Aw, hope you're feeling better soon, d...

best wishes for a speedy recovery d...

Hope you feel better soon x

Hope you have plenty of Fishermens' Friends, d!!

Hope you are feeling better soon xx

Oh Diapson.
Hope you are better soon.
Bev

Thanks. Hope you get some more sleep tomorrow!



I don't know. I'll see him every night this week, at the shows, but I'm not going to attempt to talk to him there again, I think Ill just ignore his presence. We're supposed to be going for coffee on Thursday though, I might be able to talk to him then...
Hope you feel better too Diapason.

now that my dissertation is in. i have to work on a presentation regarding Wagner's staging of the Ring at Bayreuth in 1876 for this thursday. learn music for a rehearsal tomorrow, various other organ stuff. also another essay due in two weeks....arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Well you wouldn't want to be bored, would you....

You will do it, and what is more you will do it very well. One step at a time....

No more dissertation.

Hope you get the other things done okay, LK. I know it sounds a lot, but it's much less than your dissertation was. Your presentation will be fine, because you know your stuff and that always shows through in presentations.

Argggggh

In the middle or writing up my project and I have a migraine

Poor Lottie.



I get migraines too, and they're not very nice. I have some really good stuff for them though that kind of just dissolves on my tongue and does a good job of getting rid of them.

Stupid group work projects. Person in group who was going to be team leader's gone sick, so we're one person down and muggins has got stuck managing. I hate managing. Everyone in group seems to expect me to tell them exactly what to do all the time. Can't get anything done because I keep being nagged. To compound the issue, they like me to tell them what to do (preferably something easy and trite) so they can then ****** off home/outside/towastetime? for hours on end when I have no idea what they're actually doing... and then return with 15mins work or so? Or is it?

*in despair*

How can I force people to stay together and work as a team? How am I supposed to know what exactly they should be doing? How am I supposed to stay sane?

Worried that I'm not being trusting enough here, but my group really aren't filling me with confidence.

Poor Tamsin.

Can you talk to a tutor about it? they might be abe to suggest strategies for managing the group dynamics.

Try to set each person something very definite to do, with a deadline. This is what's done in the work environment, so they will need to get used to it! They needn't stick together in the sense of working in the same building as long as their bit is done by the deadline. Ideally, the whole group discusses initially what needs to be done, and people are given a degree of freedom in which bit they take on; the leader should only allocate (perhaps by tossing a coin) if there is a real fight over one bit of the work. That gives "ownership" of the work to whoever takes it on; some people may need to work in twos - depends what your project is.

How far ahead the deadline is depends on how long your project is, and could be tomorrow or next week. Set a meeting time at the deadline when everyone reports back and discusses the overall project. Some people may be given short tasks initially, others long ones, but they should all report back with either an interim report or a full report. That way, no-one is left floundering alone for too long, and interest in the project should be kept up. It also stops people feeling that they've been sidelined into one tiny area of the project which no-one else cares about.

Leadership should not mean that you have to think for everyone - it should mean ensuring that the team pulls together, and that's easiest when everyone feels responsible. If people are regularly not meeting deadlines/meetings, the rest of the group should nag them - it shouldn't all be left to you. Any real problems with co-operation, see your supervisor.

Best of luck!

Don't even get me started on that website!! It's telling me I've been paid a years worth of loans already and I haven't!!!!



I know how that feels but stay strong, you have just as much right to be there as them!! I'm sure friends don't realise what they're doing sometimes, I'm in a bit of a rough patch with some of my "best" friends...though I doubt they've even noticed!!



I hate migraines hope you're feeling better soon!

And hope you're feeling better soon too diapason!!

Thanks CC, I hope your friendship issue works out soon too.

Thanks for your good wishes DaisyChain and everyone.

(I'd rather die than have Fisherman's Friend I know a VERY rude joke about F F's but not here

Thank goodness I finished early - went home put feet up,fell asleep and J actually made me a cup of tea

Throat still like the bottom of a budgie's cage

Managed to put on a brave face today, so no-one ran screaming from me, crossing themselves in the process.

Thanks everyone for the useful advice. I wrote that message in the worst part of today, and things picked up since. I made a list of everything I thought needed to be done today, asked everyone else if they had any other suggestions (they didn't really) and sent everyone off to do it.

