Dr. Arrastía-Chisholm: Professor Mom

It's only the second week of classes and students are asking for make-up work, to take exams early, and to excuse absences. I have also met with a number of students this week to discuss serious life decisions, dropping classes, and even managing serious mental health issues. On top of all this, my daughter has been waking up several times in the middle of the night so my husband and I have been taking turns comforting her. So much happening! In other words, thank goodness it's Friday! It's never too early to discuss preventing burnout . How do you destress? How do you take steps to prevent burnout at work or home? One suggestion in this  article  is to take time off . I teach five days a week this semester so taking a whole day off isn't really an option. Instead, I got away between office hours this week to take a two-mile run during some mild weather. Below is a photo from the Azalea Trail that runs through the Valdosta State University campus. When I was applying ...

Today is the last day of the first week of the spring semester at Valdosta State University . Every Friday we wear red to show school spirit. I went ahead and just bought red glasses to make things easier! This semester I *get to* teach two sections of an introductory educational psychology course, called Exploring Learning and Teaching, along with an online section of Educational Psychology for Teaching Adults. These are not new preps; in other words, I have taught these classes before and get to have fun with them. This first week is just an introduction so I chose to try out this empathetic syllabi review exercise from the blog, Faculty Focus . In my face-to-face sections, I asked students to bring in their syllabi and critically review them for missing information, as well as mark important dates in their calendars (paper or electronic). This then facilitated a discussion about why some instructors may leave out due dates or points for each assignment. This is my attempt t...

This week is the last week before the spring semester begins at Valdosta State University (VSU). Before the whirlwind of classes and advising begins, I wanted to first inform readers about the motivation for this blog and to update you on my goals  so far... Motivation.  Although she may not know this, Kathe Lowney, has been one of my mentors during my time as an assistant professor. She is the catalyst that initially encouraged me to write this blog. We are both writing a post a week for 52 weeks. Find her blog about teaching here . Although Kathe is now retired, she is still affecting my professional and personal development! Thanks, Kathe! Health. The team-based weight loss program I have joined officially started this week. It was unfortunate timing because did my first weigh in right after running 7 miles in a race... Here is a photo of me taken by Herb Wills, a Tallahassee running legend now photographer and blogger . It was towards the end and I was straight up walk...

Health, Wealth, and Happiness. These are three common wishes in the English language to use at New Year's. And these are the goals that I set out to achieve as a professormom who always "has a lot going on." Updates about these goals, parenting, teaching, and scholarship will be the content for this new blog. Thank you for reading. Health . In terms of health, I have signed up with my local YMCA  for Team Lean, a team-based accountability system. If you know me, then you know that I love physical activity already. The 8-week long challenge will push me to do better when making choices about what and how much to eat. I am hoping that social media will provide the platform for the social support that I need from team members. If I can even get the 5% weight loss that these researchers suggest teammates can help you lose through support, I'll feel healthier. Additionally, I have set the goal to run more miles this year. Specifically, I would like to double my mileage ...