Thursday, June 21, 2007

June goals: first follow up

Being accountable is a two-edged sword . . . it's good as it will keep me motivated and not appear to be such a slacker in front of you wonderful people. On the other hand, it's a challenge as it adds some pressure to actually get some work done. I always seem to have lofty goals that I don't meet. I do need to work at adjusting my goals to a more manageable level-- I won't, for example, be able to complete the dissertation by Saturday afternoon. Sunday night? Maybe . . . not.

Over the past few days I had good intentions, and I did get some work done. But I have to keep reminding myself how much of a process this dissertation work happens to be. It won't get done overnight even if I think I can do it. The past few days I did do some revision of chapter #1, and I began a short narrative about a student and work he did in my class the first year I taught the ICW course. This is good. I also read a book, posted a blog entry about the disparity in teachers' salaries between those who work in predominantly white schools and those who work in non-white [urban] schools (this actually does relate to the diss in that underpaid and inexperienced teachers are often the ones teaching in urban areas-- with students who need the most experienced teachers), and I spoke with academic advisers who see the broad range of student abilities as students enter the academy (full-time student orientation goes on all summer at my Uni). So while I didn't write all the time, I did get work done.

Tomorrow? I'll do more of the same, but I will focus more on writing. I'd like to have a completed draft of chapter 1 done by the end of the day. I'll let you know how it goes.

3 comments:

Abby said...

Just checking in, seeing how your work is coming. Or going.

Billie said...

Thanks, Abby! Unfortunately I did put a goal on that last post of "this evening" I'll have the work done, but it didn't quite work out that way. I've decided to let the intro sit a bit and work on something else, the methodology section (chapter 3). The whole issue (as Chris knows!) of collegiate sports is rife with all sort of interesting issues, but the topic of my dissertation is the teaching of writing . . . not the shenanigans that go on outside the classroom. But those shenanigans keep drawing me back in . . . I'll post in a bit about how the methodology chapter is going. So far, kinda easy . . . but the focus is on the diss. :-)

Meagan said...

Looks like you're getting some good work done-- I'm impressed, anyway. :)