This morning, as the local weekend began, I got up at 6 AM, brewed some coffee, sat down and lucidly plotted out my entire upcoming assignment in detail. After months of muddling through a murky mind, I can think again now that my coordination job is done. The assignment is still far from finished, and the deadline is frighteningly near, but I now know that a quality assignment will be ready on time, against all odds.
I do not like flying by the seat of my proverbial pants. This time there was simply no other option than the trade-off: my professional self-respect depends on doing my job as well as I can. But that is done now, and I can concentrate on my studies, my slightly wilted self and finding a job where they need not be neglected.
Showing posts with label assignment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assignment. Show all posts
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Academia X-Rated
There are certain essential things that nobody ever teaches you. You just have to figure them out for yourself, because somehow the details are just too taboo to spell out.
Take academic writing, for instance. Yes, there is a plethora of information on how to write research papers. Yet somehow there is just nothing out there on how one goes from that intricate conceptual house of cards balanced on one’s little finger amidst the hurricane of daily life to a coherent academic text.
Perhaps this is because, when it comes to the proverbial crunch, writing is such a profoundly personal endeavour. Or perhaps it is because nobody dares to admit how much of this supposedly scientific process is, in the end, left to a feverish tango between a fickle, fickle muse and the unpredictable Duke of Hazard. The surrealist in me does not object to that fact. And the baker in me insists that the most important step in baking bread is turning away and leaving it to rise. Writing may be very similar.
All this is why today’s entry goes behind the curtain to expose the drafting process: frank and unadorned. Since writing is such a personal and lonely affair, I will not venture to call this the “right” way, (after all, there seems no evidence of any way whatsoever). But I do offer it as one route that can lead from the blank page to the printed manuscript. I will include my entire preparation process, current drafting procedure and remaining steps. The assignment is for a module that was taught in June, with a deadline on 30 November.
1. May: Preparatory reading and key concept summary of selected recommended textbooks, starting with the more general titles. Contact tutors for specific preparatory reading assignments, access and read.
2. June: Intensive summer school (2 weeks.) Daily review and assigned readings where viable and discussion with classmates. Receive assignment. After the summer school, review and file handouts and class notes. Remaining readings.
3. July: More specific readings gradually geared more to assignment. Two weeks of complete decadent rest.
4. August: Collect journal articles relevant to assignment. Categorize and read, making brief summaries of key concepts. Compile master bibliography of all resources, which can be taken away from rather than added to. (Bibliographies are the downfall of many a last-minute project: with foresight, that problem can be avoided.) Plot out a basic mindmap showing areas of interest.
5. September: Email rough outline with recommendations for tailoring to tutors. Complete final readings. (At this point I should interject: life goes to pieces in the throes of unwanted and impossible new job description, local religious customs and social meltdown. That’s the beauty of planning this process: even meltdown is not a catastrophe.) Transfer mindmap to a larger sheet of paper and expand with details and proposed word count. Pepper work area with post-its containing new discoveries and ideas. Stop at nothing.
6. October: Scan class notes again to ascertain tutors’ points of view. Re-examine assignment wording and ensure all aspects are addressed in proposed outline. Re-examine grading criteria and post in work area if possible, re-reading frequently. Transfer headings from outline to individual pages of an A4 notebook, including proposed word count for each section. SIT DOWN AT DESK AND BEGIN TO WRITE, LEAVING ALTERNATE LINES BLANK. Start with the easy bits and watch the magic happen. Mark uncertain references or facts in the margin with asterisks and keep writing. Take breaks as needed, getting away from the desk completely every few hours. Make time for the good life. When the text is complete, leave it for a day and celebrate. Return to the text, count the words and perform academic liposuction on the fluff. Make each word count with dense, rich meaning and eliminate what is not needed. Set up a formatted word processing document and transfer the edited text to computer. When complete, leave to sit. Return with a fresh mind and fresh eyes, editing where necessary. Double-check the word count. Ensure all footnotes, appendices and bibliography entries are complete. Leave to sit. Check again. Turn over to a trusted friend for proofreading. Check again.
7. November. Leave to sit. Check again. Print out final copy and hard copies and deliver to administrators by 7 November. If all else fails, there are three more weeks before the deadline. Celebrate and take a few days off. Begin preparatory reading for January module.
