Reading in Store

It's been awhile...I think that's my most common thought on the blog the past few months. Life has been plugging away. Before my own college classes began again, I had to prep for the senior classes I teach at the high school. They are part of a college in high school program. We will work from a college level syllabus I wrote and textbooks the local college requires and at the end of the semester, my students will have a college class credit to transfer wherever they may go when they graduate.

In other news, my own college classes are back in session. I have two literature classes - African-American Lit and The Anthropocene. I'm sure you're questioning that last one. Anthropocene is out current epoch. Scientists (and whoever else is in charge of this naming of time periods) haven't decided where the starting point of the Anthropocene is, but it "dates from when human activities started to have a significant global impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems." Anyway, we are reading a good stretch of books (mostly 20th century, which I like) and tracing the picture they paint (although some unwittingly) of Anthropocenic events. Something different and The Great Gatsby made the reading list, so you know I'm in!

In all, my work this semester consists of reading two books per week, adding up to approximately 30 books by May; thirteen short analysis papers; one five page book analysis; and two 20 page papers. We are heading into week three and after this weekend I should have three of my thirteen short papers done. Keeping on top of it is the key and my plan is to write my short papers now and save the end of the semester to sweat out the two larger papers.

I spent the entire last weekend at B&N, working 6-8 hours a day reading, note-taking, and writing. It truly worked so much better than trying to work at home. I'm so distracted by house and family things when I work from home, so I plan on spending the next 15 weekends at B&N as well. When all is said and done, B&N should start paying me for my advertising of their premises here and on social media! (Not to mention my dual meaning post title - something they can offer that Amazon can't!)

My outlook is much better this semester, which I credit to knowing what to expect. That makes SO much difference. Last semester really broke me in and God gave me some direction that completely helped calm me for all I have ahead. I'm excited and already enjoying it, although already facing the challenge of balancing life, work, and study with time constraints. Part of that balance includes things to add to the schedule. I've done a lot of taking things out, but there are important pieces missing too, like time to work out. I've mostly maintained my weight loss from this time last year, but last semester has started to challenge my gains. I'm more interested in endurance and toning/strengthening now, so I've fit a workout hour in three days a week based on times when I'm already out and about and can stop at the gym. I also saw a trainer for a customized plan, so my time and effort isn't wasted. Working smarter, not harder. Well, in this case working smarter and harder, lol. And maybe picking up with some fitness update posts again.

Hope all is well for you readers. I will hopefully remember to put some of my analysis papers here on the blog...kinda a throw back to book reviewing. Til next time...

New Levels of Excitement

New things bring new and different excitement...marriage, babies, cars, jobs, houses. Up til now my new excitements were identifiable by most people because most people have shared similar experiences in their lives. And if they haven't, the experiences are understood by people in general. My PhD adventure has turned that on its head. The things I get excited about now, well, I'm not sure what to say about it. Imagining the conversations makes me want to laugh.


Friend 1: My daughter lost her first tooth and my son made the travel soccer team!

Me: Oh wow, that's awesome!

Friend 2: Nice. Hey, that new restaurant opened, we should try it out.

Me: Good idea. Oh, guess what?!

Friends: What?!

Me: I found a copy of the Cambridge edition of The Great Gatsby online for $11!

Crickets.


Hyperbole, yes. My friends would likely smile and nod at least. Haha, but that's my life right now, full of weirdly exciting moments here and there, but with whom to share them? You think I'm kidding? Here is my list of personal excitement for the past week or so:

*One professor told me I read very well (it was poetry, Wordsworth, and chock full of crazy punctuation...I impressed myself)!

*I had a less than ten minute conversation with a professor whose focus is in the same time period as my studies, discussing American canon and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and it was among the best minutes of my week.

*I didn't cry once on the way home from my Thursday class last week (this could change; I have nine weeks to go).

*I found and bought the Cambridge edition of The Great Gatsby online for $11 (yes, that was true. Yes, it's a very good thing. No, I didn't try to put it into conversation with my friends).

