The new semester is off and running. I think I feel busier than I really am, but I can't tell because I both look and feel busy.
I am definitely feeling the strain of four new preps. I'm still ahead of the game in that I've got the first half of the semester all worked out, but that means that the work I'm normally doing during the semester isn't getting done, and this is how getting backed up begins. Actually, this means I'm already backed up. That's not good. But the upside is that I've got time on my side right now. There are still several weeks before I absolutely need those notes.
I'm also feeling the extra burden created by teaching two calculus classes. The calculus classes are 3 days a week instead of the normal 2 days a week, which means that I'm losing half of my Fridays to teaching those extra classes. That's causing more of a backup because it's hard to relieve the work congestion with less time. This is also not good. But the upside is that all of the classes are going very well. They're all about 10 students each, which is a very manageable number when it comes to grading. Furthermore, most of the students look like they're starting off the semester in good shape, which means less of a burden for me.
The math group has a new project that landed in our laps about a month ago. We are partnering with the Henderson Space and Science Center, which is looking to build a relationship with Nevada State College to create a science museum/educational facility sort of similar to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Our task is to try to take a third grade class (or classes) and demonstrate how it can be possible to bring them up to the Common Core 3rd grade standards from the 2nd grade Nevada State Standards. An analysis of the standards shows that the 3rd grade Common Core is basically equivalent to the 5th grade Nevada State Standards, which means that we're optimistically (and ambitiously) trying to move students through three levels of math in a single year. This is going to chew up a lot of time. That's not good. But the upside is that I'm actually looking forward to doing this. It will be good to get involved with some of the local schools. Plus this will be a good chance for me to get to know my math colleagues a lot better and to really help to cement a collaborative culture in the group. I also think that a strong success here will help establish us as an influential department (at least within our region), which will also help us as we launch our straight math degree a few years from now. There's a lot of optimism in those last couple statements, but that's okay. That optimism is supplying some of my energy right now.
I've also volunteered to be a social coordinator of sorts for the Liberal Arts and Sciences. I'm scheduling faculty gatherings in the homes of faculty for a program we're calling "What Makes You Tick?" The purpose of these events is to help to build a sense of community and closeness among faculty even as we continue to grow (in the last two years, the number of faculty has basically doubled). There will be a meal and designated speaker at each meeting who will spend about 15 minutes sharing something about their lives that is relevant or important to them. It's a simple idea that I think will be very effective. Being introverted and all means that I'm a little bit more "out there" than I want to be on this, and this is taking up extra bits of my time and energy. That's not good. On the upside, I'm amused because I'm putting a lot of my small group training and experiences into play. One of the goals of a small group is to build community, and that's what we're doing with these meetings. So I feel very well equipped for understanding and working through the basic logistics and clearly communicating the expectations of the various participants.
Okay... enough with the "That's not good. But on the upside..." theme.
For the upcoming sermon series at church, I'm working with Daniel and Pastor Roger to write the small group discussion questions. So far, this hasn't eaten up too much of my time. And it's something that I really enjoy doing. I'm reminded of when Daniel, Sean, and I were doing this for Rick (even though it wasn't even clear that we had any small groups using the questions at that time). It feels good to get back to actually writing studies because it's helping me to spend more time thinking about those sorts of things that I've otherwise been doing.
Speaking of Daniel, he had the chance to speak at UNLV's InterVarsity a couple days ago. I think this is the first time that I've heard him in that context. He did good enough to be extended an invitation to come back again, which is great. He was given a somewhat difficult topic (Jacob wrestling with God), but was able to put together a well-composed talk that made a number of meaningful and important connections.
Speaking of speaking at UNLV's InterVarsity, I'm going to be doing that a few weeks from now. I've got the easier topic of David's repentance after his encounter with Bathsheba. One thing that I know I'm struggling with a little bit is making sure that I keep the ideas focused around a single theme. Unfortunately, there are many, many things to talk about in that story, so I'm going to need to keep myself from drifting into too many side journeys and keep moving towards my end goal. The hook that I'm working on right now is "Your theology of sin drives your theology of grace." In other words, "You cannot fully appreciate the depth of grace until you fully appreciate the depth of your sin." I think it's a strong hook. So we'll see where that one goes. (And that's another thing eating away at my time.)
I got to eat at Bacchanal at Caesar's Palace this evening with my cousin and her friends. After eating, we wandered around the strip for a couple hours and just took in the sights. That was fun. It feels like it's been a while since I've played tourist out there. This also ate up some of my time, but this is a high enough priority that I don't really care. It was a birthday and there are just some people that you know you need to make space for. But it does mean that I'm going to be working from home for a while tomorrow.
The home remodeling project is stuck in a rut for the moment because the contractor isn't responding to me OR the designer, but I don't really want to get into that right now. So instead, I'm just going to stop here.
