Blog — Toddler on the Tenure Track

Monthly Update: February 2020

First of all, I can. not. believe. that March is here. Which means soon it will be April and then May and then summer (I feel like my life revolves around how far away summer is). If I can make it through February, I can usually trick myself into thinking that spring is right around the corner (even though March is pretty much the same thing… granted flowers are blooming outside right now and it’s been sunny so apparently spring has arrived).

What’s been going on for us this month in the Toddler on the Tenure Track household? Work, preschool, playgrounds, the occasional dinner or brunch with friends, nothing too out of the ordinary. Ellie has been having some serious tantrums lately. We're in a weird "no nap but needs a nap" phase, which makes emotions run high.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillFebruary 29, 2020weekly update, working out, meditation, goals, reflection, monthly updateComment

Monthly Update: January 2020

I’ll be switching from weekly updates to monthly updates. Between no more naps for Ellie (unless we want her staying up until 10:30pm or later), serving as the administrator on my dad’s estate, a steady stream of doctor’s appointments, and just work and general life stuff, weekend time is precious. I’d rather spend the hour (plus) that was previously dedicated to weekly updates on other things! I’ll structure these monthly updates the same way, with a bit of a reflection from the month and also what I’ve been working on in terms of research, teaching, service, and personal life. I don’t set monthly goals, so I won’t structure the update around them… I’ll play around with what feels good. Since I’m not a monthly planner I’m curious to see how taking time to review the past month alters the flow of my work.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillJanuary 31, 2020weekly update, working out, meditation, goals, reflection, monthly updateComment

Weekly Update: 12/16 - 12/22

Grades were turned in this week which means that fall quarter is officially over. Of course, I wasn't teaching this term so there was no end of term chaos for me (thank goodness)... just general life chaos. The end of fall means that winter quarter is right around the corner, which means I'll be teaching again. During last year’s online winter course I had students write a short reflection about their learning. One of the prompts that they could respond to was, "what advice would you give to future students in this course?" As a gift to this year's class, I'm compiling and organizing last year's responses and posting them to our course page.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillDecember 22, 2019weekly update, reflectionComment

Weekly Update: 12/2 - 12/8

This past week was our first full week back in Oregon since my dad passed away. We flew back on Thanksgiving, after spending nine days at my childhood home in Virginia with my sister and her family. We had a steady stream of visitors coming to check in on us. It was incredibly difficult and at the same time comforting to be back where nearly everything was a reminder of my dad. The sounds of his household routines are so ingrained in my memory that every time the floor creaked or a door squeaked I assumed he was in the other room cutting up his fruit salad or laying back in the recliner for a nap or playing a game of solitaire at the computer (the guy played a lot of solitaire). There were so many times I started to form a question in my mind to ask him something but then realized I couldn’t…

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillDecember 8, 2019weekly update, reflection Comments

Recent Updates

Today, Toddler on the Tenure Track, turns one.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillDecember 1, 2019november 2019, november

Weekly Update: 11/4 - 11/10

When I first started writing these weekly reflections, Ellie was consistently napping each day, which proved to be a convenient time to review the past week, reflect a bit, and push publish on the post. Now a nap means she’ll be up until 10:30pm (at least), and still getting up around 7:00am, no thanks!

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillNovember 10, 2019weekly update, meditation, goals, reflection, course prep, writing, paper writing, fundingComment

Weekly Update: 10/28 - 11/3

Feeling super energized about research this week. I’m working on a funding application that’s really exciting to me, and I also just really love the beginning stages of research project development, where you’re gathering and organizing information and using that info to develop new ideas. Along similar lines, we had the first meeting for a fellowship program that I’m doing this year (which I briefly wrote about in a September weekly update). The program sounds like it’ll be a huge support as I’m working on this funding application, and also for future funding endeavors. As an added perk, it also means that I’ll get to travel to DC in the spring and see my family… always a plus when work travel can be combined with a family trip.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillNovember 3, 2019weekly update, meditation, goals, reflection, course prep, writing, paper writing, fundingComment

Weekly Update: 10/21 - 10/27

Putting my main tasks in writing each week is making me think a lot about how much I “should” be doing and what’s “enough” for a tenure track faculty member to be doing. Looking at my list for the week makes me uncomfortable. Between research and teaching I see four projects and think, “Is that all? Why am I not doing more?”

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillOctober 27, 2019weekly update, meditation, goals, reflection, course prep, systematic review, writing, paper writing, fundingComment

Weekly Update: 10/14 - 10/20

We took a trip to the Columbia River at the end of August and it was lovely. It also made us realize how much we love the ocean. We had some money in our travel savings fund, so we figured, it’s there, let’s use it instead of just having it sit there. So, we went to Cannon Beach this weekend, a place that we’ve been for day trips before but never to stay the night.

My Goals for Year Three on the Tenure Track

What was going on during year 3? In terms of teaching, I eased into the year by not teaching during fall term. This rhythm works well for me, I’m all about the slow start!. During winter and spring, I taught four classes. Two were online and two were in our distance program, which means the classes were condensed into 4 sessions (from 9-5). Content wise, I had taught all of these courses previously; however, modality wise, it was my first time teaching one of the online courses. This meant that there was a significant amount of prep work in terms of making videos and adjusting the online content to match my style.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillOctober 18, 2019planning, third year on the tenure track, goalsComment