My Easy Tips for a Successful Fall Semester!

Here we are at the beginning of another semester! I’m not sure if other online instructors get that familiar ‘back to school’ excitement during the first week, but I’m definitely feeling it. I’m excited to use my new planner, pens, and Post Its, and I’m ready to start ‘meeting’ my students as each college starts (I have another school starting next week!). 

I’ll try to keep this short, sweet, and inspirational, but I wanted to give some quick tips for starting off on the right foot and having a positive, successful semester:

1. Send out one or two super friendly announcements to your students during the first week. And don’t be afraid to use a few exclamation points! I find that my students respond well to extra friendly communication, and I’ve also realized that my favorite Deans and Department Chairs also use exclamation points and send very cheery emails and announcements- it truly makes my day and helps me enjoy my work. So don’t be afraid to do the same for your students!
2. Do a short meditation before you start working to get into the right mindset. You can find 1 minute meditations anywhere online (so you could even do this at your desk before you get started), or notice a few ‘glimmers’ or small moments of mindfulness (I recently learned about ‘glimmers’). For instance, take an intentional moment to notice a beautiful tree outside your office window, smell your warm coffee before you take your first sip, take a deep breath and savor it, etc.
3. Create work boundaries so that you can more easily come back to your work feeling positive and refreshed. I highly recommend loggging off at 5 pm and not logging on again until the morning (this can be hard at first, but over time you will mentally find it much easier to forget about work in the evenings and have a true mental break!). Be sure to also take purposeful breaks during the day (for example, don’t scroll- instead, drink your coffee while you think of 3 things you’re grateful for, go on a walk, read a few pages of a book, etc.). Also, check emails just once in the morning and once in the late afternoon/early evening (otherwise you can end up wasting a lot of time checking emails without a purpose).
4. Find your perfect work playlist. I’ve said this in previous posts, but I’ve been listening to the same 3-hour upbeat jazz music video on YouTube for over 10 years. That might sound ridiculous to some, but as soon as the music starts I feel better, I feel energized, and I find it to be the perfect peppy beat to keep me grading papers and completing tasks at a nice pace. Find what works for you, maybe something instrumental, definitely something that makes you feel good, but something that also helps you focus. 

Those are my tips for a happy and successful semester! You’ve got this.

Happy Fall semester, everyone!