Convocation

I completed all of the requirements for my Master's degree back in August of 2009 - they sent my degree in the mail shortly afterwards. And I have been entirely focused on my first year of Phd studies since then. So it seemed almost silly to bother to attend convocation last week.

But I had heard good things about Trent's convocation ceremony .... and anyway, hubby and the rest of my family all think I should go.... so I did.

It was definitely worth doing, even so long after the fact.

I really do like Trent's convocation. Graduands gown and gather on one side of the river - and the ceremony is held on the other. The procession, accompanied by a piper, takes you past several buildings in which one can see the (gowned) reflections of the group, which is an experience in itself. The ceremony itself, like all convocations I've ever attended, was, of course, too darn long - in this case made even longer by the hot sun and lack of sunscreen (they provided it for visitors but not for us; guess we are supposed to be smart enough to anticipate the need!).

Having the piece of paper hanging on my wall did not really make me feel as though I had accomplished something just by getting my MA - but walking across that bridge did. Now I'm looking forward even more to the next one! I want one of the red and gold robes and a funny hat too :)

Shooting for 2013 ceremony; seems a very long time away - but also not long enough!

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Out With The Old; In With the New

So ... my dissertation.

My original plan was to focus on the use of fiction in therapeutic recreation programs for children & youth with emotional & behavioural challenges. I am still working on that project - but on my own, rather than as my dissertation topic. Doing it AS a dissertation - particularly within a Canadian Studies PhD - was meaning that I had to modify what I wanted to do to make it fit. What I WANT to do is to write a textbook for Child & Youth Workers ... not an academic dissertation.

So, when a new topic that fits better into the Canadian Studies area - and that still uses my specific batch of skills (Child & Youth Work, Computer Programming & English - public texts) - caught my attention, I began to think about changing.

I did a 30 page research paper based on the new topic and felt that - even though it is a good paper, and I did well on it - I had barely scratched the surface. There are still so many questions I want to address. It took a while before I was ready to commit to the change - in part because I really really like the advisor I was going to be working with on the first one, and will have to find a new advisor for the second. But I got there.

So now, I will be spending the next 3 years working on issues of surveillance in Canadian prisons - especially, for the most part, on facilities for women, although I am planning, at this point, to do a chapter about issues of surveillance and male prisoners, as well.

I became interested as a result of the case of Ashley Smith - and that is where I am starting. Stay tuned....

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She's Back

Ok...so when did I last update this blog?

I suppose I shall have to go and look... okay, so March 10. That is not SO long ago. But I have, over the last several months, done an abysmal job of keeping up. Here's hoping that now that I am done with my coursework (insert happy dancing here!!!) I shall do a better job.

Haven't heard yet whether I actually PASSED all of my coursework... so that happy dancing might well be premature - but let's assume that I have :) Would really suck to fail a course for the very first time EVER in my last ever semester of school, wouldn't it?! ACK!

Anyway... moving on.

Finishing coursework does not mean that I am finished with school. This year I will be doing my comps: reading 2 sets of 50(ish) books that I select with a committee of 3 advisors and then writing a 4 hour exam about them. Once I pass those - and a French test, I will be ABD and have another couple of years to write my dissertation.

I would LIKE to think that I can get my dissertation done more quickly than that - but the reality is that I am likely to have a whole lot of challenges and delays in getting information, and getting through Ethical Review boards and so on - so it is not likely.

I changed my dissertation topic, did I tell you? No, I see that I didn't. That will be a good topic for my next blog post then, won't it?

Y'all come back now, y'hear?

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Serendipity

Sometimes things just work out so well!

Yesterday, I was on my way to lead my seminars - we're talking about social issues and politics in Canada - last week was poverty, this week the main theme was health care.

There was a table outside one of the lecture halls I passed - lots of flyers, etc - for a number of different ~issues~ ... and piles and piles of buttons. They had 2/3 different buttons for race-related causes, several re: environmental issues, and then others re: tuition fees and poverty.

I grabbed bunches of each. When my students' came in I asked them to choose a button from the mess of 'em on the table. Had them get into groups with others who had the same button and discuss their issue, and potential solutions.

Each group reported back to the whole group and from there it was an easy segue into everything else .... led beautifully into the content of the assigned readings and the lecture.

I was, you may have guessed, very pleased with how it went.