*Purdue Owl's site has literary theory definitions AND help to form your thesis!

My husband is crazy supportive with all of this. I've told him all of these excitements and more and he is excited with me. He sees behind the scenes and understands a little better how these things could be exciting. I have a couple of extra supportive friends I tell some things to, but these kinds of things don't always communicate well via text message. And I do have the blog. So, here they are, my new excitements for the week! You have been great cheerleaders from the time I thought about doing this til now. Thank you for your nerdy willingness to read and comment and cheer me on! Maybe we'll make a meme of it:

"New Levels of Excitement - Things Only a Nerd Could Love"

Truth in the Text: Beginnings

Or what you're made of!
Am I the only one this scares to death?
(Source: theroadtopeace.net)

Hoping to start a new meme here on My Life in Books, related to my PhD experience and called Truth in the Text. I've noticed in my assigned college readings that a few lines here and there will stand out as true to life in ways other than to what the text is referring. I was inspired again by a piece in an assigned reading for this week and thought, hey maybe more will show up along the way. It may or may not replace Begin the Week with Words, or they may both come and go as I find good stuff and the time to post. Time will tell.

This piece comes from Edward Said's Beginnings: Intention and Method, of which I read chapter 2 "A Meditation on Beginnings." The chapter discusses how something can be considered "the beginning." Look at the two points below, the topic of literary criticism, and how true to life they are way outside the realm of literature:


"First of all, there must be the desire, the will, and the true freedom to reverse oneself, to accept thereby the risks of rupture and discontinuity; for whether one looks to see where and when he began, or whether he looks in order to begin now, he cannot continue as he is" (34).

"Finally, and almost inevitably...the beginning will emerge reflectively and, perhaps, unhappily, already engaging him in an awareness of its difficulty" (35).

Things in daily and weekly life have
changed/ended that I can only hope and
assume are part of the process.

Whoa, blew me away. Two sentences that could not describe my life more right now. I feel as if my life has been ruptured and discontinuity has ensued...and the problem is my mind is trying to continue on as I was, which the quote quite correctly states is not possible. I am having a hard time giving over to the rupture needed to allow my new beginning to gain momentum. Starting this degree means giving up other hobbies and missing out on events and time spent with people. It's hard to do that just because, but also because those things go on without you.

This making the second quote true too. Although I am where I've aimed to be for twenty years now (getting my PhD) and am glad to be there, it is only upon entering into and looking back on the short few weeks that I really see this is truly a new beginning, more than the "change of pace" I thought it would be. And difficult it is, mixing unhappy and hard moments in with the happy and good, and altering other parts of life in the process, the new beginning transforming everything around it simply because I had a dream. It's strange to think something you wanted so bad, for so long, could be so hard and bring such physical, mental, and emotional conflict. Do I overplay it? I don't think so. Anyone who's ever dreamed desperately only to find themselves in over their heads upon arrival would understand.

Just keeping it real people. Beginnings are hard.

PhD Hacks

Anytime you start something new, it's overwhelming, but you end up learning the ins and outs with the help of short cuts and best practices. A few PhD hacks have saved the day in the past few weeks.

My amazing husband didn't hesitate in buying
me a laptop. He told me what a few offered and
suggested which were best for what I needed and
left me to get whatever I wanted. 

1. Get your own laptop. The convenience of leaving my accounts logged in at all times and bookmarking every other site I'm on makes up for every dime spent on a new laptop (which wasn't much - bought a cheap HP with word processing and decent storage and RAM). Especially when I discovered starting this new program meant opening new accounts for software, journals, associations, and search sites weekly. My iPad works for many things, but limits word processing options, among other important items. Although I'm the only one who really uses the desktop at home, my family and their friends can also use it, so I don't want to leave accounts logged in. Also, on the laptop I know the only things on it are my things and it stands little chance of someone messing with them deliberately or accidentally - it is the PhD laptop. Plus, the desktop doesn't help much with PhD hack #2.

Kent's University library - although it is far away,
so I'm only there to pick up books after class.
To work, I head to YSU or a public library, all
close to home.

