theory and music appreciation classes as warranted; possibly add an occasional music history component to both.

Keep all my music students ticking over with good progress, maintaining and/or improving what we've already done this year (which still amazes me).

Finish up all the 'day job detritus' so when the fellow I work for retires in (?December ?February, still being decided), I'm clear to leave as well.

Figure out whether I need to look into some remote adjuncting to make up that job's income or just increase my private student load.

Do a 5-year and 10-year plan for my writing and start culling books and papers based on what I'll need and what I won't to finish those projects.

Think about moving, both for economic reasons and because I bet the landlord's son is going to want to move in here sometime in the next few years.

Do more practicing and playing, in whatever safe, productive formats present themselves.

Maybe do a bit more blogging and tweeting to increase my profile in the popular side of my work (tours, performances, etc.)

Decide whether taking a year off from conference papers would be good so I can finish some of the articles noted above.

Walk more. Dance more. Sing more. Play more. Pray more. Have more triangular friend-Zoom-dinner get-togethers.

Try to make the kinds of contributions to the fields I work in that square with the research and writing prep I've already put into them.

Show a return to the friends-to-my-work who have supported me in so many different ways, by getting some things out the door and into the sunlight.

M.
Title: Re: Goals for 2020-2021
Post by: AmLitHist on September 07, 2020, 09:50:07 AM
Quote from: secundem_artem on September 07, 2020, 06:34:04 AM
I have to set goals with my dept head during each annual review.  I wonder if I can amend them all to read, "Get out of this shit show alive."

HoF'd!

(EXACTLY where I find myself these days.  Oh, and keeping paycheck in the interim would be nice, too.)
Title: Re: Goals for 2020-2021
Post by: Juvenal on September 07, 2020, 03:05:45 PM
Trying to decide (I'm ancient; retired for about five years; adjuncting one semester/year since).  If: a) the course I usually adjuncted for goes back to F2F and b) Blackboard is no longer the go-to for everything (and "Collaborate") application--it there is any merit in trying to put myself, maskless, in front of a classroom again?  I've been asked to by my (now former) chair, but maybe being able to have breakfast at noon is more seductive than an eight o'clock lecture.  It's so easy to slump.  At seventy-six.  Yes, yes, I know--pay for the burial plot and revise the will before it's too late (worthless relatives--basta!).

Oh, yes, I know, I'm a kind of fossil, but I do know I was at least as effective in the classroom (then) than some other FT faculty now.  I'm officially "listening in" (added to the class web site) on someone who is doing the same course I did, now on-line, and--the lecturer is terrible.  I um will say um no more about um this and hope that um you will understand my point. If you don't, well, um...
Title: Re: Goals for 2020-2021
Post by: Sun_Worshiper on September 07, 2020, 04:13:39 PM
Prepare for tenure - either to go up this Spring or next (we have choice due to covid).  This means narrowing down potential letter writers, preparing materials, and probably going on the job market just in case.

Other than that, I just want to keep doing my job well:
Title: Re: Goals for 2020-2021
Post by: nonsensical on September 08, 2020, 09:48:51 AM
Quote from: Sun_Worshiper on September 07, 2020, 04:13:39 PM
Prepare for tenure - either to go up this Spring or next (we have choice due to covid).  This means narrowing down potential letter writers, preparing materials, and probably going on the job market just in case.

Good luck! I'm excited to celebrate with you on the fora soon-ish.
Title: Re: Goals for 2020-2021
Post by: Vkw10 on September 08, 2020, 10:49:07 AM
Draft new SACSSOC outcomes that are more manageable than the old ones since we're starting a new accreditation cycle. Fight all attempts to make them longer or more complex than required, especially when someone says, "but we've always....."

Ask my students for feedback on online class, then implement some of their suggestions.

Actively participate in online conference in November, instead of being distracted by other items and promising myself that I'll watch the recordings.

Check in on our new faculty member regularly and help her have a successful first year despite the chaos surrounding us.

Finish analyzing data and submit paper that should have been submitted in May before Feb.

Survive.

Title: Re: Goals for 2020-2021
Post by: Sun_Worshiper on September 08, 2020, 08:26:48 PM
Quote from: nonsensical on September 08, 2020, 09:48:51 AM
Quote from: Sun_Worshiper on September 07, 2020, 04:13:39 PM
Prepare for tenure - either to go up this Spring or next (we have choice due to covid).  This means narrowing down potential letter writers, preparing materials, and probably going on the job market just in case.

Good luck! I'm excited to celebrate with you on the fora soon-ish.

Thanks!  I'm certainly looking forward to it.