Lessons Learned

One of the things I make my production students do is send me a lessons learned document after every project. When I did this at the doc institute I would just have them make a bullet list. And also we'd sit in a circle and debrief based off those lists. That works better with grad students than undergrads. When I asked these kids to share what they've learned so that people who hadn't gone yet could avoid making the same mistakes all I got was crickets. I had to sit there silently for 2 minutes before anyone would offer something. But I still make them write something.

So because I think self-assessment is a useful thing, here are my lessons learned from my first semester on the tenure track:

• Pay attention to scheduling assignments so all your classes aren't turning things in at the same time.
• I almost got this right until one of the assignments had to slip for assorted reasons and the next thing I knew I was drowning in grading.
• Be more clear about what the participation grade is based on so that they don't get so whiney when they learn the hard way that some classes count more for it than others.
• Workshopping rough drafts even when you're not grading them seems to be useful.
• Actually schedule appointments in your calendar for going to the gym or you never will.
• Actually schedule time every week (every day?) for working on scholarship.
• Movies are not a hobby any more.
• When it comes time for tenure review people will care way more about creative output than about being prepared for class or getting grading turned around quickly.
• I have such mixed feelings about that. These kids are paying a boatload of money.