2. Leave your house. Yes, I need to work, work, work, but it has to be away from my house. No matter how much I tell my kids the next couple hours are work-time, they inevitably have a question, need a fight settled, or wonder in to talk because I'm mom and that's what I'm here for, right? It's really hard to tell them to leave because I don't want them to feel ignored or have hurt feelings. But, if I leave the house for my work hours, I get work done and they don't feel I've pushed them away, I was simply not home. Purchasing my own laptop gives me the freedom to take ALL of my work with me too - again paying for the convenience totally worth it.

3. Have a go-to reply. At first I tended to answer the question "How's school?" by going on about my new laptop and project and people I've met, but soon realized the person asking had kinda stopped listening, was distracted doing something else, or changed the subject as soon as I answered. I know people have good intentions for asking, being courteous, but they don't usually seem ready for the long answer I give. So I've decided on a simple answer for the question "How's school?" For this semester it's along the lines of, "One class isn't too bad and the other is tough." Nothing near what I'd really want to say to answer that question, but people are happy with it, and if they don't ask any further questions, it's all good.

The other side of this is there isn't always much you can say that people understand. I've worked so hard for this experience and not even I knew what was coming exactly - I feel like I'm in the middle of a ton of things I have no clue about right now! The first couple weeks I was excited or worried about simpler things, like getting a new laptop, being on campus, spending the day at the library, getting to know professors, etc. Those are easy to share my excitement about to those interested, but it's already changing speed and I need a reply without all the extra detail. Also, when school is taking over my life, I imagine there will be times I won't want to discuss it and I think having a go-to reply will help then too.

I admit, I love calendars and lists and organizational tools.

4. Designate and ask for help. Since I am the organizer and scheduler for my household (details and organization are a gifting of mine), a friend told me that assigning certain things to my family and asking for help as needed would save me so much stress. Hmm...I'm not good at this. I like things concerning my house and belongings done my way, with my supervision, but I needed to work on my control issues anyway, so now is as good a time as any. I bought a day planner for my kitchen. Everything that needs done around the house is assigned to family members able to complete the task on the day it needs done. For example, the kids are assigned dog duty by the week, feeding and taking them out. Everyone brings their dirty laundry to the basement on Tuesday night and picks up their clean laundry on Thursday night. (Laundry being the one thing I won't give up control over! And with my new huge washer and dryer, I only do four loads a week anyway.) The kids are not allowed to go anywhere or do anything fun until homework and assigned calendar items are complete and my husband can see where I might need him to do something that I would usually take care of. This past week for example, my husband did the meal planning and grocery shopping while I worked at home. Also, a purpose of the family day planner is to handle lists. If there are items other than the usual that need done, they are assigned a day and person so I have them written down and off of my mind. Anything left undone is moved to the next week. My friend also said to hire a cleaning lady in at least once a month, which I could totally go for, but we'll see how the family assigned cleaning goes first.

Sometimes, sitting in the sun for a few
minutes with my fur babies is a
perfectly fine break.

5. Plan time for fun. It's true that the majority of my usual "free" time in the past three weeks has been spent on school work, but I've found that I can't just work every free moment, even if I have enough work to justify that. My brain and emotions will fry. I've noticed that when my mind is constantly on a daunting assignment or the amount of work in general, it actually paralyzes me. I feel unable to work because the scope of the project is looming in my mind. So breaks are a must, but it's also a must to plan them out. If I have break time planned, I have something to look forward too and I'm not going to overwork, crash, and need an emergency break at a time when I can't afford it. Over the four day Labor Day weekend we had a cookout with a few friends at the new house. Knowing I had extra days off work, I knew I could spare one evening. Last Saturday I spent most of the day at the library researching for my writing assignment, so I planned for our friend to come over that evening to watch through an old season of Survivor we'd started two weeks ago. I think it will work well and I'm hoping I find opportunities to connect with people during these breaks - finally having this new house but limited time to gather friends here is driving me crazy.

