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Original poster

Anyone want a general chat?

291 replies

LRDtheFeministDragon · 23/01/2017 12:31

By which title I mean, of course, that I am procrastinating and if I can't rise above it I'd love to drag you all down with me. Smile

What are we all doing this term, and how's it going?

I'm trying to kick my book proposal into shape after yet another set of comments. I've lost track of how many times it's been 'nearly there' but I think it really is nearly there. Honest.

OP posts:
FurryGiraffe · 14/02/2017 22:15

Oh god, the needy team member.

I had one of these before I went on Mat leave. It was her first year in her first academic job but she was just so whingy all the time. Forever complaining about how terrible her teaching load was (it really really wasn't) and how terribly busy she was so she didn't have time to do her admin (grr). I went through her first lecture for her pretty much line by line- much thanks I got for it.

Worst of all she makes me feel so old! She reminds me of our neediest/most demanding/least self sufficient UGs- and she's only 3 years younger than me!

bigkidsdidit · 17/02/2017 09:18

Morning all. The sun is shining and I am going to lock myself in the library until I have done all my admin and reflective journal stuff for teaching quals. I desperately want to get on with my paper but I need to spend a day on this. It's been nagging me for months so at least I'll feel less guilty afterwards...

MarasmeAbsolu · 17/02/2017 10:00

Lucky you (?) Gloomy here and i need to spend the day wrestling with administrators and interfering colleagues.

bigkidsdidit · 17/02/2017 10:39

Ha ha! Power to you then 💪

murmuration · 23/02/2017 11:47

Ugh, I'm barely operating now - can't think. What do you do when your brain just doesn't work?

I should be writing a grant, but instead am visiting MN :) But I've tried generating text and I really can't. I tried reading a paper I'm supposed to be reviewing, and I couldn't keep my attention on it. Perhaps I'll sort my email...

Foureyesarebetterthantwo · 23/02/2017 12:50

mumuration I have days like this. I've written for five days solid, which is unusual for me to get that type of time, and now today there's nothing going on whatsoever. Couldn't string a sentence together. Got a bit of a migraine.

I usually just do crap on these type of days, like fill in reports for grant agencies, or fiddle with tables for papers. I also reply to students/sort out PhD next steps.

But productive work- forget it!

bigkidsdidit · 23/02/2017 19:17

On those days murmur I do admin like ordering chemicals for the lab, or I take a day off. Better to get all my laundry done than sit at work writing the same sentence five times!

bigkidsdidit · 23/02/2017 19:20

In the last month or so I've had a real awakening of ambition. Maybe because my youngest is nearly four, and life is suddenly a bit easier, or maybe because someone much younger than me has just got a multi million pound grant and professional jealousy has niggled at me Blush

My HoD told me to stop being modest and start promoting myself, going for big grants, being the big I Am. this is very difficult for me, but exhilarating 😬

murmuration · 23/02/2017 19:59

That sounds like a nice thing to hear bigkids!

I was being so incompetent I didn't want to do anything even remotely important. I read some stuff that I'm supposed to know but not particularly well, and wrote some reference letters, but I'll proofread them again when my brain is working. I just kept doing ridiculous things like planning to refill my cup with water and finding myself sitting at my desk having gotten my phone from my handbag instead (wtf???), opening up the wrong application on my computer, emailing the wrong people about stuff Blush (I stopped sending emails at that point), and so on. Taught today as well - I think (hope) I didn't make any major mistakes. Got home and I've got a fever again... Was supposed to baking with DD tonight but I convinced her sitting and watching a movie with me was just as fun.

IvySquirrel · 23/02/2017 20:56

It's reassuring to know everyone has those days when the brain just won't work. I imagine everyone else is being productive and focused while I fiddle around with email and admin bits.

iveburntthetoast · 25/02/2017 18:31

I'm trying to write an application for promotion to SL. It's killing me. Applications used to open in May and gave 2 months to submit. This year they moved it forward to mid-Feb with one month to submit. No notice was given of this change. I thought I was planning things well in advance, whereas I'm now frantically trying to write everything in the middle of the semester. (& I lost Thurs/Fri to a virus.)

It will be about 5 single-spaced pages telling them how amazing I am. Hmm

iveburntthetoast · 25/02/2017 18:32

I'm trying to write an application for promotion to SL. It's killing me. Applications used to open in May and gave 2 months to submit. This year they moved it forward to mid-Feb with one month to submit. No notice was given of this change. I thought I was planning things well in advance, whereas I'm now frantically trying to write everything in the middle of the semester. (& I lost Thurs/Fri to a virus.)

It will be about 5 single-spaced pages telling them how amazing I am. Hmm

iveburntthetoast · 25/02/2017 18:33

Balls. How did I manage to double-post? Confused

Foureyesarebetterthantwo · 25/02/2017 21:21

I'veburnt I've also found with those type of applications I end up putting them off as I don't want to fail! I think psychologically its easier to avoid sometimes. Our promotion system is pretty screwed, it really comes down to grant money and not much else, despite all the boxes on the forms with things like 'teaching excellence' in them. No-one is ever denied SL as they are a completely rubbish teacher, many have been over grants. Hope I haven't sounded too negative, good luck with the application!