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Orientation Week

So ... first week of school was actually quite a bit more interesting than I expected.

Last year, when I started my MA, I alternated between frustrated because I was not getting information I needed and bored out of my mind during most of the orientation sessions. I honestly expected this year to be even more tiresome, since I've got the year behind me.

But it wasn't. Oh, there were a few bits of the program orientation that I really didn't need and didn't get much from - but on the whole, I felt that my time was well spent and that the PTB were conscious of the range of people they were dealing with - not addressing everyone at the lowest level. I REALLY appreciated that..... especially when it came to the TA training session I went to. Last year I did several days worth of sessions - and all of them presumed we knew nothing. This year the one I went to assumed that we did in fact have a clue and something to offer - and it was very worthwhile.

Off to a very good start, I think.

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Back to School clothes

Normally, it wouldn't much matter that I have nothing new to wear to start back to school next week.

But this time round I've lost 6o+ lbs since classes ended in April - and most of my clothes just don't fit well at all.

I do have some smaller size pants - but most of my tops are WAY big and baggy and at this point, just look downright sloppy. I did try to go back to school shopping yesterday, but I guess I'm spoiled now. I gave up shopping at Walartm some time ago ... started buying better quality clothes that last rather than the disposable sort that Walmart sells.

Since I'm still losing, I didn't want to spend money on clothes that would only fit for a short time, so I tried Walmart but OMG the colours and styles this year are HORRID. Couldn't find anything I wanted.... so ... it's off to school in whatever I manage to pull from my very limited stock here. Should have packed better - have been sick this week, plus working my arse off - and the clothes I packed just a few days ago are quickly becoming of the "droopy drawers" variety now.... oh well... having an open house with lots of goodies tomorrow (assuming I get to the grocery store first thing) .... maybe that will fix it.

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Still a couple of weeks to go

I don't start back to school until the week of September 8 this year. Normally I would be chomping at the bit to get going - but this year, I'm SO glad for the delay - there is still a whole bunch of stuff we need to get done at the new house - and I still have one assignment outstanding - so I can use the extra time.

Stephanie's blog on Ask Me Anything got me thinking about attendance - and specifically about how very different my attitude toward it is now that I'm doing the university thing as opposed to the community college thing.

When I was in college - especially the second time when I took computer programmer analyst - I really was not so concerned about attendance. I went the first week -but after that, I only went to those classes where I felt I was getting something out of them.

If I could do the work from the textbook or whatever - and do it well, then I just didn't bother to go.

If the prof was interesting and provided a lot of extras that weren't in the text - or if I needed help with something - I would be there for sure. But otherwise.... meh...

If the prof was an anal jerk that demanded attendance I might go regularly - but OH did I ever resent that.

And if the prof was just a jerk but didn't demand attendance, I would show up for the tests and that would be about it.

One particular prof comes to mind. He did not have an attendance policy included in the syllabus - and he was THE SINGLE BIGGEST JERK of a prof I have ever had.

He liked to make people look & feel stOOpid - and was just oh so full of himself.

During the second class, he asked a question that was loaded - no matter how one answered it, it was clear that he was going to say "no, I meant..." .... and there was no way a straight forward answer was going to be right.

No one would answer it at all - until he called and me and I responded "Well, if you mean this, then.... but if you mean that, then...." He became visibly irked, a few people tittered in the back and he YELLED at the entire class to SHUT UP!! as if we were 5 years old.

I left and didn't bother to go back - except on test days when I would show up, hand in whatever assignment was due, write the test, and leave again.

That also irked him - big time - and by the second test, he was writing questions in such a way that if you had not been to class, you would get an automatic zero - even if you knew the correct answers which I did.

In our class discussion, which of the following did we decide.... automatic zero for anyone (meaning me) who did not come to class. Did I mention he was a jerk?

Anyway - I managed to aggravate him no end.

On the day of the second test, when I showed up, he said

"What are you doing here? I thought you had dropped the class."

I replied that no, I was going to complete the course.

"Then why don't you come to class?"

He didn't much like my answer: "Because you are an arrogant son of a bitch and I don't like you."

Shouldn't ask the question if you don't want to hear the answer.

I sure do wish that I could have been there when he marked my final business plan. He burned me repeatedly on the tests, giving me zeros for questions that I had absolutely right. And I have no doubt whatsoever that he was fully prepared to burn me on my business plan as well.