Perhaps not the most efficient of techniques, but it certainly covers most bases. By naming the steps and setting a time frame to them, the terrifying mysterious taboo is lifted. And that leaves us with academic writing: exposed.
Take academic writing, for instance. Yes, there is a plethora of information on how to write research papers. Yet somehow there is just nothing out there on how one goes from that intricate conceptual house of cards balanced on one’s little finger amidst the hurricane of daily life to a coherent academic text.
Perhaps this is because, when it comes to the proverbial crunch, writing is such a profoundly personal endeavour. Or perhaps it is because nobody dares to admit how much of this supposedly scientific process is, in the end, left to a feverish tango between a fickle, fickle muse and the unpredictable Duke of Hazard. The surrealist in me does not object to that fact. And the baker in me insists that the most important step in baking bread is turning away and leaving it to rise. Writing may be very similar.
All this is why today’s entry goes behind the curtain to expose the drafting process: frank and unadorned. Since writing is such a personal and lonely affair, I will not venture to call this the “right” way, (after all, there seems no evidence of any way whatsoever). But I do offer it as one route that can lead from the blank page to the printed manuscript. I will include my entire preparation process, current drafting procedure and remaining steps. The assignment is for a module that was taught in June, with a deadline on 30 November.
1. May: Preparatory reading and key concept summary of selected recommended textbooks, starting with the more general titles. Contact tutors for specific preparatory reading assignments, access and read.
2. June: Intensive summer school (2 weeks.) Daily review and assigned readings where viable and discussion with classmates. Receive assignment. After the summer school, review and file handouts and class notes. Remaining readings.
3. July: More specific readings gradually geared more to assignment. Two weeks of complete decadent rest.
4. August: Collect journal articles relevant to assignment. Categorize and read, making brief summaries of key concepts. Compile master bibliography of all resources, which can be taken away from rather than added to. (Bibliographies are the downfall of many a last-minute project: with foresight, that problem can be avoided.) Plot out a basic mindmap showing areas of interest.
5. September: Email rough outline with recommendations for tailoring to tutors. Complete final readings. (At this point I should interject: life goes to pieces in the throes of unwanted and impossible new job description, local religious customs and social meltdown. That’s the beauty of planning this process: even meltdown is not a catastrophe.) Transfer mindmap to a larger sheet of paper and expand with details and proposed word count. Pepper work area with post-its containing new discoveries and ideas. Stop at nothing.
6. October: Scan class notes again to ascertain tutors’ points of view. Re-examine assignment wording and ensure all aspects are addressed in proposed outline. Re-examine grading criteria and post in work area if possible, re-reading frequently. Transfer headings from outline to individual pages of an A4 notebook, including proposed word count for each section. SIT DOWN AT DESK AND BEGIN TO WRITE, LEAVING ALTERNATE LINES BLANK. Start with the easy bits and watch the magic happen. Mark uncertain references or facts in the margin with asterisks and keep writing. Take breaks as needed, getting away from the desk completely every few hours. Make time for the good life. When the text is complete, leave it for a day and celebrate. Return to the text, count the words and perform academic liposuction on the fluff. Make each word count with dense, rich meaning and eliminate what is not needed. Set up a formatted word processing document and transfer the edited text to computer. When complete, leave to sit. Return with a fresh mind and fresh eyes, editing where necessary. Double-check the word count. Ensure all footnotes, appendices and bibliography entries are complete. Leave to sit. Check again. Turn over to a trusted friend for proofreading. Check again.
7. November. Leave to sit. Check again. Print out final copy and hard copies and deliver to administrators by 7 November. If all else fails, there are three more weeks before the deadline. Celebrate and take a few days off. Begin preparatory reading for January module.
Perhaps not the most efficient of techniques, but it certainly covers most bases. By naming the steps and setting a time frame to them, the terrifying mysterious taboo is lifted. And that leaves us with academic writing: exposed.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Work, Study and Where the Twain Shall Meet
In the words every child of the eighties remembers from The A-Team, I love it when a plan comes together.
When I started my masters’ studies, the relevance of what I was learning seemed extremely remote to my actual day-to-day work. As my grasp of the field has grown over time, I have come around to seeing how this growing knowledge benefits my teaching. While I am opposed to academic snobbery, especially when it comes to teaching English, the depth and scope of the strengthening theory that underlies my every lesson is proving invaluable. The question of what to do with my students if there is time left has transformed into a new question: how do I best use my time in class and give students the opportunity to develop more outside the class?
