My entire (work) day was consumed by meeting with three students.
10:00a-12:30p: Met with a student whose aunt died unexpectedly during the semester and missed a whole section. Tutored her on questions she had from the study guide in preparation for her taking the final exam next week. Also listened to her and waxed philosophical a bit on why a good God would let bad things happen to good people.
12:30-1:30: lunch
1:30-3:00: Met with research student, journal club style. Discussed every detail of some seminal works in the area of his project. He really can't glean the big picture from just reading the articles, so the discussion is very helpful to him. I use a Socratic method, and either he is very intent on finding the answer himself if he doesn't know it, OR he is too stubborn to admit he doesn't know. In any case, there are VERRRRY long pauses after I ask a question while he skims the paper looking for the answer.
In discussing / teaching the papers I actually "process" them in a far more thorough manner than when I just read them, even if I do so painstakingly carefully. So the "teaching" really helps me understand the papers better myself. Everyone wins.... it is just very time consuming.
3:15-4:15 Met with an incoming student to advise the student on fall course choices. This is his very first impression of his new department. I work hard to establish a good rapport with these students. He's interested in Science and English. We got him two classes of each, and a nice schedule that has no early classes, no late classes and yet a lunch break. Victory.
Yes, its summer. My workday spanned from 10-4 ish. That's just fine by me. My colleagues are all at home making bread or putting in their gardens instead. I'm still "working".
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