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Nicked from New Kid, the meme that is so long, everything after the third question goes behind a cut:

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before
Presented at a conference via teleconferencing. I’d really rather have attended in person, but some things aren’t possible so tele-conferencing was a fantastic option.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
New Year’s Resolution? *looks back at the old blog to check* None that I can remember. My major resolution will be to protect my scholarly work time (note, not marking time and teaching prep time, but the time set aside for research, writing and revising).

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Oh, lordie, there was a baby shower for someone this year, wasn’t there? Honestly drawing a blank. Nobody close, though. Read more »

The temperature shot up alarmingly. Our neighbourhood is now wreathed in both darkness and fog (or “frog”, as youngest once was wont to say). Despite its best efforts, the warm temperature has hardly made an impact on the snowscape around us. Across the yards, as I put the dogs out after dinner, I can discern the two feet and more of snow neatly layered on top of our neighbour’s barbecue. Beyond that, the tepid glow of the streetlight on the road beyond is almost complete obscured. I feel pent-in and suddenly much more sympathetic to those people who regularly live with this weather on the coasts.

Tomorrow promises to be just as warm but without sun, we’ll be blanketed by fog until the temperatures return to normal Sunday night. Bringing more snow, of course!

I hope you’re all enjoying some time with friends, family and the pastimes that make the season worthwhile!

I’m on the couch, marking. Youngest sits beside me, watching her comfort DVD: March of the Penguins.

I’m taking breaks from the grading to make “funny phrases” for the penguins as per youngest’s usual request. (We also do this with her copious library of penguin books.)

It’s a bit jarring to make the mental switch from sixteenth century religious history to musing on Emperor penguins’ habits and activities. As long as I don’t start inserting penguin commentary into the marking, we should be okay!

I submitted my last course outline to the secretary today. She’ll be able to duplicate the wee beastie (one page, two sides) for distribution to the class after New Year’s.

I’m really pushing the class paradigm to the limit (it’s a class for majors, designed to introduce them to historiography and historical techniques). In this go-round, students submit five short projects (15% each) and write a final exam. That’s it. No essay, no tutorial participation, no journals, no midterm, no quizzes. Just projects and a final. I’ve used projects before but never done it in such a radical way. Each project focuses on a certain skill-set (comparative analysis, assessing change over time, unpacking a case study, researching a scholar, researching a subject).

Some of this was out of necessity (enrollment got away from us and there are more than seventy students registered) as I cannot hope to mark that many traditional essays in the end-of-term rush (witness my current crisis of marking). Some of the impetus for this course revision comes out of my hope that doing away with potboiler essay topics will not only cut down on plagiarism but that giving them these discrete projects will also hone their skills in very clearly defined ways as they work with particular historical research resources (Hello, Old Bailey Online!). Read more »

Still marking. *sigh*

Actually, if it was all I did, it would be done by now (just in time for tomorrow’s exams!). It’s all the other things in work and life that get in the way of speedy completion of my marking.

Why is it, when academics reach the end of term, their days get even more “booked up”? Today I was “on” from ten ’til two thirty without even time for a bathroom break. And none of it involved my courses for which the marking is still piled up. Dangit!

Honestly, now that classes are over for the term, most of my “free time” is devoted to shoveling: the only question is whether that’s paper or snow! (The answer in my case is mostly the former as my husband and daughter move 95% of the latter, a fact for which I’m very grateful).

What’s eating up your “free time” these days?

Sure, everyone wants their students to get a chance at admissions or scholarships. Everyone wants their articles and books to get reviewed. Everyone hopes that some important new courses will get designed and approved. Everyone thinks the new program brochures should be produced. And everyone wants the cool conferences to get organized.

However, when you start knocking on faculty doors to seek volunteers for one of these worthy activities, do you ever feel like you’re the Little Red Hen?

Sometimes I do!

So, on the heels of a gigantic snowstorm, I made my way down to the big city and flew back home a day later. The point of the excursion was a new service responsibility that’s going to be very rewarding if the first meeting is anything to judge by (and our face-to-face meetings are only twice a year). The only downsides are the huge investment of time, energy and money traveling back and forth.

Well, I get reimbursed so the last isn’t the worst part. The worst part is that another major snowstorm is set to rock our world tonight and tomorrow. This is going to be a looooooong winter!