Start

Classes start this week and why do I constantly feel like I am behind on course prep? So. Many. Things. To. Do. :D The FSP bootcamp I joined is helping for sure in terms of time management but I find that I’m having to tweak some of the methods so that they can work for a teaching stream workflow where 80-90% of the work is focused on teaching and the rest on service (as opposed to research stream where the split is 40/40/20 research/teaching/service).

I am also trying to finish up a couple of projects this term but LOL we’ll see if I can get to them. They’re all in my strategic plan for the term, but as we all know writing things down is completely different from actually doing them.

But going back to the present time, which is the last holiday before the official start of classes. I am scared, to be sure, but also hopeful. Scared of all the unknowns, which this pandemic and remote learning have magnified quite significantly. Hopeful because I reflect and realize that amidst all the email exchanges and Zoom classes and Piazza posts, we (me, my students, and everyone else in the university, and elsewhere..) are all human, going through a collective trauma in this moment. And I choose to believe that we will be doing our best to support one another.

Anyway, I also just moved two weeks ago, and have been preparing for courses while settling in the new place. It’s been a great change of scenery, and my workspace now has natural light. But of all the decorative choices one of my favourites is probably in the living room wall: three maps of places I consider home.