BUT I write well..... and part of the instructions for the project were to show your plan to 2 people and have them write a letter of support for the plan.

I chose to ask his boss for one of those letters.

I ended up with an 84% on the course - in spite of those damn zeros. Bet it killed him to give it to me too. I often wish that he hadn't left the college at the end of that semester - it would amuse me to run into him at faculty functions now that I teach there.

Anyway, while my attendance during college was not great (unless I happened to like the course and the prof) - I have done everything in my power not to EVER miss any of my classes now that I'm in university.

I have had to miss a few - when I my mother in law was ill and then died - and again when I had my car accident - but I hate to miss any of them as a rule.

It's different now. I'm not just learning to master specific tasks - I'm learning new ways of thinking, of approaching texts, of interacting and especially, of teaching.

My time in classes is well-spent. And I don't begrudge it at all. Of course, some profs are still significantly better than others at engaging my interest and teaching me what I want to know - but now that I am on the path to becoming a university prof myself, even the worst of them have lots to teach me - mostly about what not to do when it is my turn!

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And so it begins again ....

The search for reasonably priced textbooks, that is!

Something that I have heard about for the first time this year is textbook swapping sites like TextSwap or Textlister, which allows you to buy, sell, or trade used textbooks.

Me, I've been pretty lucky overall - my undergrad was in English, so I was able to find most of the books my sister couldn't get for me used, or at least easily through Amazon.ca. I also have been known to use Project Gutenberg for older stuff.

Since I've been in grad school, we've been given a lot of photocopies - in many cases, we only need one chapter out of particular book, if that - the photocopying gets expensive, but it sure is preferable to having to buy books and then only needing them for one stinking chapter!

Anyway - what about you? Anyone used any of these sites? Would you?

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Yay me!

I have been working my tail off - in between bouts of major drama about our attempt to buy a house in Peterborough, renovations, and numerous times outs for socialization because people WILL keep having birthdays and parties and dropping by without calling first - to get my 50 page major research paper done.

It is still not QUITE done - still need to pull together my Works Cited ...and it's a bit short ... but it was done enough to fire off to my advisor for editing and that's the main thing, at this point.

Was very, very happy to hit send on that email.

Now to get to work on my research assistant jobs, and start on my 20 page editing project. Fun times! But it sure does feel good to actually accomplish something.

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Pushing myself

I still have SO much to get done this month that I have come up with daily goals - 10 pages/day for my major research paper means I SHOULD be able to finish the first draft by Saturday (allowing for one day to go to Peterborough to find a place to live). Which is REALLY pushing it - and it will still need work/editing/the works cited page and all that fun stuff... but the main thing at this point is to get 'er DONE. Then I can futz all I want... until I run out of time.

The Mavis Gallant piece that I need to write also needs to get done this week ... hoping the photocopies I have ordered will come tomorrow but even if they don't, I plan to tackle a first draft tomorrow.

AND I need to do some work on the archives project this week, and start my digital project and ...and...and...

yeah... I have bitten off too much again... but I'll get it done. One way or another.

I've started making time for journalling... it helps. Somewhat counterintuitive to make time for it - it FEELS like I don't HAVE time for such things... but when I do my journalling I'm a lot more focused when I do sit down to work... so it's worth it. I think.

Anyway ..don't know how much time I'll have for blogging over the next bit...but we'll see!

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Time for Penguins

The biggest challenge to my successful completion of a Phd is on its way to being resolved....

Not having a drivers licence was HUGE - a major challenge, hardship, obstacle, whatever you want to call it.

I am very fortunate that Ross was willing to take on the role of chauffeur - and that he would continue doing it for as long as needed - but it really is way too much to ask and I hate HATE HATED it!

Saw the doctor today and she was really pleased with my weight loss (50lbs in less than 3 months) and withthe results of all of the tests I've had since the accident and she checked the MTO guidelines and she is writing the letter so that I can have my license back. The letter was going out today - will still take 4 - 6 weeks to get processed - but by the time I start school again in September I should be driving!

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Awww....

I have been having a not very good week.

This is the second week of the summer school course I'm taking - I get to go home tomorrow!!!! and although I really enjoyed last week, this week, not so much.