What my studies did not seem to cater for, however, is the growing responsibilities of my job. The primary focus of the course thus far has been from the teacher’s perspective. This would have been fine, except that my responsibilities have recently been extended to overseeing other teachers, students and courses within a new academic programme. If the “Peter Principle” applies, well, I have risen to my highest level of incompetence, and boy, am I feeling it. My modest studies simply do not cover what I need to know. And need to know fast.
In a former post I mentioned the idea of being the master of one’s fate, and I thought I’d give it a go. My current assignment was set to cover a week’s worth of lesson plans for one class, with a theoretical justification. While this is valid and valuable, I am juggling lesson plans across the curriculum at work. In a flash of inspiration flared by the midnight oil, I decided to contact my tutors for permission to use the cross-curricular lesson plans I have been drafting at work in the assignment. The first tutor had no objections, and I felt quite optimistic. Today I received a response from the second tutor: he actually endorsed the adaptation to my actual practical needs. Positive feedback AND I get to kill two birds with one stone: my work is actually feeding my studies and vice versa.
I love it when a plan comes together.
When I started my masters’ studies, the relevance of what I was learning seemed extremely remote to my actual day-to-day work. As my grasp of the field has grown over time, I have come around to seeing how this growing knowledge benefits my teaching. While I am opposed to academic snobbery, especially when it comes to teaching English, the depth and scope of the strengthening theory that underlies my every lesson is proving invaluable. The question of what to do with my students if there is time left has transformed into a new question: how do I best use my time in class and give students the opportunity to develop more outside the class?
What my studies did not seem to cater for, however, is the growing responsibilities of my job. The primary focus of the course thus far has been from the teacher’s perspective. This would have been fine, except that my responsibilities have recently been extended to overseeing other teachers, students and courses within a new academic programme. If the “Peter Principle” applies, well, I have risen to my highest level of incompetence, and boy, am I feeling it. My modest studies simply do not cover what I need to know. And need to know fast.
In a former post I mentioned the idea of being the master of one’s fate, and I thought I’d give it a go. My current assignment was set to cover a week’s worth of lesson plans for one class, with a theoretical justification. While this is valid and valuable, I am juggling lesson plans across the curriculum at work. In a flash of inspiration flared by the midnight oil, I decided to contact my tutors for permission to use the cross-curricular lesson plans I have been drafting at work in the assignment. The first tutor had no objections, and I felt quite optimistic. Today I received a response from the second tutor: he actually endorsed the adaptation to my actual practical needs. Positive feedback AND I get to kill two birds with one stone: my work is actually feeding my studies and vice versa.
I love it when a plan comes together.
Monday, June 16, 2008
I-Search Myself
Today we received the assignment for our second module, and I think I am finally over the trauma that has withheld me from putting down my thoughts on the process of the first. So before I plunge into the next one, here are a few issues that came up in the first assignment. Writing about this rather resembles a procedure called “I-Search”, which came up in our assigned reading yesterday. An I-Search is a student’s analysis of the experience of a writing assignment, designed to develop self-awareness and improve writing and research abilities. Since I would rather be described as “self-aware” than “self-conscious” (whatever the truth may be!), I’ll give it a go. For the sake of convenience, I will loosely follow the questions proposed in said reading by Ann M. Johns (2006:170-1), which is reproduced in italics. In the spirit of the I-Search, I am writing this before receiving my grade. I am posting this in my online blog (which feeds to four different sites) for the benefit of reference, but also for other students in similar positions and instructors investigating the I-Search procedure and reflective meta-skills.
1. The opening
a) Have you ever completed papers like [this] before? If so, how is this alike… or different…?
I have never done anything on this scale before, either in depth or breadth. My last academic writing was at BA level, and I rarely consulted more than a handful of sources. At a length of 6 000 words, I had no idea how much this would even involve, and ended up drafting way, way too much. I think this was much more different from my past writing experience than it was the same.
b) What was the research question you selected? Did you revise it as you completed your search?
There were six suggested questions to choose from, and a seventh which allowed for a self-designed question. I chose the seventh, and formulated my question as: Discuss the potential influences of context on learning style among students in your context. Although my approach was modified several times, the question was not.
c) Why did you choose this question?
