… of my paternity leave. And I am already sure that I will miss my daughter, when I start working again. But I am also looking forward to more teaching as the lectures are taking shape. The framework is done (including the most important dates – like midterm exam and deadlines for graded assignments). I am making good progress on the contents, although I am not too sure yet, how much time I should allocate for the part that reviews material that students have already heard in CEGEP.I guess I will consult with the previous instructors …
Tag: teaching
Impressions from my teaching duties at McGill
Lecture preparations
Although I have not started my new job at Concordia University yet, I am already busy preparing the lectures I will be teaching in the fall term (and balancing the whole thing with my paternity leave). I will be teaching 2 sections of an introductory analytical chemistry course and 1 section of intermediate analytical chemistry.Fortunately, I have lots of material available thanks to the generosity of previous instructors, who have provided me with a good framework including problems. That is a great help, now that I conceptually lay out the courses myself and prepare the individual lectures.
Paternity leave …
My daughter Sophie was born on June 16 and I am currently on paternity leave, enjoying our new family life. I use the precious time that is left for some small work on my manuscripts and I will start preparing lectures for the fall term next week.
The instructors, who have taught the lectures I will be teaching in fall in the past have generously offered me their notes; thus, I have a framework for both lectures making the preparation a little easier for me.
Some information about my job at Concordia
I have already moved my stuff to Concordia, now that I have received the formal offer from the Dean’s office. It is a limited term appointment at “Assistant Professor†level, which is not bad and a significant improvement with regard to salary and benefits.
I will teach 3 courses each in the fall and winter terms, analytical chemistry for the most part and I am excited at the prospect of teaching full time for at least a while.Preparations have to start well before I officially take my new position, because I would not be ready otherwise.
I mostly work from home now, which gives me quite a bit of flexibility for the preparations that I need to do as a future dad ;). I make good progress, though, with my articles.
Contract expired & new job ahead!
My contract has expired due to a shortage of funds of my advisor. At the moment I wait for my daughter to be born and I will then be on parental leave until mid-August, when I will start working at Concordia University.
However, I continue writing the articles that need to be finished – one on my snow sampling campaign in Tremblant and Mont-Saint-Hilaire and (at least) one reporting my results from my field trip to the Arctic. For the former I have calculated nice back-trajectories to determine the source region of the air that passed over the area prior to sampling in order to get an idea of the origin of VOC that I have identified and quantified in the snow pack using the NOAA HYSPLIT model.
Got the job!
Today I have received the (good!) news that I will start teaching at Concordia University in mid-August. I was very happy to hear that the search committee has selected me and submitted a recommendation to the Dean’s office. Pending approval, the university will make me an offer to teach full-time (3 courses each) for 2 semesters with a potential renewal opportunity, should there be a need. There are a few details to be worked out, but I am looking forward to new challenges ahead.
Done with exam corrections
I am done with marking exams and I am glad that it is over 😉 Thankfully, I was well prepared with a completed sample exam and points to be awarded for each single line of a correct answer. This helped me enormously (also in the past) to ensure a consistent quality of the marking. I have put the marks online (I use Moodle as a course software, which I have grown rather fond of, although I mostly use it as a file repository) and announced additional office hours. There was a steady stream of students today, though it was not too busy. Most went through their exams on there own and had a question here and there and a few tried to negotiate a better mark. I try to be as transparent as possible with my marking scheme, so everybody who had a look was usually satisfied with the way I marked the exams. Should I get the position that I have applied for, there will be even more marking to do, because I will teach more courses, but I am getting more and more efficient at it.
Back to Montreal … but no time to rest
I am back after 3 eventful weeks in Vienna, Austria, but there is no time to rest. The final exam of the Chemistry course that I teach at Concordia University is coming up and while I finished all bureaucratic procedures before my departure, I brace myself for 110 exams to correct in the weeks to come.
10 days in Vienna
The first 10 days in Vienna are over and I have already given two talks – both went very well. Apart from that I will be visiting the Vienna University of Technology once more next Tuesday for some more exchanges concerning atmospheric chemistry research and I am very much looking forward to it.
I have also finished my poster for EGU starting in a week – all there is left is printing the poster. I have found a cheap place to print, so no major obstacles a head. No wait … I still need to sit down and put a detailed schedule together. With 3 AGU meetings under my belt it should not be too difficult. Loads of interesting stuff though – I have to be careful, what I choose and what will be left out.
I am also in touch with quite a few students concerning the lecture. The final is coming up (shortly after my return) and I currently answer questions by email before some additional office hours a few days before the exam. So far I can keep up and I answer questions within 24 hours.
Last Post Jan 19 – Way Back …
… and it probably shows, how busy I have been in the past week & months. So I will fill up the space with new impressions and backdate things a little as well – I will reflect a bit on the things I’ve done.
Anyway, I just arrived in Austria (yesterday) and I already gave a seminar at the Vienna University of Technology – very pleasant, very enjoyable. I was asked to give the talk in English – better for me anyway, because I rarely speak about my work in German. More presentations to come and I will also participate in the European Geosciences Union at the Austria Center in Vienna in mid-April.
On the side I support students by email and answer their questions, trying to help them with their preparations for the final exam. Things are not too busy yet, so I can concentrate on my presentations.