Nitzing is slightly different from noodling, as it has merit and purpose, even though the tasks undertaken are quite small and often relatively insignificant. Case in point:
I photocopied the form I use to record marks for students' critiques of each others' work in the Fiction Writing Class.
I photocopied the third story assignment. (A bit of a wince there: the story is due on Monday, and they don't have the assignment yet. Oops.)
I made changes to and printed the final story assignment so it's ready to print.
I made sure I revised the final paper assignment for 101, so it no longer includes mention of version 2; I uploaded it to my faculty home page and made copies for the subs to distribute.
I wrote a detailed e-mail to the subs about what to do and what materials I would leave for them.
I showed Bruce the revisions I've made to the scheduling preference form to incorporate something about seminar hours. Based on what he said, I revised what I'd done and distributed the relevant portions of the preference form to the Seminar Hours committee.
I went through the rest of the preference form and updated it to reflect the classes and sections for fall. I printed that part out and left it for Bruce's assistant, so she can check to make sure I didn't screw anything up.
I organized the bag I carry to Advisement so it contains the student stuff I want to mark (and just realized I need a rubric form in case I get around to marking the few second versions I got from students, so I've printed that out, ready for copying).
I sent quite a few e-mails about one thing or another.
I went to P&B and got my promotion folder back with comments, ready for revision.
I taught my classes. Well, sort of. I did let students know they could split once I'd gone over APA documentation with them, and I talked with the ones who stayed, helping them think about how to work through their revisions. Most of those conversations went pretty well. Most of the students are pretty well on board with the process (finally, at last).
I'm thinking about everything I need to get done in the next few weeks, and the ways that the holiday next week plus my travel to the conference will interfere with the time I'll have in which to get that work done. Some of it will just have to be later than I'd ideally like--but we'll see how much I can get done after class tomorrow (writing letters in support of sabbatical applications, writing up the observations--yesterday's and the one I'll conduct tomorrow: probably not all of that, but if I can do any of it, that'll be great). No clue when I'll have a chance to get to my promotion folder again, but if I can get to it before Thanksgiving, that would be marvelous.
And I realize that I really do need to hand off more and more responsibility to people, as I simply am going to run out of semester, and when I'm away in the spring, others will have to pick up those particular torches (Taskstream and everything else assessment oriented, anything I've been working on for the Seminar Hours...). Those triage lists are becoming very important--mostly so I know what to delegate elsewhere and what I can reasonably hope to accomplish.
I wish I had some juicy interactions with students to report, but the classes were nothing more than what I reported above. It was a nitzy sort of day, and tomorrow may be as well. A nitzy week, in fact. Into each life, some nitz must fall.
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