Because I was an overzealous, arrogant clod! The question required discussion of four different areas of the module, whereas another question would simply have required discussion of one area as applied to my own context. I also had some misgivings about the concept of learning styles and had no idea how nebulous and convoluted that area is. However, I am extremely interested in learning styles: what I didn’t know, though, is that learning strategies lie closer to my heart. This points out a big issue in working in such a completely new area: my knowledge of my field of study was still limited, and the three-odd months between my first day of class and the deadline was too short to amplify my awareness sufficiently. Since the hand-in I have learnt so much, simply because I am free to read more widely!
2. The Search:
a) What steps did you take in completing your research? Be as specific and detailed as possible.
Again, overzealousness was my downfall. I decided to triangulate (in fact, quadrangulate, with four sets of data!), although in fact no research is required at this stage. I used essays students had written about their learning styles, focus group interviews, a diagram students had filled in about their learning styles and extracts from my teaching journal.
b) What roadblocks did you encounter…?
The shortage of resources at my host college has been an obvious problem. We also did not receive student numbers, etc. required to use the university’s online library, until six weeks before the deadline. The terminology problem really made searches difficult.
c) What success did you experience?
I was completely obsessed with the assignment and ate, slept and dreamt it for weeks. Many of the best ideas about structuring it came to me in sleep. I felt I was able to connect the topic to wider reality by using a spectrum of sources beyond the subject area.
d) Whom did you ask for help?
Minimal correspondence with tutors, since I didn’t want to make a nuisance of myself. Was this a mistake? Also discussed ideas with colleagues and students. By the end I was feeling so compromised by all the constraints that I was too embarrassed to ask anyone to proofread, although I had had several offers.
e) Was the classroom feedback… helpful? Why?
The instructor’s feedback was exceptionally detailed, focusing on exact word choice in most cases. There were no structural pointers, and I am wondering if that will prove to be my downfall? I appreciated the encouragement, but felt the feedback didn’t make a very big difference to the final product.
3. My growth as a reasearcher
a) How do you feel about your paper…? Do you think it is well-written? Thoughtful? Worthy of a good grade? Why?
I am extremely proud of my paper and feel I did my very best under the circumstances. However, I know the paper demands better. Writing in academic style did make me feel that I’d somewhat lost my voice, and developing a personal academic writing style is something I still feel I need to work on. A great weakness is the fact that I had so many areas to draw on that I had to skim over all of them, leaving some of the more detailed information for the appendices. I feel this was solidly done, but some readers may really dislike this and it may even discredit the academic value of the work. There was no comment on this when I submitted the draft, so I am hoping it won’t be a major problem. It is thoughtful and academically mature in many ways, overall, but no doubt my novice status shows.
b) Are you satisfied with your writing and search process? What went well? What would you change?
I honestly do believe that I did the best I could under the circumstances. A major factor was the shortage of resources, and the limited time compared to later assignments. (Almost six months are allocated for the next module’s assignment, and this after we have already covered much of the reading and already have a broader overview of the field.) I used backward mapping to plan my time, and it worked very well: including contingency time and off days really paid off. Under those circumstances, there is nothing I could change, but I am sure to deliberately prevent some of the manageable problems that did come up this time around, although many of them are not relevant in future assignments. On second thoughts, the things I urgently need to change were in my life beyond studies: because of the time crunch I single-mindedly pursued the assignment and abandoned other important things. Chief among these was my formerly stringent health regimen, which went straight to the dogs, and I am now paying the price for that. If I have to choose between my health and an MA, Father Academe comes second.
4. My growth as a writer
a) How did you grow as a writer?
I have learnt the need for archiving my resources as the amount of reading I have covered continues to grow. I have learnt many tricks for keeping thing more organized, especially using the computer. I think I have improved my ability to strategise.
b) What will you do differently…?
I really do think the things that I was able to control were fine, the processes might just need some tweaking. I would not jump into a postgraduate program again without having done prior reading, but if there had been an option I wouldn’t have done so in the first place. I will keep in mind that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
5. My suggestions for future assignments
a) … what else helped you to complete this assignment?
Caffeine. Self-talk. Positive reinforcement from instructors and classmates, and especially the strong group feeling created by the tutors in our first module sessions. The hefty deposit I had to pay to enroll. Without this, I would most certainly have quit.
b) What might your instructors have done to enhance your writing processes and improve your written product?
