Just a teacher...(rant)

The semester began on Monday for us - I have three classes on a T/R schedule and one on a M/W schedule. My M/W is late afternoon and the T/R schedule is 8 - 1:30. Talk about polar opposites, at least in my teaching world. I am very excited about having Fridays "off" - from teaching anyways.

I have come across too many people who seem to think that I work only 15-20 hours a week since I'm a "teacher" - so not the case. I may spend 15-20 hours a week in the classroom and holding office hours, but I have a lot of other things that I have to do for my job: preparation for that teaching - the length of this depends on my course, some are more work than expected. Generally, this is somewhere between 5-12 hours per week. Last semester I swear I spent 5-10 hours/week alone on 1 prepartion. Then there is all that pesky grading - probably another 5 hours. In addition, then students expect you to answer emails, meet outside of your office hours, etc. Probably another 2-3 hours a week. So just for "teaching" I spend 27 - 40 hours a week just on teaching. Now if that was all I had to do, I would think that was a pretty sweet deal too. But now let me list some of the other things that we have to do:

Meetings/Serve on committees: approximately 4-6 hours per week
Mentor/Advise students: 2-3 hours per week
Paperwork/documentation: 1-2 hours per week
Course discussions about curriculum/changes/assessment/etc: 2-3 hours per week
Research: Supposed to be 10%-20% of our time - so about 4-8 hours if a 40 hour week.

Grand total of hours: 40 - 62

Maybe that gives everyone a better idea of what a professor does (tenure/tenure-track anyways) and maybe help you understand why we always seem so busy and are hard to get ahold of!

Thanks for listening to the rant...

I'll be home...after Christmas

Today is my last day of work until the 6th!! Woo Hoo!!! They are actually turning most things off at NKU until the 5th, so I couldn't come in even if I wanted to.

I officially turned in my reappointment materials in my lovely pink binder - it is so me!! Working on getting some planning done for my new class in the Spring. It isn't really new as it is an intro level class but for business majors.

I am going to look at my first house today - the one that is sort of out of our price range...but as my father once said, "it doesn't look to hurt" :) This house is a family that is getting close to being foreclosed on...so we might be able to get it cheaper....maybe. It is absolutely gorgeous online, so we'll see how it looks in person. After I get back from Nebraska, we'll probably really start looking. I know some things I want and don't want - I want a nice kitchen with either an island or pantry with a microwave above the range. I would like to have a 4-bedroom since they seem to be in abundance here. I would like a walk-in closet, non basement laundry. I don't want a split-level or a garage that is not at kitchen level. I don't want to have to get on I-75 if I don't have to. If I absolutely fall in love with a house then I'll do it.

Going to be heading out to Nebraska on Friday morning. Hopefully the weather will be in our favor. Looking forward to being there for awhile, but will miss getting to have a "real" vacation. I guess I might have to take a couple days at Spring Break for myself....

Going to eat at O'Charleys today....going to have a parmesan chicken sandwich!! Yummy!!!

Finals - Part II

Finally done grading all of the finals (over 120 of them!!). Overall in my lower level class I ended up with 62.2% A's and B's! Not too bad - especially when most of my "F" were to people who didn't show up to the final! I really didn't think it would ever end. It was hard getting use the grading system here - there are no +/- to give, which really makes it hard - especially the "B" area. An 88 student knows so much more than an 81 student, yet they technically get the same grade.

Beginning to browse at some houses - I fould one I absolutely love that is a bit out of our price range. It also makes me wonder why it is priced as low as it is though - it is about $20,000 less than similar houses in that neighborhood.

Looking forward to having a little bit of a break. On Monday and Tuesday I have to work on my materials for reappointment - it is due on January 5th and I won't be back before then so I have to get it done by Tuesday. Since it is my first, there won't be a lot to it, but it is what I will be adding to each year to hopefully end up with tenure, so it is a rather big deal.

Heading back to Lincoln on Friday next week! Looking forward to being there, but not the drive.