Alright, give me all your advice on surviving your first semester as a new PI! I’m starting at a PUI in the middle of the academic year, and teaching two courses. #AcademicSky - ThreadSky

henicorhina.bsky.social • 468 days ago

Alright, give me all your advice on surviving your first semester as a new PI!
I’m starting at a PUI in the middle of the academic year, and teaching two courses.
#AcademicSky

Comments

cenewman0.bsky.social•468 days ago

Wooo congrats! My biggest piece of advice is don't feel pressured to have the entire course done by week 1. Finish the syllabus (even if some assignment categories say "Details will be provided") & earliest lectures and assignments. Do the rest as you go along.

wrightam.bsky.social•468 days ago

This. It’s really tempting to compare to older professors who’ve been at it for decades. Give yourself some grace, focus on a couple big priorities and recognize that all of it will take longer than you think

daveyfwright.bsky.social•468 days ago

I'm still trying to learn this. I'm both super excited and terrified to be teaching an upper level course on Evolutionary & Computational Paleobiology this upcoming semester

wrightam.bsky.social•468 days ago

Jesus Christ do I wish I ever got to teach things in my specialization

henicorhina.bsky.social•468 days ago

I'm considering myself lucky that I get to teach ornithology once every two years!

daveyfwright.bsky.social•468 days ago

Yeah I acknowledge I'm very lucky with respect to the classes I've been teaching. My freshman History of Life course is an absolute blast. The geosci department here has a paleo concentration & is considering a BS in paleobiology, so there's a lot of enthusiasm for upper-level specialty courses, too

wrightam.bsky.social•468 days ago

Oh, I can on paper. But the men in the department scheduled a happy hour/seminar in a bar during my classes so they won’t make.

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•468 days ago

Congratulations! Keep records of everything. Make folders for tenure items for each year. Best folder you will make is the "nice things" where you drop nice emails or notes from others & check it on bad days. Create an everything CV if you don't already have one and add all the things to it.

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•468 days ago

Most importantly, remember to breathe. That first year is a doozy, you will likely be more busy than you ever have been. That in mind, make sure to put time in your calendar for personal things, like exercising or family events, and stick to it. You've got this!

smwadgymar.bsky.social•468 days ago

Don't compare yourself to others and don't aim for perfection in anything you do. You can always tweak or change things over time. If you haven't already, establish a good system for note-taking, bookmarking, etc. Feeling organized will help during stressful times.

smwadgymar.bsky.social•468 days ago

One more. Take a few minutes after each lecture to write down some notes. How far did you get? What would you change next semester? Any new ideas? 2 minutes of notes now we'll be an enormous help the next time you teach that lecture. Disclaimer: I give this advice, yet I am bad at following it.

drmikewiser.bsky.social•468 days ago

My version of doing this:

I have slides for everything I plan to get through, and a bit more.

Before the next class period, I post just the slides I actually *did* get through, and start the next set from where I left off.

Leaves a record of what I got through each day.

andrewstoehr.bsky.social•468 days ago

It's good advice and you are good at giving it. But you still need to work harder on making me follow it. 😁

smwadgymar.bsky.social•468 days ago

It may be hopeless for us, but at least people can learn from our mistakes 😂

ejrollinson.bsky.social•468 days ago

It took me about 3 years (😬) to start actually doing this well - the turning point was integrating it into my to-do list system (I have Todoist boards for each class, research, etc.). I now add these notes as to-do items, with deadlines set to remind me at the time I'm next prepping the course.

smwadgymar.bsky.social•468 days ago

That system sounds great! I think my issue is discipline. I always let other things encroach on time I hoped to set aside for specific tasks. Also, I collapse catatonically after teaching and usually browse the web or something similar for a while. I need to be better about jotting down my notes.

henicorhina.bsky.social•468 days ago

This is great, thank you. I've never heard of Todoist, but I've tried various other productivity software and just always revert back to pen-and-paper (maybe something about my ADD brain). Any tips on how to use Todoist effectively?

ktelliottmicro.bsky.social•468 days ago

Ask your new colleagues if they have some students to recommend to join your lab. They'll learn a ton as you set up the lab, make solutions, etc. You can mostly read papers but they'll be figuring out how the lab works as you set it up and then will be more ready to jump in once experiments start

ktelliottmicro.bsky.social•468 days ago

Ask vendors for new lab discounts and packages!

