Sunshine Meets Rain Half Way to Hearing Aids

This quarter hasn’t been any different from any other, but I am exhausted and ready to finished like never before. I’m not sure why this is. Perhaps it’s the switch from abstract to practical is the reason or that I expected so much more from this quarter and was sort of let down. All I know is that only a few assignment stand in the way of me and freedom. Now I just need to convince myself to actually work.

Here is what I need to accomplish before I can bask in freedom for three whole weeks.
1 Unit Plan
1 Discussion board reflection
1 Juxtaposition paper
1 EDTC metareflection
1 EDTC 5-minute instructional screen cast with accompanying handout

I’ve nearly completed the juxtaposition paper due on Tuesday. I just need to reread and revise. The unit plan due Monday is another issue entirely. I cannot seem to motivate myself to do this and am starting to feel the stress. I feel very ill-prepared to do something like this and if I’m not good at something I simply don’t want to do it.

I will be making a big push to get the EDTC assignment done this weekend (or more realistically on Wednesday) though they aren’t due until the 13th. If I wait that long, my 3 weeks will be cut down to two and that is not ideal.

And now that I’ve bored you all with the details of my school life, I will find some other way to procrastinate.

Every year SPU cancels class for a day so that faculty, staff and students can come together to learn about a certain topic. They call this day the Day of Common Learning and it consists of a keynote speaker in the morning and then seminars in the afternoon.

This year’s topic was Abraham Lincoln so naturally I was excited. Excited to learn about Abe, but maybe a little more excited to enter in the $300 bookstore gift certificate raffle. Last year I was unaware of this raffle, but won!  You can read about my excitement here. Being one of maybe three graduate students who attend the DoCL I knew my chances of victory were high again this year. So I went to the seminars, entered my name into the drawing, and waited. Monday afternoon at 12:12pm I received this e-mail:

Congratulations, Nicole!

You won! Your name was drawn in the Day of Common Learning raffle. As a winner, you will receive $300 to be used at the SPU bookstore for textbook purchases. Please contact Elizabeth Reed, manager of the bookstore, with any questions you might have regarding your gift card.

Please reply to this e-mail or call 281-2481 to verify receipt of this winner notification.

Thank you for participating in the Day of Common Learning!
-Stacey

You cannot imagine my excitement. I did a few pump fists and then proceeded to tell everyone in my office that I won two years in a row. This was indeed a special day….

That is until 2:18pm rolled around and I received this follow up e-mail:

Hi Nicole,

It has come to my attention that you are a full time employee.  I am very sorry, but you are ineligible for the gift certificate as a .8 employee.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

My apologies for the confusion,
Stacey

I then got a follow-up phone call from Stacy to make sure I read the e-mail and that I understood everything. I said I did, but that was a lie.

Start rant

I don’t understand why full-time employees who are also full-time students are not eligible. I pay more you in tuition (even with my 10% discount) in two quarters than you pay me in a whole year. Also, you raised my tuition this year, but did not raise my (or any staff member’s) pay this year. As a university you are making the claim that my employment trumps my education (a stretch I know, but go with it because I’m ranting). Isn’t this the exact opposite of what a university should strive for? Stacy, I know this policy isn’t your decision, but do some fact checking before you send out a congratulations e-mail okay?

End rant.

End post.

The 2nd year of my masters program started this week. And even though I’ve been doing this grad school thing a year, I was still nervous as ever to start the quarter. The beginning of the 2nd year marks a shift in the program. The first year we just talked about teaching, we didn’t really do anything practical. This year we’re all practical all the time. We’re making lesson plans, practicing strategies, teaching our classmates and in March we enter the classroom.

I cannot even begin to describe how horrified I am of this. March? The month that is 5 months away from now? That March?

I learned in class Monday that teachers, as a profession, have the highest rate of UTIs because they can’t go to the bathroom during the day. We were asked in class on Monday what we were most afraid of about teaching. I could have rambled on for hours about my fears of becoming a teacher, but now, on top of my learning gaps, crazy policies, my insecurities about myself as a teacher, and being mistaken for a middle schooler, I have to worry about UTIs? Does God not know that I get grumpy when I have to pee and can’t go?

And here’s the kicker: I can’t drink cranberry juice as a preventative measure because then I’ll just have to pee

I have a paper due this coming Thursday (it’s actually due Saturday but we leave for Vegas Friday morning so my paper must be done Thursday night) that is proving very difficult for me to write.?

Here a list of things I’ve done instead of my paper.

1. Wrote this blog post
2. Watched an episode of I Love Lucy
3. Cleaned the apartment
4. Cleaned out the supply closet at work
5. Countless other things at work that I’ve never done but decided to do because it meant I wouldn’t have to work on my paper
6. Went to the gym
7. Played solitaire?games on my iPhone
8. Watched Magoo spaz out in his bowl. I think his food makes him high.
9. Looked around on etsy for cute new things
10. Went to the mall and buy new dresses for Vegas trip
11. Attempted a nap?

I’m happy to report that I have about 1/2 page done. 8.5 more to go!

Aren’t Friday’s supposed to be fun?

Instead of having things due throughout the quarter, my professors this term have decided to make everything due at once. I have 3 presentations, 2 papers,?1 exam.?3 article critiques, 2 test reviews, and 1 research design proposal due in the next two weeks.?I’ve scheduled out my time and think I’m prepared to handle the chaos.

I’m not really concerned about anything besides the two papers. One, because I hate writing papers, and two, because our papers are based on things we’ve learned and discussed in class. This wouldn’t be a problem except (and here’s where I go into all caps, so you know I’m upset) WE DON’T LEARN ANYTHING IN CLASS! Tonight for example, Dr. S did not teach. At all. Not one note was taken, not one lesson was taught. You know what did happen? Another thirty-minute lecture on the importance of eFolio and a twenty-minute talk on why we have to get fingerprinted. Thanks, Dr. S. I didn’t catch that information the first seven classes when you talked endlessly about them.

Rant complete.?

In happy news, I received a 100% A+ in my first grad class. WTG me!