Sunday, February 28, 2010
The Balancing Act
Lately, I have been devoting practically all of my time to teaching at the great expense of making progress on my dissertation. It is so difficult to prioritize research; when I don't make much progress on processing samples I have only let myself down, but when I don't ultra-prepare for my teaching commitments I feel like I am letting down all of my students. This is especially pronounced this semester because I am TAing for a class that I find really interesting (Biology of the Marine Environment) so I view each lab as an opportunity to show the students all kinds of different videos, photos, stories, etc to make the information that they need to know more interesting. It keeps them engaged, and I think that they do genuinely enjoy the lab (they are required to complete weekly reflective journal essays so I know, for the most part, what they are thinking), and I really get a lot out of the opportunity to teach about something that I enjoy, but I am worried about my ability to prioritize. Especially since, if I become a faculty member, this is a conflict that is likely to continue. Hopefully this problem would become less pronounced after teaching the same course for a couple of years, but the prospect of re-doing the course periodically to incorporate new techniques and technologies begs the question; when will we fit in all of the other things that we are supposed to be doing?
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Oh, Jayna...I share in your balancing act struggle. I have never truly understood the dynamic balance of teaching and research that is supposed to accompany a faculty appointment at major universities. Especially with technology and this generation of students that demand such engagement, I feel this balance is even more difficult. And, when there is a new class on your plate, time gets sucked away so quickly! I find myself questioning why I gave an assignment, as I have no time to grade it...yet timely turnaround of assignments is also important to students. I wish I had some magical formula to share...but I don't....and if you happen upon one, please share! :) Back to grading papers (with data entry looming overhead for my thesis). Thank goodness for spring break...maybe I'll get caught up then...
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly a struggle we all deal with... And it becomes even more frustrating when conflict exists between the TA and the professor. I also think TAs can sometimes be at a disadvantage because we don't teach the same courses repetitively, so we don't have that opportunity to just build off of previous materials. Making it all more difficult is that it is really hard know that you didn't give 100% towards completing any task - particularly one revolving around a student's educational experience. One thing to keep in mind about how our experiences now transfer to our future appointments. Graduate students can often be almost as committed as faculty members. We teach, take classes, conduct research, serve on committees, conduct outreach, etc, etc. One thing that a faculty member told me to keep in mind is that the audience doesn't know whether your lecture or presentation went as you planned. If you leave out a chunk of material or forget to emphasize some points, the students or audience don't know. Well... this is my rambling way of saying I sympathize, yet have no help for your dilemma...
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