"The Force is strong with this one." ~ Darth VaderHeather and I were walking out of Flying Star on Saturday and she laughed at my STAR WARS messenger bag. Now, whether she was laughing at STAR WARS or the fact that a 37-year-old woman was using the bag, I am not sure. I then preceded to tell her that this weekend was the Albuquerque Comic-Con, but I wasn't going because I do draw the line on my nerdiness. She didn't understand what I was saying about Comic-Com so I had to explain it in a bit more detail. She was enlightened (amused?) by my explanation in which one thing led to another and somehow, in the course of just a few steps, I was telling her about how Mark and I had renewed our vows in Vegas last summer, rather than heading to San Diego for the national Comic-Con. (For those not familiar, go here - http://www.comic-con.org/cci/)
Now, I don't think I am that odd, or nerdy. Do I like STAR WARS? Yes. Am I sometimes enthralled by the various story lines of comics and graphic novels? Yes. Do I enjoy pop culture? Yes. Do I have a favorite superhero? Yes, who doesn't? Mine is Batman, in case you were curious. All of this though is just one small part of who I really am.
None of this means that I am not a mature adult. I do take things seriously, sometimes, too seriously. After being out for a few hours, having fun with friends, some people do tend to forget or even believe that I am actually a nationally board certified middle school English teacher (see here - http://www.nbpts.org/), working as an Instructional Coach, while also pursuing a doctoral degree in Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies. Crazy, huh?
So what might this blog be? It will become an outlet for me this semester as I navigate through a full-time job, 12 credit hours at a university, while also teaching a class at the university. And did I mention that I also have a 19-year-old daughter? Yeah, but that could be an entirely other blog.
Until the next posting, may the force be with you.
Fun story to start off with...I got a kick out of this glimpse of you, and your interests.
ReplyDeleteWhat's an instructional coach? Do you coach people who are struggling to learn something? Or do you help people create instructional materials?
What class are you teaching?
How close are you to the dissertation?
You see how your first entry got me asking questions right away.
What's a dissertation? Just kidding! I probably have another year of courses, but that's about it. The hard part is trying to narrow down what I really want to research. The research aspect is a bit intimidating! I got lucky and am teaching a course about adolescent literature, which is what I love, so I am pretty psyched for this week!
DeleteAs an instructional coach, I am there to help the teachers with anything that they need, as well as to bring to any professional development from the district to the school. The school didn't really have an instructional coach last year because she quit in the fall, so I think that they are still trying to figure out what to do with me!
Tip on the dissertation: focus on a small subject, not a huge one; explore a gap in current understanding, ie, an area where the experts disagree, or paper over what you see as inconsistency, or blithe assumptions.
ReplyDeleteA dissertation is just a bunch of chapters, headed toward a general conclusion. So you may do yourself a favor by figuring out a general idea of a topic NOW, and making sure that most of your grad school papers are, um...chapters in that future dissertation. That approach can save you a year or two.
(Using this technique, I did my dissertation in six months).
Best,
Jonathan