One of the big exercises in 168 Hours is to keep a time log for a week. I’ve posted my public logs twice (here and here). Many of my readers have done the same thing, but getting people to do this is often difficult, because it’s not easy! Time goes along whether you record it or not. But I think we can learn a lot from the experience.
So I was happy to see that someone else posted a time log completely apart from my nagging! Philip Nel is a professor of English at Kansas State University, where he directs the Program in Children’s Literature. He decided to post a time log in part because of political questions, raised recently, of how hard the public employees of state universities are actually working. He noted that, as a student, he had no idea what professors did with their time, so he posted a one week time log to show people. Regardless of what you think on the political question of state university funding, the time log is fascinating. Here is Monday’s link, which also has links to the other days.
As an former (and soon-to-be again) elementary school teacher I often get the comment of how much “time off” we have. A time log would enlighten people as to all the behind-the-scenes things we must do. The new data-driven directives are keeping us bogged down in paperwork. Most of our preparation periods during work hours are now spent in meetings with colleagues, so grading, lesson planning and preparation have to be done in our “free time.”
I am spending large amounts of time, even now, reading about autism, curriculum changes, special education laws and State standards, as the population and curriculum of the school I am returning to has changed drastically while I’ve been out.
I’d like to see a stay-at-home Mom post a time log too. Many people wonder what we do all day too!