What Do (Sick) Professors Do All Day?

My colleague and friend Dr. Phil Nel has been posting daily entries answering the question, “What do professors do all day?” partly because people outside of academia – even those who have gone through college or university – often don’t really know how we professors spend our time. I thought I’d try it in case my students (and friends) actually read my blog and wonder too.

Note: The SCU  MLIS Program is on a night and weekend schedule, so my courses are Tuesdays and Wednesdays 6-9 PM. In order to maintain my 2011 resolution of not being in my office for more than 12 straight hours (as I often did these past 2 years…), I don’t do work or go into my office before 10 or 11 AM on teaching days.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Snow Day. Let’s call it a wash because it’s also a Sick Day, as were Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

9:00-10:00 AM Woke up. Still sick. Can’t breathe through my nose. Washed up and got ready for the day.

10:00-10:45 AM Made breakfast and lunch. Did my daily Bible devotional reading and then caught up on email and FB while having breakfast.

10:45-11:15 AM Chatted with my friend, Tarie Sabido, a children’s lit scholar in Manila. Her enthusiasm and cheer warm my heart on this cold day. She and I share Dunkin Donuts, The Skin Food and children’s literature fetishes. For example… Dunkin Announces…

11:15-12:00 PM Post office and bank.

12:15-2:00 PM Got into the office, checked email, and prepared quiz for LIS 7530 Internet Fundamentals and Design. Revised a cupcake-themed mock-up website that my students have to re-create based on what they’ve learned in the first 6 chapters of our textbook.

2:-00-3:05 PM FACES meeting – discussed how to improve campus climate, manage conflicts, build trust, etc. with fellow faculty and staff. FACES stands for Focus on Academic and Community Environments.

3:05-5:00 PM Office hours. Usually this means I’m sitting in my office with a bucket of chocolate on my desk… waiting… well, more specifically…

• 3:05-3:10 PM Reviewed a letter of recommendation packet that I requested from a student who requested a letter from me.
• 3:10-3:30 PM Prepared for class
• 3:30-3:32 PM At the advice of a friend, watched neti pot YouTube video. hRmmmm I might try this.
• 3:32-3:45 PM Prepared for class
• 3:45-4:00 PM Reviewed ALA Student Chapter website in preparation for meeting.
• 4:00-4:15 PM Met with student regarding the launch of the SCU MLIS ALA Student Chapter. So excited that we’re getting this going so soon after being ALA accredited!
• 4:15-5:00 PM (Re)read Understanding the Internet: A Glimpse Into the Building Blocks, Applications, Security and Hidden Secrets of the Web for LIS 7530. Very technical and full of jargon – glad my students are getting the big picture out of it, though.

5:00-5:30 PM Skype trial run with Dr. Betsy Hearne, Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. She’s giving a guest lecture in my LIS 7180 Storytelling for Adults and Children class on Wednesday evening.

5:30-6:00 PM Quick dinner @ my desk! Checked FB and email.

6:00-9:00 PM Taught LIS 7530 Internet Fundamentals and Design

• 7:30-7:45 PM Class break. Checked email and started to (re)read”A Change of Storyteller: Folktales in Children and Books, from Arbuthnot to Sutherland” by Dr. Janice Del Negro (Library Trends 47:3, Winter 1999). It’s amazing how much you can (re)read in tiny blocks of time. This article is a must-read for anyone concerned with the study of folklore, children’s literature and storytelling.

9:00-9:30 PM Checked email and debriefed about tonight’s LIS 7530 on my personal blog/teaching journal. Doing this helps me reflect on my teaching strengths and weaknesses, as well as particular student- or course content-related issues. I also spent a few minutes preparing an itinerary for my guest teacher next week. Also read this heartbreaking article about Detroit closing half its public schools.

9:30-9:35 PM Wrote a thank you note to Dr. Andre Brock, who guest lectured in my LIS 7530 course last week on the topic of race and the internet.

9:35-10:30 PM Finished (re)reading “A Change of Storyteller.” Heading home, where I will likely keep (re)reading for my Storytelling course 🙂

Total work hours: 9 hours and 45 minutes. That’s less than the 12 hours I said was my  maximum, but more than the typical 8 a normal human is supposed to work ^^ The answer to the question, “What do (sick) professors do all day?” is, “We still work.”

Note to self: You need to write more. Publish or perish. Tenure FTW!