Couple of hours later I had a phone call "I've found thisthisandthis, how does it compare to what you've got? Would you like me to do xyz?" Was very happy. (Yay! Initiative!) Second member of group got what he was asked to do done in the same room as me, and then we worked on something else together. (Also yay!)

Fourth member is a bit problematic, as he's the weakest member of the group academically, and isn't very confident about most of the work we need to do. But he also won't hang about with me so I can help him. I can try to ask him to do easy stuff, but that seems a bit patronising. I also suggested to everyone to look over their old notes on a few things we'll need to do tomorrow this evening, in the hope he (and the others) would be a bit more prepared. He's also volunteered to do a particular bit of the project (costing), which I've agreed to, but it can't be done till after everything else so in the meantime I'm a bit stumped.

Still, feeling more postive now. And I'm getting round to supressing the urge to repeat everyone's work because I could do it better... I don't have time to do it better, and everything I've seen so far as been good.

I have dissolvey things too and they're okay but so bitter they make me feel sick. Today they didn't work. But I took lots of paracetamol and went to my viola lesson anyway and enjoyed it so much I forgot my head was hurting so much. Migraines make me so tired though and I'm shattered now. I should be

Pleased to hear that things weren't as bad as you thought, Tamsin. Hope it continues to go well.

Went to doctor today - I have "Infected Laryngitis"

Everything I eat feels as if it is made of broken glass - even yoghort. Mustn't have hot drinks, mustn't take antibiotics (don't know why ) and the hot flushes would do any lady proud!!

Top it all off - me backs gorn! Hobbling about like Quasimodo again.

I'm not ready for this - do you hear me? I'm not doin me profile picture justice at the moment

Why do I always have to leave things till the last minute?!?! It's gone 10pm and I haven't started writing the sleeve note for my composition, which has to be in tomorrow morning and I'm meant to be practising my part for said composition in order to record it tomorrow afternoon!

Because you're human? At least 90% of us are like this!

I have to admit, having had a daughter who was just like you in this respect, and a son who is scarily the other way, I know which is easier to live with! But so few of us are built this way.

Son got his come-uppance in the first term at university, when one of the tutors e-mailed to ask him where his homework was - he had to suggest she looked in the pile of stuff from the previous week, as he'd handed it in so early!

Hope it all gets done before 5am!!

If it takes till 5am, I think I may give recorder practice a miss! I need 17 points about things that have influenced me and I have 8 so far, so I'm wildly searching for things that are vaguely similar to my composition. Nothing's written as of yet.

AAAAARGH!! Stupid Naxos player thing!!! It won't play any of the tracks I need to listen to, although if I type in random other things, they all work fine!

I feel like bawling like a toddler about something that's hurt me.

But what's the point

Anybody up for a

Awwww Lottie, you definitely need a big hug

My week has sucked but its FRIDAY

Here you go, Lottie.

Sometimes this can work to your advantage...I noticed that all the people in my class at uni who started writing their dissertations really, really early ended up writing twice as much as was allowed and having to spend weeks and weeks desperately trying to cut half the words out! (I am NOT exaggerating when I say they wrote twice as much as the word limit - I know a couple of people who wrote even more than this). They were still finalising this mammoth editing task the afternoon the dissertation was due in. Whereas I started mine, em...rather closer to the deadline, and handed it in a whole day in advance!

What an awful day. *finds hole in ground and crawls into it*

sorry you've had a lousy day.

I could write a long rant about the perils and frustrations of group work here, but I'm just too exhuasted. I'm tired of not being able to get on with my share of the work for being pestered by everyone else about how they should do theirs.

I now have to try and finish the energy balances over umpteen unit operations: Everyone else managed to finish their work (or abandoned it to me), but I haven't managed to get mine done (due to excess pestering/ doing the most difficult stuff). And if I don't get it done tonight, there isn't anything I can get them all do tomorrow till I've done it! I'm spending a fair bit of time just thinking of things I can ask people to do, just to get them out of my hair, which doesn't quite seem right!

I've mostly sorted the group dynamics out, but don't seem to have quite mastered delegating and getting people to go away and use their own brains/gumption/commonsense/abilitytoopenabookandread.