MarasmeAbsolu · 25/02/2017 22:59

if you look at some of my colleagues, money also trums being an utter bastard to your student, having three formal complaints against your name for emotional abuse, and being the most un-collegiate person ever...

that and nature/science/PNAS papers

Original poster
LRDtheFeministDragon · 26/02/2017 12:54

Right, I am posting on here to keep my nose to the grindstone.

I need to apply for a job, and I need to really get my skates on to get my publication list as good as possible before the deadline.

Cross your fingers for me. Smile

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purplepandas · 26/02/2017 20:08

Good luck toast and LRD. Did quite a bit of work on a paper today which makes me feel hugely guilty re small people (although I am at home). A presentation to nail for thurs as unwritten (although a previous version thankfully exists from last year) and another paper that is seriously haunting me. That one is a special edition, we are not going to make the deadline.

I swear I am not working as well as I could, deadlines just continue to appear.

purplepandas · 26/02/2017 20:09

Go bigkids too, what a lovely thing to read. :)

Original poster
LRDtheFeministDragon · 26/02/2017 20:45

YY, yay for supportive bosses who actually push you! And good luck with the big-grant-getting, everyone.

purple, thanks. Just sent the proposal off to the series editor as a draft, so fingers crossed for now. Sorry to hear you're in the stormy bit at the moment. I think deadlines mounting up just makes everything else feel more unmanageable. Sad But I hope you get through it soon.

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murmuration · 27/02/2017 09:00

purple, I totally get you about deadlines - I feel like I'm just scrambling to the next one, and bigger, more important things don't get done (until their deadline looms, and I do poor job of it...).

Good luck on the promotion thing toast! We get something 3-4 weeks notice of promotion rounds - you have a vague concept of when it will appear, but it's anywhere from late Jan to late Mar! The year I got SL I had actually prepared well in advance, over the summer, and I think that's the only way to manage with notice like that. I just don't have the ability to drop things for 3 weeks during the semester to prepare materials. Although things are completely changing now (again), so I have no idea what it will be like. Just waiting to hear about the new process.

And good luck on your stuff LRD (must admit don't entirely know what it means - is that a book? or a series of articles or something?)

So here I am in the morning, with grand ideas about what I'm going to do today. In particular, I really want to prep 2 lectures and a practical for a new module -- it's not for a while, but I need to get the material out to the people who will get the materials for the practical, and I need to prep the lectures so I know what the students will know when they get to the practical! Yet I haven't yet checked my email. And experience tells me I could spend half the day just dealing with whatever has appeared. So I'll see if I actually accomplish anything other than putting out fires...

Original poster
LRDtheFeministDragon · 27/02/2017 09:14

Grin Yes, I wasn't being terribly specific. It's a book proposal. I have written most of the book, so it should have a decent chance of being accepted somewhere and at some point. I just need to make sure I work to make that happen. And today I must start another article, prep my teaching and do some marking.

Fingers crossed you get to the lecture prep and the practical, not the putting out of fires!

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Foureyesarebetterthantwo · 27/02/2017 09:57

We can apply for promotion at any time, there's no deadlines. I didn't know you had only yearly promotion opportunities at some places. Our application isn't too arduous either, it's a up to date CV, which you would have anyway, plus some docs from your annual review, which again you would have, plus a short form, and if for above SL, then letters of influence/recommendation.

It's daunting emotionally though, especially as our institution like lots, seems to be trying to save as much money as possible by refusing as many promotions as possible!

dimples76 · 27/02/2017 18:06

Having a lousy day here having just released feedback to my distance learning PG students. Having spent the last three evenings marking to ensure that I got the feedback out on time I was not best pleased by the volume of emails I got from students complaining/querying. In most cases the email was sent within a couple of minutes of me releasing the feedback so I doubt they have even read all the feedback let alone reflected on it prior to complaining. I really wish I had just put my feet up at the weekend or just given them a mark without writing any feedback Angry

Original poster
LRDtheFeministDragon · 27/02/2017 18:10

Oh, how depressing.

I do think there's a correlation between the amount of effort you put in and the amount they expect in terms of further support. Certainly I know people who just shove off generic feedback and never seem to get pestered for more explanation. Hmm

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geekaMaxima · 27/02/2017 19:10

I've found a direct relationship between the effort I put into feedback and the amount of pestering I get Confused

Generic feedback that's 90% identical across students (referring to high-level assessment criteria, etc.)? A couple of queries (sometimes none) from a cohort of ~150 students, typically of the type that can be quickly dealt with.

Customised feedback that refers to specific parts of the individual student's work (as our dept wants us to provide)? Around 10-15 queries/complaints from a cohort of ~150, always including at least one angry rant about how some point had been misinterpreted and marked incorrectly (which, on investigation, is never the case).

I've given up trying... Gin