Been really cranky, and having a LOT of very negative thoughts about whether I am really up for 2+ more years of Trent. I likes my house. I like Georgian ...I COULD just finish my MA and apply to go back and teach at the college level and....

well, yeah... be bored out of my skull within a few years and all ...but...

ANYWAY... today the secretary was in and not busy and I happened to think of my student evaluations .... almost didn't even ask for them because I was in SUCH a pissy mood... but I did it anyway and guess what????

They like me... they really like me LOL

Lots of really positive feedback from my students - comments about the variety of activities I offered and the effort I put into "helping us to better understand the literature" and they appreciated my use of technology and how quickly I responded to emails and so on.

s'almost enough to make me think I should keep going.

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Database for Notetaking

So ...I finally did it: made myself a database for taking notes while I wade through the stacks and stacks of readings.

I meant to do it when I started my MA but just never got around to finishing one.... but this summer I decided to do it again, and this time I not only started it, I finished it ....well, to the point of usability anyway ...I continue to tweak it as I go and I'm sure that that will continue for awhile yet.

I am using it for my readings for the course I'm taking - there are a lot of readings!

It works for me in part because I am not known for organization - when I take notes on paper, I invariably lose them - until right after I need them at which point they mysteriously reappear. Since I always have a computer of some sort with me (and to date, knocking on wood, have yet to misplace one, although cords are a different story) - I can manage this far better.

Plus, of course, it has the advantage of being fully searchable, sortable, etc. I can pull up all notes that relate to a certain article or topic or author or.... whatever.

My hope is that by the time it comes round to having to study for my comprehensive exams in the second year of my doctorate, I will have an excellent resource from which to work. Comps are the one aspect of my Phd studies that scare the crap out of me - I am not so great at recalling what I want when I want it.

Typing my notes into the database - and also coming up with a summary of each article/work - should, I hope, improve my ability to do that sort of thing. I'm already finding that I am doing much better at retaining who said what information, which is probably because I have first of all, had to type the authors' names in, then select them, then see them on the screen at the top of every note I write or term I add to my glossary.

AND once I have a good database of typed out ~stuff~ I shall have even more fun fodder for playing with some of the textual analysis tools that I learned about in Victoria last week. It's all good.

Well, all, that is, except for the mosquitos that are driving me nuts! I'm sitting in the backyard of the house that I'm staying at. It will soon be time to give it up and head inside for a shower and then bed. But going to get back to my reading & database for a bit longer .... I've finished my readings for tomorrow now and am halfway through Thursday, which is good, as tomorrow night we're having a BBQ and I will not want to read. I'll have a couple of hours in between class and the BBQ in which to finish whatever I don't get done... but would be nice to get it all done tonight.

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Victoria

First day is winding down now...I'm in a lecture - paying attention, honest! But...

U of Victoria is gorgeous, and the residences here, at least the cluster housing units that we are in are much, MUCH nicer than the res I stayed in at Carleton (in Ottawa) a couple of weeks ago. We have 4 bedrooms, 2 washrooms (both with showers, not just the one like Carleton had for 8!!!! students). We also have a kitchen and living room ...and pretty much everything here at uVic comes complete with pets - i.e. bunnies.

There are many many wild bunnies here - they (and their poop) are all over the lawns. As cute and novel as they are, they clearly are a pain to those that have to deal with them - such as the university's neighbours.

Anyway .... I should get back to paying attention (yeah, speaker just got onto topic of interest to me)

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Leaving in the morning

Well... it's here - May just flew by and I didn't get anywhere near as much done as I'd hoped.

Hubby's new pest control business definitely took priority. Have got enough of the marketing and database set up done that he can manage for himself for the next three weeks while I focus on summer school and my paper though. I hope!

It's my turn.

I had the option to NOT take the summer school stuff for credit... but today I negotiated a project that I am actually excited about - and that, I think, will be well worth doing. So ....

yeah, I know, Stephanie LOL ...but I'll pull it all off. I always do, right?

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Summer School

Only 3 more sleeps and then I'm off to start three weeks of summer school courses.

The first week is on digital humanities in Victoria BC, and then I have 2 weeks about editing Canadian modernist poets' work.... am really looking forward to all of it ...but the readings for that latter 2 weeks seems a ~bit~ overwhelming at this point.... 320 pages for the theory week, followed by 626 pages for the practice week that follows. I still have SO much work to do on my major research paper, although it is coming along.