Why are my undergraduates (most of whom obtained 4 A grades at A-level) incapable of doing anything for themselves? If they read the module handbook and course regulations they have been given, then they would know the answers to most of the questions they keep emailing to me - and if they looked at their lecture notes and did the associated reading then they would know the answers to the rest of their questions.

I shouldn't need to keep answering questions like 'how much of the module is the exam worth' (answer in handbook), 'do we have any more tutorials' (answer on timetable), 'what mark do I need to get to pass the year' (answer in course regs), 'what topics do we need to know' (see handbook and lecture notes), 'what is X' (you've had four lectures on it - look at the lecture notes and then tell me what you don't understand).

All of the infortmation they are asking me to tell them is available on the module section of the univeristy intranet. They have to log onto the system to ask me the question in the first place, so why on earth can't they use their own brains and eyes...

I don't mind helping students who are genuinely struggling (in fact I enjoy working with these students and seeing their progress), but I do expect them to at least try to do things for themselves first and to come to me with a clear idea of what they do and don't understand and what they have and haven't tried. I am not here to supply basic information to students who can't be bothered to look things up for themselves, or do their own work.

All I can say, Flossie, is that I know exactly what you mean. To be honest, I think 4A grades at Alevel is a poor measure of common sense or gumption.

The main thing thats got to me in doing this current project (hack together a design of a methanol factory in two weeks) is the laziness of the students around me. The vast majority don't seem to remember how to do basic fundamentals we did in the first year, nor can they be bothered to look any of it up in a book. I'm tired of being passed work based on dodgy internet sites ("Well, I found this enthalpy calculator thing online..." Me: "Funny how the numbers are all positive". Them: "Why would they be negative?" *Tamsin looks for a handy brick wall to bang her head against*)


That said, the other problem with the module is that the lecturer running it doesn't do a very good job of making it organised, or realistic. We have to produce engineering drawings of equipment, for example, despite never having done a technical drawing course, or being taught to use any software for it (nor is any available). Things work both ways.

Do you answer their questions? Or do you suggest that they look in the appropriate place?

I point them towards the appropriate place. They need to be able to work and think independently (this is one of the hallmarks of university level study and employers will expect our graduates to have these skills - plus these skills are essential for anyone going on to higher degrees), and answering questions which they can look up for themselves doesn't help them in the long-term because encourages dependence on me. They are reminded regularly to look at things like the handbook and we spend a full tutorial talking through things like this and the expectations of independent learning, differences between A-level and degree study or 1st and 2nd year undergrad study etc. My aim is to get my students to the point where they don't actually need me at all (apart from to discuss ideas, concepts and issues) because they have the skills to do things for themselves, can identify their own weeknesses and things they don't understand and have the initiative to be able to work out solutions and find information.

A lot of the students we have come from elite/priviledged backgrounds where they were heavily coached at school and are accustomed to the idea that teachers should tell them everything they need to write in essays etc and believe that they are entitled to good marks (and if they don't get the mark they want then it is perceived by many students as being the 'fault' of staff rather than them having to take responsibility for their learning). It's a bit like someone assuming that they are entitled to a distinction for all their music exams, even if they haven't put in the work required to learn the music and aural/sightreading skills, and then saying that it's their teacher's fault that they have 'only' got a pass or a merit. Yes, it is my job to try and inspire them about the subject - but the reality is that a lot of students are doing degrees because it's what's expected of them and they want the 'univeristy experience' (i.e. social life) rather than because they want to study.

I am quite happy to help students who are genuinely struggling with work, but expect them to have made a resonable attempt at doing it for themselves. A key indicator for this is whether they can actually tell me what they are having problems with - a student who is simply wanting me to tell them what to do (i.e. me do the work for them) typically won't have got to the point where they can tell me what they are struggling with, whereas a student who has tried will be able to say what they've tried and where they are stuck.

Good. That's exactly what I would do. Sometimes though when people moan about "why do they keep asking me to do x when they can do it themselves?" the answer is because you keep doing it for them!

Reminds me of the mother of an ex-boyfriend of mine - used to do everything for him then wondered why he couldn't cope on his own. It used to drive me to distraction.

