Things have slowed down quite a bit at the blog, lately. It is not that I am not working on my thesis, because I am, but there’s just not a lot to share. That being said, let’s see where I am at so far.
- I’ve been in contact with my thesis chair over the summer, but I won’t be able to meet with him until he actually moves into the state in August. My situation involving my chair and myself merits a post one day.
- I have my outline of my proposal done, and I’ve been fleshing it out over the past week or so. I’m not going to dive into writing it fully until the week after next because…
- I am currently working in the summer as a tutor at a local community college and taking an art history course. Next week is my last week of work and my last week of class. That leaves the bulk of August to work on my own stuff.
- I have begun hammering home on the structure of the project itself. I have my critical introduction more or less outlined, but the structure of the project itself has eluded me for a little while. Now, however, I think I may be on to something that may turn my own project itself into a survey, of sorts of IF history. I promise to talk more about this later.
- A lot of what I have been doing this past week or so has been focused on my preparation for the class I will be teaching in the fall.
Starting in late August I teach my first English class at CSUSM as a graduate student. I am, of course, excited about this next chapter, but I am also very nervous. I hadn’t actually touched any of my course materials since I developed them for LTWR 602, which is the training course, until last week or so. When I wrote my material that I applied with, it was scheduled for a weekly two day class. I will be teaching three days a week, however, at about 9:30 in the morning, with an hour and a half commute. So, yes, fall 2017 will be an interesting semester for me.
The blog’s focus may expand a bit in that capacity, as well. Because I will be teaching and writing, the two are inexorably going to mingle and tug at me at any given time. So, what I am getting at is to expect a lot of posts about my experience teaching as I am in the process of working on the thesis. Of course, I will observe all confidentiality guidelines and such when discussing teaching. The last thing I want is to violate the trust students extend to me.
So, getting back to my materials for my class, I had originally applied with a schedule for a class that took place twice a week. Realizing that I had to teach three days a week, however, required I completely rebuild my schedule. That went somewhat smoothly, though, I am surprised to admit. I am pretty happy with where I am at regarding my schedule, material, and reading selection.
The Weekly Thesis 