So those are the secrets and short cuts I've found working best for me on this journey so far. I'm enjoying the process and journaling of my schooling more than anything right now because at this point I've learned every part of life's journey is designed to make you better if you'll let it. I'm determined to look back at all I learned and became and see how I'm better for it.

Insanity - Only Two Weeks In

My books this semester, for two classes.

Not bad you say? This doesn't include the 20+ books 

and articles I need to read for writing my seminar papers.

As the title of this post suggests, I am either insane or will be so shortly. And, as promised, I am documenting every insane second through journals and this blog. Two weeks into this PhD thing and I have quit at least once every day, sometimes more, but decided I can do this by the end of each day. Since I'm still in it, I guess we can say the "I can do this" side is currently winning.

I decided already to literally take each piece of my classes one step at a time. Even if told to make sure I'm looking ahead to another step, I think I have to focus on and finish off things according to due dates. If I can get to class each week knowing that what I need done is done and done to the best of my ability, well, at this point I can't ask for much more.

First week of classes overwhelmed me with a tidal wave of details. The assignments aren't a single step, but there are so many details and steps for each activity and assignment, I took an entire day to work on an eleven question library research project and I only had one question answered at the end of six hours. The rest of the questions required finding and reading articles and book chapters from various journals and online periodicals. Granted, learning the system hindered me a bit, but by the end of the day, I hadn't even collected all of the materials needed to begin reading to answer the other ten questions.

The reading for just one of my current classes has hit between 200 - 300 pages a week. The reading proves helpful and informative so far, but definitely not the same as reading a good book just for the story. The other class assigns smaller selections, but on material I have little background knowledge of, so I go searching and reading additional resources.

I enjoy the classroom experience itself, as always. If I had applied for a PhD in Education, I could complete everything online, but I noticed of all my options for an English PhD, none were offered online and for good reason. Good literature thrives on intricate discussion. Intricate discussion works best in person. Driving an hour up and an hour back from main campus twice a week hasn't been too bad, although I'm not looking forward to it come snowy weather, but the drive gives me time to transition from my school-as-teacher day to my school-as-student day and the same as I head home at night.

Probably the biggest challenge I've learned the past two weeks is time management. I thrive on organizing and prioritizing and I'm a do it all person - well, do it all according to what I think is important. I've never really had to scale back on my calendar. I've fit in people, responsibilities, hobbies, etc. any time I wanted. This is absolutely not the case now. Teaching takes at least 40 hours a week, more if current activities require working at home. In the past week I've spent every hour between working on one of my two PhD classes - no exaggeration. And in order to function fully from morning to night in all this work, I moved my bedtime back by an hour and a half (which doesn't always happen). I've been forced to draw boundaries around my job and classwork times, making them a shared first priority with my family...and even family takes the back-burner at times. For someone who treasures her friends and hobbies, it's a difficult position to already say "maybe" and "no" to activities I'd gladly attend, but I'm determined to make it through this.

See, "I can do it" is winning today. We'll see where I stand after spending the entire day at the library tomorrow! Watch out reference librarians, here I come.

2016: The Year for Dreams

I've had a small set of big dreams/goals for awhile. Things just bidding their time until an inkling of possibility showed itself. A dream my husband and I have shared since we had our family was to own a bigger house on a little bit of land. We'd really given up looking because we didn't want to leave our area and houses with our criteria were out of the price range around here. But, in January we found a foreclosure in truly good shape that is fixable and stays in budget! It's not all final, it could still fall through, but it's been pretty exciting and we are currently in waiting mode. So we will see.

More exciting news from the past couple weeks is that I will be teaching a college writing class in my high school to Seniors next year. The program is offered by my Alma Mater, Youngstown State University. Students literally pay next to nothing, the school purchases the books, and the credit is highly transferable. I have always dreamed of teaching for YSU, a gem in our community and the place where I really fell in love with learning. Technically, I have to be employed by YSU to teach this class within my high school and that application finalized this past fall. It's not on campus and technically not college students, but it's a step closer people, it's a step. I'm on the radar.

