First thing in the morning, I check my email. This morning the computers were pretty busy.
I had several emails stating that I hadn’t had work from students. That means sending an email to the parents asking if I can help. One student is stuck, but I knew that I’ve been sending her consistently more helpful hints. Another one was sick. Yes, I usually get responses back pretty quickly.
I also had several emails with progress reports. I sent them on to the parents with personal comments.
I have a new student starting on Wednesday, so I sent that student a welcome letter. Those are pre-written but do have to be tweaked before they are sent out.
Through out the day I’ll get emails. Some telling me that I have something to grade, some return from the above emails, and some asking me for help. When I’m out and about, I try to have a device with me that will allow me to answer all of those emails, at the very least, a note that says I’ll get back to them by the end of the day.
Doesn’t take long to fill up my 4 hours a day. Yes, I’m restricted to 28 hours a week, so I typically budget 4 hours a day, if I go over, I save those hours for a light day, or a day off.
If students need more help then an email, I usually set up a time I can be in my office to work with them, so I’m on a wired network. I have a virtual white board, and can either phone or Skype them. It has always worked well.
So if you are thinking of having a student take a course at Johns Hopkins, you can see I give personal attention.
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