Any academic is beset by some demanding time constraints. First and foremost, we must teach. For me, that means three classes a semester, two sections of ENGL 101 – Composition I, which is our first-year rhetoric course, and one section of ENGL 514 – Fundamentals of Teaching Composition, which is our graduate introduction to how to teach writing.
In case it’s of any use to other academics beginning their tenure track careers, I thought I would outline my schedule, which is rough and will inevitably have to adapt, but this is my attempt to juggle all of the demands that being a first-year, tenure track academic place upon me.
I tried to balance the interests of three primary concerns in coming up with this schedule: 1) adequate teaching prep time; 2) dedicated writing time, to keep up the publishing; and, 3) dedicated time off, when I’m absolutely not doing academic work.
I also worked in a couple of quirks, which may not appeal to others. For example, one of my writing days is Sundays, for several reasons. I know there’s no chance of a department meeting or other meeting coming up on a Sunday, so that day really can be dedicated writing time, always. Also, it allows me to have a weekday off, which is something I like for running errands and the like, or fishing in popular places when most other anglers have to be at work.
So, here’s my rough schedule for Fall 2010:
Sunday — Writing Day, at home
Monday — Off from School-Related Work
Tuesday — Teaching Prep and Teaching (2 undergrad sections)
Wednesday — Office Hours, Teaching Prep, on campus (if I get done early, writing)
Thursday — Office Hours, Teaching Prep, and Teaching (2 undergrad sections, 1 grad section)
Friday — Writing Day, on campus, U-Club for Happy Hour with fellow faculty
Saturday — Off from School-Related Work
Obviously, during heavy grading times some of the idealism of this schedule will become temporarily compromised, but I intend to stick to this as much as possible, and there’s plenty of time built in for the meetings that will inevitably come up. I’ll provide an update in a couple weeks outlining how well this is working out. Out of town weekend trips will also force me to shift the particulars every now and then as well.
If others feel like sharing their schedules, or simply how they manage their schedule and the interests of teaching and writing, which often compete with one another, please feel free to post your thoughts in the comments section.
*Someone already pointed out that I didn’t block off service time. I should have been more specific. I’m hoping that I will be able to take care of my service obligations on the Teaching Prep days, primarily because I have a great Dept Chair who, recognizing the difficulties of being a first year faculty member, has given me relatively limited service obligations. Though, I did get elected to a somewhat important committee this week, despite myself.*
**Someone pointed out grading. I take it as a given that on weekends when I’m grading (I will have five of them this semester), ain’t nothing but grading going to be happening.**
