So here we are in the latter half of August with September bearing down on us with all speed. It's been lovely having the last few weeks off. I've been able to visit family and friends in Chicago, do some sightseeing, a lot of cooking, cleaning, and spending time with the dog. I've also been able to see friends in the area and read for pleasure. Of course there have been wasted hours of watching dumb movies and playing games, but we're all human, right?
I made my triumphant return to Wrigley Field to see my Cubs beat the Reds, cheered heartily at the return of the NFL season and learned to run the dog ragged with a frisbee. I haven't had too many good photo shoots, but some new software gave me the long awaited opportunity to turn a bunch of old shots into good panoramas. If you'd like to see the results, I've added the album here.
But, as I mentioned at the start, September is just around the corner, and with it, the return of graduate coursework. This fall I am enrolled in four classes: Pedagogy of History, Fundamentals of Teaching, American Legal History, and British Medieval History. Although I am admittedly less than thrilled to be returning to homework, it will be good to be making forward process again. In particular I am excited about the British course because I have not studied that period at all, neither formally nor independently. I'm equally excited by the Pedagogy of History course, because, let's be honest, that's the primary skill set I hope to improve through this Master's program.
Before those courses even begin I embark on an even more exciting journey, the beginning of my student-teaching. That's right, next week I begin heading down the street to the high school and observing the local history department. Typically I will be spending two days a week in the high school observing, and likely helping out here and there, but next week I will be observing almost the whole week to get a good grasp on how the school year starts from a faculty perspective and start to establish my role with the students.
I am unbelievably excited for that to get underway. Finally, after years of thinking about it, thinking about what I'll do and who I'll be, I will start acting. It is worth reflecting that the point of this blog is to record my mistakes and the lessons learned through them. That means that in just one week, I'll be in position to start filling it up. Yep, one week til the mistakes inevitably start. Let's all just hope and pray that the lessons are learned and acted on shortly thereafter.
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
I made my triumphant return to Wrigley Field to see my Cubs beat the Reds, cheered heartily at the return of the NFL season and learned to run the dog ragged with a frisbee. I haven't had too many good photo shoots, but some new software gave me the long awaited opportunity to turn a bunch of old shots into good panoramas. If you'd like to see the results, I've added the album here.
But, as I mentioned at the start, September is just around the corner, and with it, the return of graduate coursework. This fall I am enrolled in four classes: Pedagogy of History, Fundamentals of Teaching, American Legal History, and British Medieval History. Although I am admittedly less than thrilled to be returning to homework, it will be good to be making forward process again. In particular I am excited about the British course because I have not studied that period at all, neither formally nor independently. I'm equally excited by the Pedagogy of History course, because, let's be honest, that's the primary skill set I hope to improve through this Master's program.
Before those courses even begin I embark on an even more exciting journey, the beginning of my student-teaching. That's right, next week I begin heading down the street to the high school and observing the local history department. Typically I will be spending two days a week in the high school observing, and likely helping out here and there, but next week I will be observing almost the whole week to get a good grasp on how the school year starts from a faculty perspective and start to establish my role with the students.
I am unbelievably excited for that to get underway. Finally, after years of thinking about it, thinking about what I'll do and who I'll be, I will start acting. It is worth reflecting that the point of this blog is to record my mistakes and the lessons learned through them. That means that in just one week, I'll be in position to start filling it up. Yep, one week til the mistakes inevitably start. Let's all just hope and pray that the lessons are learned and acted on shortly thereafter.
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
No comments:
Post a Comment