Access to reading materials before the course is important: I am not sure how much of this was provided, since I only heard of the program after it had started. Considering that students are new to the field, I feel more of an introduction is needed, and more time should be allocated for reading before narrowing down to focus on the assignment. The Virtual Learning Environment is being overhauled, and I found remnants of former courses but apparently this facility is not used any more. Our group has been given a Ning page for networking online, but it has mostly been used as a social networking site. I have tried to initiate some higher-order discussion, but so far this has run into dead ends very quickly, and I am beginning to feel embarrassed about “dominating” the page, so I may stop trying. It would be really helpful to share a page with students from the same course in other countries.
Johns, A.M. 2006. Students and feedback: reflective feedback for I-Search papers. In Hyland & Hyland (Eds.) Feedback in Second Language Writing. Cambridge: CUP.
1. The opening
a) Have you ever completed papers like [this] before? If so, how is this alike… or different…?
I have never done anything on this scale before, either in depth or breadth. My last academic writing was at BA level, and I rarely consulted more than a handful of sources. At a length of 6 000 words, I had no idea how much this would even involve, and ended up drafting way, way too much. I think this was much more different from my past writing experience than it was the same.
b) What was the research question you selected? Did you revise it as you completed your search?
There were six suggested questions to choose from, and a seventh which allowed for a self-designed question. I chose the seventh, and formulated my question as: Discuss the potential influences of context on learning style among students in your context. Although my approach was modified several times, the question was not.
c) Why did you choose this question?
Because I was an overzealous, arrogant clod! The question required discussion of four different areas of the module, whereas another question would simply have required discussion of one area as applied to my own context. I also had some misgivings about the concept of learning styles and had no idea how nebulous and convoluted that area is. However, I am extremely interested in learning styles: what I didn’t know, though, is that learning strategies lie closer to my heart. This points out a big issue in working in such a completely new area: my knowledge of my field of study was still limited, and the three-odd months between my first day of class and the deadline was too short to amplify my awareness sufficiently. Since the hand-in I have learnt so much, simply because I am free to read more widely!
2. The Search:
a) What steps did you take in completing your research? Be as specific and detailed as possible.
Again, overzealousness was my downfall. I decided to triangulate (in fact, quadrangulate, with four sets of data!), although in fact no research is required at this stage. I used essays students had written about their learning styles, focus group interviews, a diagram students had filled in about their learning styles and extracts from my teaching journal.
b) What roadblocks did you encounter…?
The shortage of resources at my host college has been an obvious problem. We also did not receive student numbers, etc. required to use the university’s online library, until six weeks before the deadline. The terminology problem really made searches difficult.
c) What success did you experience?
I was completely obsessed with the assignment and ate, slept and dreamt it for weeks. Many of the best ideas about structuring it came to me in sleep. I felt I was able to connect the topic to wider reality by using a spectrum of sources beyond the subject area.
d) Whom did you ask for help?
Minimal correspondence with tutors, since I didn’t want to make a nuisance of myself. Was this a mistake? Also discussed ideas with colleagues and students. By the end I was feeling so compromised by all the constraints that I was too embarrassed to ask anyone to proofread, although I had had several offers.
e) Was the classroom feedback… helpful? Why?
The instructor’s feedback was exceptionally detailed, focusing on exact word choice in most cases. There were no structural pointers, and I am wondering if that will prove to be my downfall? I appreciated the encouragement, but felt the feedback didn’t make a very big difference to the final product.
3. My growth as a reasearcher
a) How do you feel about your paper…? Do you think it is well-written? Thoughtful? Worthy of a good grade? Why?
I am extremely proud of my paper and feel I did my very best under the circumstances. However, I know the paper demands better. Writing in academic style did make me feel that I’d somewhat lost my voice, and developing a personal academic writing style is something I still feel I need to work on. A great weakness is the fact that I had so many areas to draw on that I had to skim over all of them, leaving some of the more detailed information for the appendices. I feel this was solidly done, but some readers may really dislike this and it may even discredit the academic value of the work. There was no comment on this when I submitted the draft, so I am hoping it won’t be a major problem. It is thoughtful and academically mature in many ways, overall, but no doubt my novice status shows.
b) Are you satisfied with your writing and search process? What went well? What would you change?
