2014 Academic Resolutions

I love New Years' Resolutions. At the beginning of every year, I enjoy reflecting on all I have accomplished over the past year while looking ahead at where I want to go. One of the professors I respect most once asked me, "What is your mission statement?" I was really confused by the question as I had never considered having a mission statement for my life. As I thought about this more and more, I discovered that a mission statement could be a great way to keep yourself grounded. It is easy to get caught up in those things we do to bring glory to ourselves, but by keeping in mind your true passion, you can stay grounded.

While I don't have a specific mission statement yet, I have an idea of a mission statement. The one thing that if my life is known for, I can die satisfied. In reflecting on this past year and the lessons I learned, I have a clear vision of what I would like to accomplish in 2014, which is being dubbed "The Year of the Dissertation".

Writing Goals

I have done a great job planning my writing time, structuring my writing area, and using strategies that help me be more productive. The best thing for me to do is to continue being productive and efficient in my time. The greatest gift I can give myself to continue doing this is:

Say "no". 

At this point in my career, I do not need to spend a great deal of time reviewing papers for other people, editing, or doing favors that help others as much as I did in 2013. This is not to say that I plan to be cold and unhelpful. Over the past year, I did not keep my own time as sacred as I should have. Frequently, I allowed other people to intrude on my personal writing/working time, or I agreed to help someone with a paper when I did not have the time to do it. In 2014, I want to have a clearer idea of the time I can provide to help others and not allow my helping others to affect my own work.

Write more for fun.

I was productive in 2013, no doubts. It was a lot of hard work and at the end of the year, I was very tired. I realized that I did not spend nearly as much time writing for myself as I should have. I spent a lot of time writing papers, presentations, and for projects, but little time writing for enjoyment. To keep myself grounded and level-headed, I need the escape and release of pleasure writing. I hope that 2014 will see far more of that. As a start, I want to make the goal of updating this little blog at least twice per month!

Get 2 more manuscripts at minimum "under review" by December.

I want to publish more. I have the itch. My goal is to have at least two manuscripts under review by December. For at least one of these, I want to be the first author. I'm excluding book chapters from this goal, too. 

Writing my teaching philosophy and research agenda.

I will need both of these documents as I begin my job search in August. They are not difficult to write but will take some time and energy. I would like to slowly use the next few months getting them prepared so I can send them out for feedback and perfect them by the time the job search begins. That will be one less thing I need to worry about come August. 

Reading Goals

I feel like I read so many books this past year, especially for statistics. I already can foresee how many articles and books I will be reading for my dissertation, but it is important to stay up-to-date on things that are in my field, but not my dissertation topic as well. 

Read at least 4 books about writing.

I love books about writing. They are so fun to read, enjoyable, and completely applicable to my writing sessions. They are a nice break from the sometimes dense academic, research-based writing, too. When I was first introduced to a new way of writing and strategies to help it, I read books about writing quite frequently. However, I got away from that as I got busier with projects. Thankfully, I have a long list of books that I think will make great candidates for accomplishing this goal.

Teaching Goals

I was born to teach, and I love it. Teaching is my bread and butter. Few things make me happier than standing before a class, preparing lessons, and impacting impressionable minds. I love teaching. While I feel I am a strong teacher, there are a few things I would like to improve upon.

Mapping my course.

I would like to try the idea of "course mapping" these next few semesters. Course mapping is based on the idea that the professor sets a timeline and sequence of topics, assignments, and learning objectives. The entire course is built around this map. I think my teaching would be stronger if I could build in connections among topics and a smoother flow of ideas. 

Teaching fewer topics more deeply.

When I taught middle school, I never felt like I had enough time to teach everything I wanted to teach. Now that I teach undergraduates, I KNOW that I don't have enough time to teach everything I want to teach. The entire semester flies by far too quickly, and I always finish going, "I wish I could have covered this more." I realize that through each course, I can only give my students a brief introduction to some topics while delving more deeply into other topics. With the help of my other teaching goal, I hope that I will find the core group of topics I want to really focus on. Then, I will be able to teach these topics deeply while just introducing supplementary topics. 

I have listed out 7 goals for 2014. I believe that is manageable and will keep me focused throughout the year. 

Happy writing, reading, and teaching, academics!