Getting back into the groove

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My job can be really funny in some ways. I go from having ultimate flexibility in the summer to the structure and schedule of the semester. There is no transition. One day, I just get up and classes are back in session. I am teaching mornings this semester, so I have gotten back into a schedule of getting up early and coming into campus to teach. My afternoons are more open for labs, meetings, research, class planning, etc. and by 10pm, I am pretty wiped out. The first week back is always a shock to the system- I slept for 10 hours last Friday night! Once I get back into a routine, things are fine.

I feel pretty good about how my classes are going so far. In my intro physical geography class, I am trying online quizzes for the first time. Every Monday morning, a new quiz is up for the students to take and they have until Friday night at 10pm to finish them. They are graded automatically, since I have the correct answers built into the quiz. There were a few technical glitches for the first one, but hopefully that won't continue. We had a MAJOR technical glitch with the first lab, though. Because of some changes to the lab computers and a software problem, Google Earth could only be run by users with Administrator access. My teaching assistant discovered this about two hours before the first lab! The only work-around I could think of was to log in to every computer myself during the labs. Our wonderful IT guy is going to work out a more permanent solution before the next lab.

I am trying to update some writing assignments for all three of my classes, so that I can hand them out by next week. In GEO 121, I am doing another paper, but have made a few changes from earlier versions of the assignment. This time, students have to pick their study area from Weather Underground's Wunderphotos. Each student picks a photo, then describes what they can see in the photo, and finally researches the physical geography of the location. Everything will be submitted electronically.

Papers for my other classes will be similar to previous years, so I just need to update the assignments. I have these upper level classes submit drafts and in my hazards class, they do peer reviews of the first drafts, too. In landscape ecology, only the grad students submit papers- which are based on independent research projects. It's always a bit overwhelming at the end of the semester when all of these assignment are turned in!

I'm almost midway through the first week and am managing to keep on top of things. Now, if I could only find time to get some research done...

Comments

  1. KorineSeptember 1, 2009 at 8:59 PM

    When I taught Intro to Physical at Arizona, I used an idea from you for the paper assignments - the students had to write about the physical geography in a postcard or photo! I should do that with my Intro to Human class, but it would probably be a little harder.
    I also have my students do a peer review. It helps a little bit...

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  2. MCHSeptember 1, 2009 at 9:02 PM

    That's funny, Korine! I have still kind of stuck with that assignment, but it has evolved over the years. I didn't use the picture as a focus the last few times, but decided to go back to it this semester. And you know- I got the original idea from someone who was teaching human geography- he had them pick a photo or postcard and write about the cultural geography! :)

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