My Grades

I had five goals for this summer.

1. Rest.
2. Write my Master’s portfolio project.
3. