Jane is an assistant professor in a computing field, and a new mother. Join her as she navigates the tenure track, deals with gender issues, figures out how to be a parent, and tries to have some semblance of a life.
Blogging about teaching: the miniseries
Introduction
The intro courses
The intro courses, part 2
The mid-tier courses
The upper-level courses
Stuff I should probably be working on:
Conference paper (new) -- 30% complete
Journal paper #1-- submitted for review!
Journal paper #2 -- 95% complete
Journal paper #3 (abstract accepted) -- 5% complete
Futuristic project -- 10% complete
May 12, 2008
Category: motherhood • tenure • work-life balance
In honor of Mother's Day, and in honor of the one-year anniversary of Baby Jane's appearance on Planet Earth, here, in no particular order, are the top five things I've learned from being a mom this past year. And, as a bonus, how each of these lessons can be applied to my career.
Posted by Jane at 12:04 AM • 6 Comments
May 8, 2008
Category: computer science • motherhood • scientiae
* Baby Jane is walking. I'm thrilled. And panicking. Luckily, she's still slow, but given how fast she can crawl....well, let's just say I fear for my future.
* I'm working on Part 3 in the series Is Computer Science a Science? (parts 1, 1a, and 2 here). Part 3 will cover computer science's relationship to engineering. At the very least, it will serve as a welcome break from my bitching and moaning about the state of children's clothing.
* Also brewing in the "future posts" category: reflections on my first year of motherhood and the school year, and the whole adjustment to the working mom thing.
* The May edition of the Scientiae carnival is up, and it's fab-u-lous! Flicka Mawa at A Cat Nap did a fantabulous job. Go check it out. Come on, you know you weren't going to finish that pile of grading anyway....
Posted by Jane at 12:24 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 4, 2008
Category: motherhood
Dear Extended Jane Family,
We here at Jane Family headquarters are so appreciative of the love and affection you have for and share with Baby Jane. You are all so thoughtful, and generous, and loving, that it really overwhelms us sometimes.
But... (hey, you knew there had to be a but, right?)
Posted by Jane at 11:39 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 30, 2008
Category: work-life balance
Do you ever play the game in which you fantasize about what you would do, career-wise, if you couldn't do what you're currently doing?
I do, particularly when I'm having an especially bad week or when someone is droning on AGAIN about stupid inconsequential stuff during a meeting or when I'm buried under piles of grading or when I'm seriously doubting my abilities to earn tenure at my current institution. So yeah, about once every 5 minutes.
Here's what's on my list, in no particular order:
Posted by Jane at 11:27 PM • 22 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 29, 2008
Category: computer science • mentoring • teaching
If you read almost any academic blog, or Rate Your Students, or really any site that academics frequent, you'll encounter discussion, debate, and general bitching about students' lack of ability to (a) properly cite sources and (b) avoid plagiarism. Discussions with my academic friends in more writing-intensive disciplines bear out what cyberspace illustrates: students don't, or can't, or won't, properly cite sources.
This carries over into computer science, too, though, and that's something that's been on my mind lately: How do we teach students how to properly "cite", and avoid plagiarism, within computer science? And how do we reconcile this with having students learn to work together, in teams?
Posted by Jane at 12:34 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 28, 2008
Category: motherhood • work-life balance
A numerical synopsis of my weekend:
Posted by Jane at 12:34 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 22, 2008
Category: tenure • work-life balance
It's been quiet around here lately, I realize. As you can tell from the last few posts, life has been busy and angsty and not a lot of fun lately. But a very large burden has been lifted (which I may blog about at some point, once I figure out how to do so without compromising my pseudonymity), and life is looking better and more manageable, so hopefully I'll get back into the swing of blogging Real Soon Now.
In the meantime, here's a random sampling of things that I've been pondering lately.
Posted by Jane at 10:04 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 16, 2008
Category: tenure
Not too long ago, I had lunch with one of my mentors, a senior woman in a different department who has been just an incredible resource and sounding board for me over the years. Meeting with this woman always makes me feel better: she boosts my confidence when it needs boosting, and is really good at coming up with strategies to deal with the various things I've had to deal with over the years. And lunch on this particular day was no exception.
Posted by Jane at 11:43 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 14, 2008
Category: work-life balance
Last night I had a bunch of dreams (or mini-dreams?) in quick succession, all with the same themes. Come to think of it, they all had pretty much the same plot, too, just different settings, situations, and characters. The dreams are pretty reflective of how I feel my life is going right now, so I'll share one of them:
Posted by Jane at 1:24 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 8, 2008
Category: work-life balance
I've found myself repeating an unhealthy pattern lately.
I have what feels like an overwhelming amount of work to do. So I stay up (way too) late to make progress on some of it. I repeat this for a few days, until I either (a) get sick or (b) become so exhausted that I'm barely functional. At which point I take an entire evening off to (a) lay on the couch and/or (b) go to bed at an insanely early hour. Which means that I then get "behind", because I took an evening off....and the cycle repeats.
At least I've finally recognized this and am trying to break out of it, before it really takes a toll on my mental and physical health.
What unhealthy patterns are putting you out of balance lately?
Posted by Jane at 10:31 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