No, I don't do it for them - and I explain early on in the year why I don't. Yes, I want my students to do as well as possible in my modules, but I can also see the bigger picture and the ways in which my modules fit into their degree and learning as a whole. There are some tutors though who do take a shorter-term view and overguide students so that they get really good marks for certain essays at the expense of their overall development. Often the tutors who do this are the ones who are new to teaching and are feeling insecure themselves, and I can see how it is easy to think that if you help students more then they will do better. The problem is (apart from time!) that it's generally not a lot of use a student getting a first for one thing if they don't also develop the skills required along the way - because then they are less likely to achieve well overall. A student will do better overall with solid 2.1s for everything than they will with one first (achieved through heavy coaching) and 2.2s for other modules.

That was where I was going wrong with my group. But I was being asked such trivial questions, that I could just answer off the top of my head. Trouble with that was that I was tending to spit out something (they found) quite complicated at top speed while distracted with what I was doing.

The questions have moved on to slightly more ambitious stuff now, where I can quite honestly say "I don't know off the top of my head, try looking in xyz". Work (mine, that is) is going much better as a result. Either that or they listened to my rant about thinking for themselves...

My group has also agreed that if I haven't finished my individual part of the project, they'll sort the group report and leave me to get on with it. Pleased that they've noticed how much more work I've done. Either that or they've remembered that as group leader, I'm the one that writes up everything they've contributed and therefore need to be kept happy .

Either way, I'm feeling somewhat less furious with them all.



I agree that too many students arrive at Uni having been spoon fed by their private schools. At the same time though, its the Uni's problem if they can't identify students who can think for themselves but haven't been drilled in how to jump through the hoops required for 4As at A-level. I'm not in favour of positive discrimination, but I think the admissions process isn't really fit for purpose.

Oh the joys of being a peri.....

Arrive at the primary school to start my day's recorder teaching (three half hour lessons, back to back, in different rooms, teaching a total of fourteen little darlings....)

As I walk into the Year 2 area to start the first class I notice there are signs up saying "Year 2 SATS Quiet Please". These signs are standing on the school's three (yes, three) music stands.....

So I ask one of the Year 2 teachers if I could possibly have the music stands back for the kids to put their music on for recorder lessons.

"Why?" she asks.....

"Because the kids won't be able to see their music otherwise" I reply.

"But we need the signs for the SATS."

"And are the SATS happening right now?" I ask

"No, it's lunchtime"

Whereupon I go and collect the music stands. And am met by the other Y2 class teacher.

"Could L eat her lunch during recorder class? She gets awfully hungry and can't wait until 12.30 to have her food"

So I explain politely that this isn't a practical option, that eating and blowing down recorders don't work very well together.
Not to mention that if one pupil is eating in class, the others will want to do likewise and the chances of getting any playing to happen are negligible.
And there aren't actually any tables in the room we have to work in, so there will be problems of what to do with the lunchboxes......

Oh yes, and the Year 2s have all left their recorders in their classrooms. Which they are not allowed to enter while SATS are on.....

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

One wonders what is wrong with a wall and some blu-tack...

People at that age will probably steal the blu tak off the wall, haha...

We once caught a girl levaing the office with 3 'spare' office toilet rolls in her bag !
(we gave her a sack instead!)

When I was working in New Scotland Yard, somebody stole two trophies!

I really don't know Miss Ross

suffering with a cold (managed to survive quite a few rehearsals and a concert during the week, but i have a concert tomorrow, help!!!!) and there's a lot of work to be done, as finals are looming up.

also, i spotted a BIG FAT MOUSE at my flat's kitchen (i'm in uni accommodation) last night and i screamed with what's little left of my voice.

I got up to watch tv, but no my boyfriend has to play Xbox

L-K I suggest you make a huge fuss to your accomodation services centre. Mice in the kitchens really isn't acceptable.

Also, find out about a mitigating circumstances form for any assessments while you're ill / that you might be less prepared for due to being ill. Hope you're feeling better soon.

One very sick cat.
The brush cutter not working and the grass now nearly shoulder high.
The washing line full of clean washing has just broken.
Toothache and the dentist can't see me until next Thursday.
Partner not terribly well.
Household chores miling up sky high.

Poor Aquarelle - sounds awful...