Going on Sabbatical

I like the two-tiered set of goals described by my colleague Cynthia, a professor of psychology. “I approached my sabbatical with two sets of expectations: the must-do project and the wish-I-could-do projects,” she said. “I accomplished the former, but didn’t get to the latter, unfortunately.”

I happen to know that, if I set low goals, that’s all I will achieve. So I’m aiming high, but trying to find balance between my work and my personal life in a couple of ways. —Lee Tobin McClain —Going on Sabbatical (Chronicle)

Lee is my colleague down the hall. Since she’s not been coming to English faculty meetings this year, we’re giving her all the tasks nobody else will volunteer for. (Just kidding!)

I’ve been planning to ask for a temporary teaching load reduction to invest time in an open-source educational videogame concept I’ve been kicking around for a year. It’s time to get cracking on that proposal — once I’ve turned in next midterm grades.

For the rest of the week, it’s marking, marking, marking.