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eveglass... is on my side.
Seriously, I'm rapidly coming to discover this semester that I've got a lot of time on my hands. Objectively, I've got about 8.5 classroom hours a week and another 7 or so hours of homework (perhaps slightly more when assignments are due or before exams, but not by much). Last semester, I had 10 teaching hours, plus about 4-6 prep hours (equivalent to homework).
While this might seem to be about equivalent, I in fact have a fair amount more free time (and less stress) this semester than last. Let us examine:
1. Travel time and waiting time:
- Last semester: I had to go to each of my contract separately. Given that I wanted to be about 15 minutes early for my corporate classes and an hour early for my Vanier ones, this led to a lot of travel / waiting time. Total time spent waiting before class or travelling to work: about 8.5 hours.
- This semester: All my classes are on two days. I have substantial break periods in the middle (2 hours on Tuesday; 3 hours on Thursday), but I actually consider those useable hours because they're in nice, big blocks. I've still got travel time and time between classes (ie: the ones 15 minutes apart), so let's say total travel / waiting time is about 4.5 hours.
2. "Split shift" down-time:
- Last semester: On Mondays and Wednesdays, I worked downtown from 11:30 to 1:00, and then in St. Laurent (a 20-minute walk from my house) from 6:00 to 8:00. Between the time I came home around 1:45 and left again for Vanier around 5:00, I was often tired, anxious, and unable to do very much. Consequently, I consider these hours almost wasted. I suppose I could have done stuff with them if it were absolutely necessary, but I often didn't have the energy. Total time: 6.5 hours.
- This semester: Like I mentioned before, I've got breaks on Tuesday and Thursday of 2 and 3 hours respectively. I put this into generally the same category as my "split shift" downtime from last semester: usually after eating lunch, I just surf the net or do other marginally-productive stuff during that time. Total time: 5 hours.
3. Conflict with mealtimes:
- Last semester: I worked Mondays and Wednesdays through both lunchtime and dinnertime. This led to an obnoxious need to schedule my meals when it didn't feel either comfortable or convenient. Total meals rescheduled: 4.
- This semester: No conflicts for the most part. Tuesday's tutorial overlaps lunch, which may prove to be obnoxious, though. I go to karate after class Tuesday and Thursday evenings, but that's by choice, not work requirement. Total meals rescheduled: 1.
4. Stress:
- Last semester: For some reason, teaching really stressed me out last semester. I don't know what it was: the courses themselves, the content, the time slots... really, I don't know. When I was actually in the class, I was fine, but while I was prepping them, and in the day before and of I was supposed to be teaching, I was often very stressed.
- This semester: Oddly, no. Maybe it's that I'm back at 200-level courses again (and thus they have a much lighter workload than my old classes). Maybe it's that I'm an independent student and there's no real stress to go further unless I want there to be. Maybe it's just weirdly nice to not be the one putting together all the material for the course, and just being the happy little knowledge receptacle. But whatever the reason, I have almost no stress from my coursework this semester. (Stress from other sources, yes, but even those aren't particularly big stressors right now.)
All things considered, then, I've got more time to do stuff and less stress to interrupt my free time.
In fact, I've got quite a lot of free time: even 7 hours of homework isn't much if it's spread over 4 days (Friday to Monday) -- one bigger day of 3-ish hours of work, and about 1 hour each of the other three. And that still gives me Wednesdays completely free.
Yes, Dawson will likely be re-hiring me this semester as a writing tutor, either on Monday or Wednesday (or potentially both). But, being honest with everyone involved, they're only going to give me 3-6 hours. And those are hours which require absolutely no prep work, and (if past semesters are any indicator) often involve my sitting around for several hours at a stretch with nothing to do. I'd still be able to do schoolwork during the down-time there, and even if I couldn't, it won't really cut much into the massive amounts of free time I find myself with this semester.
Coming in the near future: commitments on what sort of productive things I plan to do with all that free time. (Hint #1: spend less time aimlessly surfing the internet.)
