By Kate Cammack, CfT Co-Director
My two boys (10 & 8) just finished camp at our indoor rock climbing gym, and came home with some good advice.
To prevent fatigue in your arm muscles, try climbing like a “confident crab” with your arms extended, and not like a “scaredy-bear” with your arms bent/tucked in.
This week I’m working on being a “confident crab” in my teaching prep – reaching big to set myself (and semester) up for success, so that I don’t get exhausted/burn out later.
For me, this means connecting with others to brainstorm, troubleshoot, and “fill my teaching cup” to the brim, before the semester begins.
What’s going on this week
Tuesday, Aug 11th
- Elon’s Annual Teaching & Learning Conference (w/ virtual option): 7:30-10:30am
- CfT Drop-in Hours: 10am-1pm
Wed, Aug 12th
- CfT Drop-in Hours: 9-10am
- Student learning goals & Brightspace: 10-11:30am
- Assignment (Re)alignment: 1-2pm
Thurs, Aug 13th
- Assignment (Re)alignment: 9-10am
- Student learning goals & Brightspace: 10-11:30am
- CfT Drop-in Hours: 12-1pm
Connect with others
We each have many goals, needs, and interests in our professional (and personal) lives. And, sometimes faculty life can be lonely. How often do we sit down to think about our support networks? How can we sustain ourselves and our work this coming year?
You might give yourself the gift of remembering – and expanding! – your network before the semester begins. It can be helpful to identify colleagues and friends who are good brainstormers, feedback-givers, advocates, emotional support, models of balance, and so forth:
I’ll be in the CfT tomorrow, Tues, Aug 11, from 10am-1pm, if anyone would like to drop by to chat, brainstorm, or talk about fun things they did this summer (I began a rewilding journey).
if you’re looking for a thought-partner, you can always book a one-on-one consultation with us – Lauryl and I love to ideate and troubleshoot.
And, if you’re looking for collaborators, skill guidance, brainstormers, and even emotional support all in one place (!), we’ll be hosting two communities of practice (CoP) that will meet a few times throughout the fall semester; each session will have time to have focused discussions and protected work time:
Virtual workshops & resources
We know that some of you are returning from summer travel and/or aren’t back to campus yet. There are a few virtual workshops on the horizon:
- Elon’s Annual Teaching & Learning Conference – TOMORROW Tues, Aug 11th (free registration here)
- “Back to Campus with AI: Learning From Student Ambassadors” Wed, Aug 12th
- “Joyful Teaching in Every Class” 90min e-course by Flower Darby
- “Right on time or just in time: Welcoming students to class” – Thurs, Aug 18th, 11am-12pm
I also highly recommend two Chronicle e-newsletters:
- Beth McMurtrie’s “Teaching” is weekly
- Jeff Young’s “Jagged Intelligence” (AI in higher ed) is every other week
And for those of you who like to get away from your screens and/or are on Team Commuter with me, the 60-Second SoTL podcast offers brief summaries of recent research on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL).
Scuttle on, confident crabs! 🦀
AI was not used to support/write this post.