It happens every semester...

...or so it seems. By the second week of the semester, I'm searching for the elusive clarity that was evident during the semester break. You know, semester break -- that time of the year when you can reflect on the past semester, gain insight from said reflection, and use said insights as you prepare for the next semester. This semester I'm teaching two sections of a course on organizational theory. I taught the course once before and as often happens, the second time around, I'm completely changing things. These changes reflect what I learned from the prior teaching experience and other new ideas that generate from conversations with colleagues. What makes things different this semester is that one of the sections meets in person every Wednesday afternoon. The other class is a hybrid (online/in person) class that includes four in person sessions. The content and course schedules are pretty much the same for both sections but I definitely feel that I don't have the materials quite as organized as I'd like. Once the classes started, so did all the rest of the semester's business and suddenly I'm juggling a lot of very different projects. This is a common experience and happens every semester. On my drive home today it occured to me that I'm good at seeing the big picture in situations. All of these projects, however, seem like a lot of little pictures that aren't connected. So, I asked myself: If I'm good at the big picture stuff, what is the big picture in this situation? What connects all of the projects, timelines, small tasks, paper work, blog updates, course updates, advising students, and so on? Perhaps if I can identify the big picture in all of this, I may see things come together a bit sooner ... I need to think more about this and try on some ideas ...