A Week in the Life

People are always asking me how many courses I teach and how many hours each course meets per week. I can see the wheels turning as they slyly do the math--3 courses X 3 hours = 9 hours of work per week . . . not bad! It doesn't really bother me if people wonder what I do all day: sometimes, at the end of a busy day or week, I myself wonder where all the time has gone even though I know I've been working. But today, as I was looking at my calendar, I realized--it's going to be quite a week. And this is why:

To Do, a sampling

• Prepare for New Faculty Orientation panel on "Surviving the First Year"
• Write lecture notes for Freshman Forum faculty group
• Create handouts for writing workshop for upper-level students
• Create handouts and flyer for Grad School Info meeting
• Organize and lead Grad School Info meeting (get snacks?)
• Finish Asian-American literature website (post materials, add new photos, write a couple of pages of evaluation of Asian-American lit books)
• Send announcement of website to American Studies listserv
• Grade American lit survey midterms
• Write a makeup midterm for my student who had to go to court (for "something stupid that happened in Ocean City, MD") on the day of the actual test
• Read Ruth Hall for class and write discussion questions
• Read Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative and write discussion questions
• Prepare lecture on the Salem Witch Trials
• Cook dinner for Tuesday for a bunch of students who have been attending my church
• Attend Wednesday meeting on advising
• Attend Thursday dinner for students applying for fellowships
• Post edited committee meeting minutes for approval
• Figure out why the keyboard on my computer keeps inserting text in random places, and get it fixed without losing time

Yikes! "Dismayingly little time for sloth and idleness," says Oscar Wilde.