It seems like my hopes of spending July & August doing MY stuff were a ~tad~ on the optimistic side... not likely to have much time to work on the MRP during the 3 weeks of summer school; that much is obvious.

Oh well... all I can do is try.

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Bits & Pieces

Somehow today just seems to have been eaten up with them ....bits & pieces of things that needed to be done... but none that really make any difference in the BIG jobs that are on my to do list.

Got an email this morning about a progress report that I didn't know needed to be done .... so ended up spending some time finally getting my fax machine set up properly so that it could be faxed to me, since I wasn't inclined to drive 2.5 hours each way just to sign my name (although it might have been a good idea, since I have 3 overdue library books that need to go back there asap!).

And then, since I was emailing back and forth with my advisor, it seemed like a good day to get the proposal for my paper finished off and sent in ...so finally got that done as well.

Ross & I went shopping and to get the mail (for all the good it did; the letter we are waiting for still didn't show up)... and I did do some work on both my presentation for next week and my MRP ...but it's a cold, wet, dreary day and it just feels like its been long and mostly unproductive.

I SO need to get motivated. And FOCUSED. Especially focused.

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Staying in Residence

Well, here I am in residence at Carleton University in Ottawa.

I can not IMAGINE actually living in one of these units for a whole school year... the room I'm in is meant for two people -- I've got it to myself though, thank goodness. Two very uncomfortable beds, 2 desks, 1 closet with 2 standing open shelves in it - room for maybe at MOST 10 hangers between the shelves.

There are 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms off of a main sitting room ...no kitchen facilities at all.

No privacy and OMG it's loud. The lock on the main door to the suite is loud, and every time it is opened or closed it demands attention. The toilets' flush is short lived but VERY loud ...and you can hear pretty much everything that is said in every room anywhere near yours - both within the suite and through the walls from others.

I cannot IMAGINE having 8 people in this one unit - maybe some of the other rooms are actual singles? Haven't met any of my suite-mates yet, or seen any of the other rooms...but yikes!

Another plus to being a nontraditional student - we rarely find ourselves living in residence!

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The End of Slacker-Time

Heard back from both the ethics committee and my advisor yesterday... approvals all 'round. So I guess that means it is time to stop slacking and get back to work.

One 50 page research paper, coming right up. Ha!

Still need to set up some appointments with people to do some of the research... but in the meantime, am going to get working on it, anyway. Sure will be nice to get it all done and out of the way.

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Online courses

philly5113 asked: I might try an internet course, they cost less. Any thoughts on this?

I've taken online courses from two universities.

Taking them through my own undergrad university was easiest - their courses automatically counted towards my degree without any hoop-jumping at all, which was nice. They also came with deadlines and due dates - so it was significantly easier for me to manage my time and get things done over the course of the semester rather than working in fits and starts and then having a big rush to finish at the end of the six months time allowance I was given from the other university.

Taking courses through a different university, Athabasca U, involved a whole lot of hoop-jumping to make sure that credits would apply towards my degree. I had to get a Letter of Permission, which turned into a process that lasted WAY too long. That was in no way Athabasca's fault, though - it was the people I was dealing with at my end that were a pain in the posterior.

Athabasca U gives you up to six months to complete everything required for each course - no due dates, and no one cares if you actually get it done or not. So completing those required quite a bit more self discipline - and in one case, when I had a car accident during the week my final exam was booked, an extension (more hoop-jumping).

The one thing that ALL of the Internet based courses I have taken have shared is that although I was assigned a prof/tutor, there was next to no interaction with them. When I emailed with a specific question, the turnaround time was BRUTAL .... in far too many cases, it was in excess of two weeks. The turnaround time for marking was also far slower than I find tolerable - I absolutely and positively DETEST it when I don't have assignment #1 back until after #2 or #3 are back. It may be though, that I just wasn't lucky - surely not all online profs are that slow? I hope?!

When I teach online courses (Ha!) I will be very sure to email each student early in the course, and follow up with a how's it going partway through. And, of course, I will answer their emails and get their work back to them within a reasonable period of time.

I suspect that courses that have an interactive online component would suit me better.

I don't regret having taken any of the courses I did - nor the money I spent - but there are a lot of things that could have been done much, much better.

Have you taken (or taught) any online courses? How did they work for you? Philly and I would love to know.

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