I honestly do believe that I did the best I could under the circumstances. A major factor was the shortage of resources, and the limited time compared to later assignments. (Almost six months are allocated for the next module’s assignment, and this after we have already covered much of the reading and already have a broader overview of the field.) I used backward mapping to plan my time, and it worked very well: including contingency time and off days really paid off. Under those circumstances, there is nothing I could change, but I am sure to deliberately prevent some of the manageable problems that did come up this time around, although many of them are not relevant in future assignments. On second thoughts, the things I urgently need to change were in my life beyond studies: because of the time crunch I single-mindedly pursued the assignment and abandoned other important things. Chief among these was my formerly stringent health regimen, which went straight to the dogs, and I am now paying the price for that. If I have to choose between my health and an MA, Father Academe comes second.
4. My growth as a writer
a) How did you grow as a writer?
I have learnt the need for archiving my resources as the amount of reading I have covered continues to grow. I have learnt many tricks for keeping thing more organized, especially using the computer. I think I have improved my ability to strategise.
b) What will you do differently…?
I really do think the things that I was able to control were fine, the processes might just need some tweaking. I would not jump into a postgraduate program again without having done prior reading, but if there had been an option I wouldn’t have done so in the first place. I will keep in mind that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
5. My suggestions for future assignments
a) … what else helped you to complete this assignment?
Caffeine. Self-talk. Positive reinforcement from instructors and classmates, and especially the strong group feeling created by the tutors in our first module sessions. The hefty deposit I had to pay to enroll. Without this, I would most certainly have quit.
b) What might your instructors have done to enhance your writing processes and improve your written product?
Access to reading materials before the course is important: I am not sure how much of this was provided, since I only heard of the program after it had started. Considering that students are new to the field, I feel more of an introduction is needed, and more time should be allocated for reading before narrowing down to focus on the assignment. The Virtual Learning Environment is being overhauled, and I found remnants of former courses but apparently this facility is not used any more. Our group has been given a Ning page for networking online, but it has mostly been used as a social networking site. I have tried to initiate some higher-order discussion, but so far this has run into dead ends very quickly, and I am beginning to feel embarrassed about “dominating” the page, so I may stop trying. It would be really helpful to share a page with students from the same course in other countries.
Johns, A.M. 2006. Students and feedback: reflective feedback for I-Search papers. In Hyland & Hyland (Eds.) Feedback in Second Language Writing. Cambridge: CUP.
Friday, April 4, 2008
ILLUMINATION
With a pressing deadline, it is tempting to work right through the weekend. I have resisted, taking off yesterday evening to have a little bit of a life. This morning I rose early and started fatiguing the “ancient” poster I will present at the national ELT conference on 23 April, and put together with a Powerpoint presentation for the less lateral thinkers in the audience. Then I chilled flat-out.
Is relaxation justified? According to Wallace ( reference not found), genius works in five stages: the first are concerned with gathering information, and the final with “illumination”. While no step should be underestimated, the fourth is the one that fuels the revelation: “incubation”. Stepping away.
There was an area of my literature review that simply seemed labyrinthine: the myriad typologies of learning styles make them difficult to pin down. After my afternoon of sloth, I sat down with my distilled notes and a few coloured pens to find direction. Suddenly, it all fell into place: those many typologies can be boiled down to four continua represented as spokes of a wheel. A person’s learning style can be represented as four points on the axes, and connected to a kite. To verify my loosely structured interview data, I can ask students to use the wheel to represent their perceived styles, and use the resulting kites for analysis.
Is there time, in modern life, for a full-time professional studying part time to take a day of rest? I believe the day lost is more than compensated for in the efficiency gained every other day, and in the insights gained from stepping back to see the forest and the trees.
Is relaxation justified? According to Wallace ( reference not found), genius works in five stages: the first are concerned with gathering information, and the final with “illumination”. While no step should be underestimated, the fourth is the one that fuels the revelation: “incubation”. Stepping away.
There was an area of my literature review that simply seemed labyrinthine: the myriad typologies of learning styles make them difficult to pin down. After my afternoon of sloth, I sat down with my distilled notes and a few coloured pens to find direction. Suddenly, it all fell into place: those many typologies can be boiled down to four continua represented as spokes of a wheel. A person’s learning style can be represented as four points on the axes, and connected to a kite. To verify my loosely structured interview data, I can ask students to use the wheel to represent their perceived styles, and use the resulting kites for analysis.