And the whole reason for this post?! Today a personal goal I set almost twenty years ago at YSU became a reality. I received an acceptance letter into the PhD Literature program from Kent State University. Last fall I applied on a whim. Life has settled quite a bit over the past year. My kids seem more independent than they were even the year before, their schedules have settled, and I find myself at a loss in some ways. What better timing to shoot for it? It was a long, multi-step process I started in August and finished in October, knowing I had to wait until March for results. And just like that, I'm in. Wow. It hasn't quite settled in my mind yet.


So it seems 2016 is the year of dreams for me. It's crazy that all at once my biggest goals have come to fruition. I am going to enjoy it all as much as possible.

The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession

Source: Amazon.com

The Teacher Wars, by Dana Goldstein
Publisher: Doubleday
Publication date: September 2, 2014
Category: Nonfiction, Education
Source: I received this e-galley from the publisher, via Edelweiss, in exchange for my honest review.

I am a teacher, so reviewing The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession, by Dana Goldstein, was inevitable, self assigned, summer reading homework. I made so many highlights on my e-galley to help write a good summary and then read Amazon's perfect sum-up and thought, "Why reinvent the wheel?" The summary of The Teacher Wars, from Amazon:

"Teaching is a wildly contentious profession in America, one attacked and admired in equal measure. In The Teacher Wars, a rich, lively, and unprecedented history of public school teaching, Dana Goldstein reveals that teachers have been similarly embattled for nearly two centuries. From the genteel founding of the common schools movement in the nineteenth century to the violent inner-city teacher strikes of the 1960s and '70s, from the dispatching of Northeastern women to frontier schoolhouses to the founding of Teach for America on the Princeton University campus in 1990, Goldstein shows that the same issues have continued to bedevil us: Who should teach? What should be taught? Who should be held accountable for how our children learn? 

She uncovers the surprising roots of hot button issues, from teacher tenure to charter schools, and finds that recent popular ideas to improve schools—instituting merit pay, evaluating teachers by student test scores, ranking and firing veteran teachers, and recruiting “elite” graduates to teach—are all approaches that have been tried in the past without producing widespread change. And she also discovers an emerging effort that stands a real chance of transforming our schools for the better: drawing on the best practices of the three million public school teachers we already have in order to improve learning throughout our nation’s classrooms."

Okay, so it looks like I've cheated, using Amazon to make up most of my review, but before you give me detention, the hallmark of a good teacher is seeking out and using good materials wherever possible! This summary is good material.

To be quite honest, it took me a good amount of time to read The Teacher Wars and I read many other books alongside it. The Teacher Wars provides the details of the historical figures and accounts that moved education forward, which sometimes gets dry or just needs broken up to keep the reader's focus. If your interest doesn't lie in education, this is obviously not the book for you. Even if you have some interest, this still may not be the book for you. This book is for those who are really interested in educational policy, where it's been and where it's headed; specifically, how these two things are connected.

I found the last three chapters the most interesting because they deal with the past thirty years, which are the policies I have dealt with as I've earned my degrees and started my career. The epilogue was also useful, with a rundown of what would help education the most, based on the accumulated research, along with brief explanations.

As a young teacher with many years left in my career, the panicked talk of Common Core and new teacher evaluation systems stirs more feelings than many people realize, so it was crazy that this book connects today's issues facing education to those that have been around for almost the entire 175 years of American public education. It seems appropriate the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald would come to me here: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Student Spotlight

A teacher never stops brainstorming. From Pinterest boards for classroom ideas to picking up classroom books at a second hand sale, things continually leap to the minds of educators...summer or not. (Honestly, one of my best lesson ideas ever came to me in the shower, influenced by watching the movie Sixteen Blocks and my recent study of Joseph Campbell!) This summer has been pretty relaxing for me. I've spent adequate time hanging out with family and friends, reading, swimming, and volunteering. I feel like I hit a good balance this summer, so maybe that's why my brain kicked into teacher gear mid-July.