If there's a summer research program find out how that process works because the timeline could be tight and depending on expectations you probably want students next summer if possible

ktelliottmicro.bsky.social•468 days ago

Build a few class sessions of "TBD" in each syllabus. If you're running behind (likely) this provides that buffer you need.

ktelliottmicro.bsky.social•468 days ago

If you're teaching a course that others teach feel them out for what they're willing to share. I happily share EVERYTHING with anyone who teaches genetics. Why reinvent the wheel? That way you're tweaking and making the course your own but not starting form square one

ktelliottmicro.bsky.social•468 days ago

Remember to take care of yourself. Sleep. Eat. Take a break. The first year or so is intense when all of your classes are new. It does ease up when you start teaching courses again. It's still a lot don't get me wrong. But it's not quite so overwhelming

henicorhina.bsky.social•468 days ago

Genetics just so happens to be one of the courses that I'm teaching! Any chance that you would be willing to share some materials?

ktelliottmicro.bsky.social•468 days ago

Absolutely!! Email me and I'll send them (after 1/2 as I'm grading and then busy with the holidays but I'll get my materials to you early in the new year) elliottk at tcnj dot edu

henicorhina.bsky.social•468 days ago

Ooo. Adding some TBD is a great idea. Thanks!

sarahhird.bsky.social•468 days ago

Congrats Oscar! You may already know this but: teaching (prep) will take up every single minute you give it. So try to have boundaries set for your other priorities (like sleep) and know that 90% good (or 75% or…) can be good enough. No lecture is perfect!

drmikewiser.bsky.social•468 days ago

Accept that your student evaluations will be harsher when students see you as prof instead of TA. You can act exactly the same, and scores will go down. Things students dislike about the workload, their grade, even the meeting time they assign to the prof, not the TA. You don't really suddenly suck.

andyfraser.bsky.social•468 days ago

Don’t be afraid to say NO to things! Be as clear as you can about YOU want to achieve and contribute and try to hold that course. It’s hard, you won’t always succeed but the clearer you can be about you path, the easier it’ll be. Good luck - and it’s an awesome time, enjoy it as much as you can!

henicorhina.bsky.social•468 days ago

Thanks! This is something that my postdoc advisor really tried to drill into me. It's been a slow process, but I think I'm getting there.

hormiga.bsky.social•468 days ago

https://scienceforeveryone.substack.com/p/the-first-days-of-a-new-tenure-track-faculty-job

danielbolnick.bsky.social•468 days ago

http://ecoevoevoeco.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-things-we-wished-we-had-known.html?m=1

A blog post based on feedback from many new faculty o things we wished we had known when we started.

sheldonbirds.bsky.social•468 days ago

Great advice, but sorry to see that the shipping pallets of pipette tips story that was on Twitter is no longer live. Surely worth a reshare on this platform?!

danielbolnick.bsky.social•468 days ago

Oh! I deleted my Twitter account a couple months ago. I’m afraid it may be gone. The replies were so good….

sheldonbirds.bsky.social•468 days ago

🥺😢

danielbolnick.bsky.social•468 days ago

danielbolnick.bsky.social•468 days ago

Found a screenshot at least.

sheldonbirds.bsky.social•468 days ago

Somehow this is worse - leaves all the thread of replies tantalisingly out of reach

henicorhina.bsky.social•468 days ago

It really should. We can't let that story get lost to the sands of time

sheldonbirds.bsky.social•468 days ago

We were chuckling over it here just the other day (I have my own version of Bolnick's Pipette Trauma of course, as I'm sure do many others!)

henicorhina.bsky.social•468 days ago

Thanks! I've got that one bookmarked and I'm sure I'll be coming back to it repeatedly

jsharbro.bsky.social•467 days ago

Invent the courses this year. Perfect them over the next 20.

coreywelch.bsky.social•468 days ago

Manage the start of your classes by playing music before lectures (have students submit requests), you play songs while you set up and students settle in. Turn off music and conversations stop, you begin lecture. Pavlovian.

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