Is there time, in modern life, for a full-time professional studying part time to take a day of rest? I believe the day lost is more than compensated for in the efficiency gained every other day, and in the insights gained from stepping back to see the forest and the trees.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
The Assignment Evolves
Not all my time over the past week has gone to the relentless pursuit of justice, believe it or not. I still rise with the dawn call to prayer, and head straight to Vivaldi, my (midnight) oil burner, a shot of spiced coffee and the mountain of books surrounding my desk.
Now that my assignment outline has been approved, the not inconsiderable task of writing lies before me. Writing high quantities has never been a problem for me, but writing high-quality, information-rich, sharply defined academic prose is a slightly rusty skill that may need some oiling.
My solution to this is backward mapping, a management technique I was reminded of in my readings. By beginning with the deadline and working backwards, it is possible to plan with more foresight. At least, so the theory goes. Admittedly, my backward maps are probably more realistic than my forward maps. The fact that they feature a weekly day off is their crowning glory.
While the big ideas incubate, I am starting of with some Zen typing: the reference pages. When I was working on my first degree, everything still had to be done on a manual typewriter. Not only did I not have a computer, I often didn’t have electricity either. Getting the references lined up at the eleventh hour was always the very worst past of the nightmare. Now that I am older, wiser, and able to afford both a modest computer and electricity (the gods be praised), I am hoping to prevent any cause for nightmares by starting off with the reference pages, which can be adapted if necessary as the work evolves.
Of course, the strategy may evolve, too.
Now that my assignment outline has been approved, the not inconsiderable task of writing lies before me. Writing high quantities has never been a problem for me, but writing high-quality, information-rich, sharply defined academic prose is a slightly rusty skill that may need some oiling.
My solution to this is backward mapping, a management technique I was reminded of in my readings. By beginning with the deadline and working backwards, it is possible to plan with more foresight. At least, so the theory goes. Admittedly, my backward maps are probably more realistic than my forward maps. The fact that they feature a weekly day off is their crowning glory.
While the big ideas incubate, I am starting of with some Zen typing: the reference pages. When I was working on my first degree, everything still had to be done on a manual typewriter. Not only did I not have a computer, I often didn’t have electricity either. Getting the references lined up at the eleventh hour was always the very worst past of the nightmare. Now that I am older, wiser, and able to afford both a modest computer and electricity (the gods be praised), I am hoping to prevent any cause for nightmares by starting off with the reference pages, which can be adapted if necessary as the work evolves.
Of course, the strategy may evolve, too.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
The Penultimate Straw
Finally submitted the outline for my assignment to greet my poor tutors first thing on Monday morning. It has been exceedingly difficult to concentrate on my studies while the number of teaching and other duties at work seemed to multiply. During January and February I spent night tossing, turning and, perchance, dreaming of my studies. In March my white nights have been courtesy of work.
I love work. I love to work. In fact, two weeks into a holiday I tend to get unbearably restless, undefined, as if my outlines are blurred. Work defines me. But work, Work, The Work, does not steal my sleep. The barrage of over-and-above my usual beyond-the-call-of-duty workaholic endeavours has just been too much recently. Added to teaching, course development, preparing for presentations and, oh yes, my studies, it left me depleted, and I have been wandering campus like a ghost all week.
But here’s the thing. It wasn’t the last straw. When I adamantly deliberated to withdraw, one colleague was kind. One was compassionate. Another was gentle. Another funny. Another helpful. Another generous. Most were harmless, which is generosity enough. Although our department is not a wonderful team, we are a collection of wonderful individuals.
That makes up for a whole lot of straw.
I love work. I love to work. In fact, two weeks into a holiday I tend to get unbearably restless, undefined, as if my outlines are blurred. Work defines me. But work, Work, The Work, does not steal my sleep. The barrage of over-and-above my usual beyond-the-call-of-duty workaholic endeavours has just been too much recently. Added to teaching, course development, preparing for presentations and, oh yes, my studies, it left me depleted, and I have been wandering campus like a ghost all week.
But here’s the thing. It wasn’t the last straw. When I adamantly deliberated to withdraw, one colleague was kind. One was compassionate. Another was gentle. Another funny. Another helpful. Another generous. Most were harmless, which is generosity enough. Although our department is not a wonderful team, we are a collection of wonderful individuals.
That makes up for a whole lot of straw.
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