Thinking about writing one day, I began to wonder why it is so hard to get students to work their way through the complete writing process. Writing is difficult, but I'm not looking for perfection or miracles, just effort really. Most students stop at the rough draft, maybe rewriting it neatly or maybe not, and turning it in as the final copy. There are a few factors that need addressed, but the ones to begin with are the problems of audience and purpose. In a classroom, the teacher is the audience and the purpose is a grade, which becomes less motivating as time passes. I needed new audience and purpose...new to my students, but something I could control.

And it hit me - this blog! Why couldn't my students post their writing to my blog? After two years, I have an audience, which according to my stats is international. I have plenty of readers and writers who comment and participate. It's a form of publication they haven't experienced and maybe never will again. Student Spotlight will post at least once, maybe twice, a month. Really it will depend upon the students. They have to have solid ideas to work with and if they are chosen, they can revise and edit their work for the blog. The writing will be assignments from class (I teach English, so these would still be book related!) or volunteer posts of book reviews or book related topics.

Here's where I ask a big favor of my readers and commenters. I would LOVE for my students' posts to receive the attention you would give to any guest poster - maybe even more?! Thoughtful comments or questions to make them think or discuss would be optimal. Compliments welcome too, of course! I will be encouraging students to comment back. I really want them to experience the value in reading and writing, along with the diverse community of readers and writers that exist in the real world, not just in English class with their whacked out, book lovin' teacher! I will consider all students for this opportunity, so some posts may not be as good as others, but trust that I have a reason for each student who posts here. Sometimes encouragement is all it takes to move to the next level.

Can I count on you?!

How I Torture My Students

Source: und.edu

Truthfully, one of the fun parts of being a teacher is watching your students squirm from the torture you put them through. I've gotta find amusement somewhere in my day, right? And it's easy to do when you're an English teacher. All I have to say is, "Get out a piece of paper and something to write with" and the moans are instantly audible.

Before you think I hate kids, let me say, part of the amusement is what they can do if they try. There's truly an element of "I'm doing this for your own good" involved. They whine, complain, make faces, and sit for a couple minutes staring at their pen and paper. Then, some start trying the given exercise. They often ask me for help, but that's a slippery slope. Help once and they're all begging you every step of the way. A generation raised with Google does not truly know how to help themselves. The struggle to create is what makes or breaks them and the ones who try often find satisfaction, even if it wasn't a complete success.

My instrument of torture? Writing challenges. Plain old writing prompts are torture for me as much as them sometimes, although those definitely have their time and place. Writing challenges are a different story. They can sound easy at first or possibly seem fun, have you hit a wall and give up, only to get mad at giving up and start it again. Watching each other move forward goads students to personally keep trying (as well as me walking around instigating students who seem to really give up). They "cheat," helping each other here and there and I pretend not to notice. After all, what they are really doing is teaching each other and it's a proven fact that two heads are better than one, especially when all involved in the collaboration are engaged.

I have a couple favorites.
1. Write a 3/4 page story, that makes absolute plot and grammatical sense, without using the letter "e" a single time. Possible? Oh yes, I did this one myself. I wrote about looking for and getting a job...pretty snazzy piece, beings the words "teacher" and "educator" both have "e" in them. The key is vocabulary...looking for words that share the same meaning, but don't have an "e".

Oh, oh...see that? It's not just random torture, I have an objective. Vocabulary building...using a thesaurus. Say what?

2. To be or not to be? Sorry Hamlet, NOT to be is the correct answer here. Write a one page summary, review, or analysis of a short story we've read without using a single "to be" verb. Who needs pesky verbs like is or are anyway? Not to mention: am, was, were, be, became, have, has, had, do, does, did, could, should, would...you get the point. The key to this exercise is using stronger action verbs and precise nouns. The books you love because of the wonderful writing, even though the plot may kinda suck, deal largely with this skill. And students don't even have completely eliminate to be verbs to...uh...be successful. Eliminating any number of weak verbs improves their writing. Namely, my arch writing nemesis, passive voice.

So, yea, torture is fun AND educational. Who knew?

Anyone have any teachers who had such torture techniques/writing challenges? I'm all ears!