Seriously, I'm rapidly coming to discover this semester that I've got a lot of time on my hands. Objectively, I've got about 8.5 classroom hours a week and another 7 or so hours of homework (perhaps slightly more when assignments are due or before exams, but not by much). Last semester, I had 10 teaching hours, plus about 4-6 prep hours (equivalent to homework).
While this might seem to be about equivalent, I in fact have a fair amount more free time (and less stress) this semester than last. Let us examine:
1. Travel time and waiting time:
- Last semester: I had to go to each of my contract separately. Given that I wanted to be about 15 minutes early for my corporate classes and an hour early for my Vanier ones, this led to a lot of travel / waiting time. Total time spent waiting before class or travelling to work: about 8.5 hours.
- This semester: All my classes are on two days. I have substantial break periods in the middle (2 hours on Tuesday; 3 hours on Thursday), but I actually consider those useable hours because they're in nice, big blocks. I've still got travel time and time between classes (ie: the ones 15 minutes apart), so let's say total travel / waiting time is about 4.5 hours.
2. "Split shift" down-time:
- Last semester: On Mondays and Wednesdays, I worked downtown from 11:30 to 1:00, and then in St. Laurent (a 20-minute walk from my house) from 6:00 to 8:00. Between the time I came home around 1:45 and left again for Vanier around 5:00, I was often tired, anxious, and unable to do very much. Consequently, I consider these hours almost wasted. I suppose I could have done stuff with them if it were absolutely necessary, but I often didn't have the energy. Total time: 6.5 hours.
- This semester: Like I mentioned before, I've got breaks on Tuesday and Thursday of 2 and 3 hours respectively. I put this into generally the same category as my "split shift" downtime from last semester: usually after eating lunch, I just surf the net or do other marginally-productive stuff during that time. Total time: 5 hours.
3. Conflict with mealtimes:
- Last semester: I worked Mondays and Wednesdays through both lunchtime and dinnertime. This led to an obnoxious need to schedule my meals when it didn't feel either comfortable or convenient. Total meals rescheduled: 4.
- This semester: No conflicts for the most part. Tuesday's tutorial overlaps lunch, which may prove to be obnoxious, though. I go to karate after class Tuesday and Thursday evenings, but that's by choice, not work requirement. Total meals rescheduled: 1.
4. Stress:
- Last semester: For some reason, teaching really stressed me out last semester. I don't know what it was: the courses themselves, the content, the time slots... really, I don't know. When I was actually in the class, I was fine, but while I was prepping them, and in the day before and of I was supposed to be teaching, I was often very stressed.
- This semester: Oddly, no. Maybe it's that I'm back at 200-level courses again (and thus they have a much lighter workload than my old classes). Maybe it's that I'm an independent student and there's no real stress to go further unless I want there to be. Maybe it's just weirdly nice to not be the one putting together all the material for the course, and just being the happy little knowledge receptacle. But whatever the reason, I have almost no stress from my coursework this semester. (Stress from other sources, yes, but even those aren't particularly big stressors right now.)
All things considered, then, I've got more time to do stuff and less stress to interrupt my free time.
In fact, I've got quite a lot of free time: even 7 hours of homework isn't much if it's spread over 4 days (Friday to Monday) -- one bigger day of 3-ish hours of work, and about 1 hour each of the other three. And that still gives me Wednesdays completely free.
Yes, Dawson will likely be re-hiring me this semester as a writing tutor, either on Monday or Wednesday (or potentially both). But, being honest with everyone involved, they're only going to give me 3-6 hours. And those are hours which require absolutely no prep work, and (if past semesters are any indicator) often involve my sitting around for several hours at a stretch with nothing to do. I'd still be able to do schoolwork during the down-time there, and even if I couldn't, it won't really cut much into the massive amounts of free time I find myself with this semester.
Coming in the near future: commitments on what sort of productive things I plan to do with all that free time. (Hint #1: spend less time aimlessly surfing the internet.)
