Tomi,
Support from friends and family always helps. It's great you have that.
Thanks!
Tomi,
Have you tried the FAQ discussion board and asking students to post all questions pertaining to the course there instead of emailing you? It works for me. Thanks!
Katrina,
When do you take your down time? Don't forget to give yourself a break too.
You deserve it.
Tomi,
This integration is key to balancing everything we need to do. When we stay on top of things, but allow ourselves to have some down time, we can do it. Thanks!
Alan and Donna,
Life does happen. That's so true. We all seem to overstretch our time and our lives and we need to slow down sometime for sure. Thanks!
Alan,
Some people live on stress, but you definitely need a stress release. Exercising is a great idea. I try to walk or do yoga every day. It doesn't have to take that long, just do it. Take care of yourself or you can't take care of others!
Alan,
This is a good thing to teach the students - set self-deadlines before the actual deadlines. It allows for the craziness of life to happen and not miss deadlines. Thanks!
Hector,
Developing a schedule to help you keep your classes and family balanced is excellent. Keep it up!
Hello Dr. Crews,
I teach both online and on-ground. This forces me to create a weekly schedule where I include "me" time for things such as family and leisure activities such as working-out. I have to have my "me" time in order to be productive s a facilitator.
Hector Morales
That makes sense to me Detra! If you expect everything to go as planned and don't leave yourself some slack, then you will be continually disappointed and stressed.
I try to set self-deadlines before the actual deadlines, so I have some slack too.
I once told my wife that I was stressed out with all the different jobs I have. Her accurate reply, is that you like stress.
So different strokes, for different folks is certainly true. I admire my son Andy who is a project manager building a 44 story skyscraper. He works hard, but still has time to run marathons, and have a great social life with his new wife.
I need to get back to exercising!
Points well-taken Donna!
Life is what happens no matter what we planned. I appreciate any time I have off from the multiple jobs I have, and try to do something short and sweet when I have a little time. It might be as simple as going to a zoo.
When I'm not travelling, I'm home and not commuting to the office, so at least my wife gets to see me. Luckily, she is a home body and doesn't want to need to get out very much.
We have invested in our home and this January we are getting the bathrooms redone in travertine, with walk in showers.
I guess there are worst things than having a boring life, but I do get to spend another month in Germany teaching in January.
I don't. At least the balance could be much better.
I tend to be accessible anywhere (even weekends or on vacation) and between 6am and 9pm. I've always considered that part of the deal i signed on for when I left a plush research job to relocate to paradise and teach online.
I know that students are human too and would be fine if I were to cut back time a bit.
One success I have had in that regard is to pressure myself to get the majority of my weekly grading done in one day. So on Tuesdays I generally lock myself in the office from 7am to 8pm or so (with time for an hour lunch or a bike ride). If I don't finish, I still have an extra day before my grades are actually due.
I used to drag the grading for that university over three days. Some of that time was on personal tasks, other work obligations, jotting down business and research ideas, etc. By focusing on just the one grading task I am much more efficient that day and have two other days available to work on other projects.
I agree that we all need a plan B as things can go wrong. For example, there are server outages and other issues that can slow down our work.
I try to do this as well but with two toddlers it is a bit hard as they tend to be somewhat unpredictable with their needs :-)
Supporting spouse is a must in this line of work as we do not follow the 9-5 schedule. Good point!
I do the same but sometimes it is hard to plan ahead how many emails there may be so I remain flexible with my schedule.
I schedule times for myself daily to focus on different tasks and set myself weekly deadlines. For example, I use Monday and Tuesday to grading and responding emails, and then Wednesday and Thursday to concentrate on my chats. Between Wednesday and Sunday, I post replies to DBs daily. I have found that good organization is the key.
I try to integrate my work into my daily lifestyle as much as possible. For example, I carry my iPad everywhere and check my email whenever I have moments of free time. I schedule at least two hours every day to concentrate on my course, and log in consistently and several times a day to check for new postings. I have noticed that when I keep up with the work daily and do not let it pile up, I can stay on the top of it.
Donna,
Yes, we do need schedules and to be focused on what we are doing when we are supposed to be doing it.
Nice job.
