Huh.
Do you guys have to do this for your jobs? Write up a report of self-promotion and call it a "professional development report"?
Perhaps I shouldn't resent this, but I do. In fact, I hate it. For one thing, I'm just not the kind of person who keeps a file of every little picky thing I do that I consider part of my job. Letters of recommendation, student counseling, curriculum development . . . these things all happen naturally over the course of a semester. Some of them have formal outcomes, like a recommendation, but others are just a natural part of getting to know your students, informal conversations, thinking "hmm . . . this batch of students could use a little extra work with this particular subject", so you whip up an exercise that forces them to work with the material, hoping this will allow them to hold onto it until at least the next exam.
But I can never remember to document these things so I can trot them out once a year on paper. And I hate the way some people can take a couple of little projects and expand them to death until they have a 10 page "I'm so fabulous" report. We had a total failure of an IT director at the college a few years ago, and he could spin the reverse of progress into an impenetrable document illustrating the staggering benefit of having him on staff. We have one faculty member who documents every time he comments online on a local newspaper story and then pastes a printout to his office door. I'm sorry folks, I'm just not wired that way.
So, I do these really brief reports. "Modified and developed new assignments for all classes." That covers it, right? Last year my Associate Dean wanted me to list what I worked on as part of a committee. What, I should just attach the minutes? Stupid busy work.
It's due Friday.
I am with you.
ReplyDeleteThe Army has its officers write up what they do and submit to the immediate superior officer when it is time for the OERs (Officer Evaluation Report). Luckily, they like most of it in bullet-format, which you clearly excel at providing.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any answers for you because I am terrible when it comes to self-promotion. I'm much better at degrading myself (usually I keep it in my head, though).
Yeah, that sounds like a royal pain in the butt. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI don’t blame you for resenting this exercise. The only thing harder than writing a recommendation for someone else is writing one for yourself. I wonder if women have a harder time with this than men do.
ReplyDeleteOfficially I am self-employed, although I only work for one company. Nobody at the company I work for has ever asked me to put together such a document, but I usually go through the distasteful process of writing something like it, before I call to ask for a raise. It gives me the oomph I need to ask for more dollars.