THE POWER OF HABITS AND RITUALS

Post date: May 17, 2016 9:07:52 PM

THE POWER OF HABITS AND RITUALS: Blog Post for May 17, 2016

Every occupation has them: habits and rituals. For almost 25 years, my life has been focused on the rituals of higher education: the prep week of meetings before the start of classes, the first week of classes, midterms, finals, spring break, and graduation. I’ve spent three or four weeks of my summer prepping for the fall, and a week of late fall prepping for the spring semester. I think I have these rituals down to a science. As I turned in my final set of grades over the weekend, I had very mixed emotions.

I realized it was the last time I would push myself to wrap up the semester, but also that it was a very familiar process: and the word ritual came to mind as the theme for this blog post. The dictionary defined a ritual as "a detailed method of procedure faithfully or regularly followed." I recognized during my recovery period that I had developed a lot of habits as a teacher, but had not thought of my periodic duties as a ritual before. As a former minister, the word ritual seemed even more meaningful as I reflected on the way my life had revolved around the structure of fall and spring semesters for the past 25 years.

We acquire habits when we do something over and over again. I love bags of all types, and carry enough pens and sticky notes to supply a small group with materials. I create shortcuts to dictionaries and the Purdue OWL on my iPad, which I take most places. I love clipboards both small and large and have one with me at all times. When I was most successful losing weight, I had developed the habit of writing down everything I ate. As a teacher, I made it a habit to be prepared, to return work as quickly as possible while giving feedback, and to be willing to shake things up from time to time and reinvent my courses.

What did I come up with for a list of rituals?

Preparing for the new semester: check the class roster and print them off, and then copy and paste the list into word. Revise the syllabus and tweak the dates on the calendar/due dates. Get the Course Pack revised and drop it off at the Bookstore. Update the class websites and copy them over if multiple sections.

Preparing for the first week: walk around campus and check out the classrooms for any updates to classroom technology. Pack my rolling bags with supplies. Create my distribution lists so that I can send out weekly messages to students. Update the first day/first week agenda. Attend the mandatory meetings and in-service.

Weekly: check due dates and the class websites to see what needs to be graded. Send out weekly messages to students with updates, reminders, and checklists.

Early Alerts/Midterms: check the gradebooks online to see who is participating and turning in work, and who needs

Finals: check the tests for the two classes taking objective finals. Print off copies of the final day activity for the Literature class to work in pairs. Create a signup sheet for the Education students’ presentations. Bring the iPad to take pictures. Grade the tests. Read and grade the reflective essays. Fill out the check off sheets for presentations. Award points for participation. Export gradebooks for a backup copy. Post grades and contact each student with a very brief email and his or her grade.

I generally spend a day or two straightening my work office, and my home office, at the end of the semester. Somehow, it is easier to ignore the clutter until after my grades are turned in.

My habits of checking college email and our Course Management System, Canvas, multiple times a day, even over the weekend, are so ingrained that I predict that this will be an interesting challenge going into retirement. Another habit is organizing my work by filling out a To Do sheet on my clipboard, after consulting my calendar: I continue to use paper, because it forces me to focus and prioritize.

I look back at pictures of me as a young minister/minister’s wife: there I am with a messy office, with lots of books, notebooks, and paper everywhere. I haven’t changed that much: the typewriter has been replaced, of course, and I try to work smarter now, with Google Docs. However, I’ve always been able to entertain myself for a few hours with some paper and pencils, some books, a project, a calendar, and a purpose.

What new rituals might I decide to explore? What new habits will I acquire in retirement?

• Spending an afternoon at the local library, bookstore, or Panera -- reading, browsing or socializing?
• Scheduling several hours of work on writing projects daily, followed by more social time?
• Spending a day a week with my grandsons over the summer?
• Taking walks with Mike around the trails on campus?
• Doing more decluttering, room by room?
• Planning trips together and then traveling to see friends, Civil War battlefields, and maybe the mountains out west?
• Developing some new hobbies? Mike got me a jewelry making kit as well as a Raspberry Pi kit for Christmas. I also have some adult coloring books.
• Volunteering for a nonprofit, school, library, soup kitchen, or political cause?

Who knows? Part of the fun of retiring is that I feel like a small child with a brand new notebook. I get to turn the page, and write a new adventure. In fact, one of the things I most want to do in retirement is to write! I plan to keep blogging, so I will share the adventure.

What habits and rituals do you have in your career field? How have they shaped you? What do you dream about doing in retirement? I'd love to hear from you, and compare notes.

May 17, 2016