So I need some lessons in Advanced Time Management for the Working Single Mother of Two.
Here's the paradox: there's not enough hours in the day to do what should be done, yet I manage to find the time to do things that don't need to be done, like, for example, writing this.
I need to make a tighter schedule. Set some rules. Like: today I met with a student at 11:00 and another one at 3:00. That meant two trips to campus, as there was stuff I needed to do at home between them. But it also meant I lost about half an hour in driving and parking and walking that I could have used to do something more meaningful. And I spent forty minutes talking to one student, and although I enjoyed it, I have fifty students and I really cannot afford to spend that much time talking to one person. The five minutes I spent talking to a friend/colleague on the way out, though, that was really important, for many reasons.
It's not just about how I spend my time. It's about my priorities and needs, in some really fundamental ways. Like: if I pick up the kids at 5:00 instead of 4:30 that's half an hour I could use to grade papers. But it also means I have half an hour less with my kids at night. Kids win. So when do the papers get graded?
Things I need to figure out, eh?
Here's the paradox: there's not enough hours in the day to do what should be done, yet I manage to find the time to do things that don't need to be done, like, for example, writing this.
I need to make a tighter schedule. Set some rules. Like: today I met with a student at 11:00 and another one at 3:00. That meant two trips to campus, as there was stuff I needed to do at home between them. But it also meant I lost about half an hour in driving and parking and walking that I could have used to do something more meaningful. And I spent forty minutes talking to one student, and although I enjoyed it, I have fifty students and I really cannot afford to spend that much time talking to one person. The five minutes I spent talking to a friend/colleague on the way out, though, that was really important, for many reasons.
It's not just about how I spend my time. It's about my priorities and needs, in some really fundamental ways. Like: if I pick up the kids at 5:00 instead of 4:30 that's half an hour I could use to grade papers. But it also means I have half an hour less with my kids at night. Kids win. So when do the papers get graded?
Things I need to figure out, eh?
I'm in the same boat as you, except I only have one right now...will be juggling this When I return to work Sept 2014 after being off for mat leave from July 2013 to Sept 2013. Could you have met with the students one after the other to save the extra back and forth time?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, no. In the future I need to refuse to schedule that way, though, even if it means putting a student off for a week...need to think more like a doctor's office.
ReplyDeleteThis comment will probably show up on your most recent post, as that tends to happen to me, but I do have two reactions to your time man. post. One, the 15 minutes spent venting or strategizing or whatever online sometimes IS necessary. You seem like a woman with exactly zero time for herself, so that makes those little slices super critical. And 2, sometimes I feel like I should be with my kids or should want to be with my kids even though the quality of our time is not going to be great. If you can spend half an hour grading and knowing that's done (or partly done...) makes the brief time you've got at home BETTER, maybe grading should win.
ReplyDelete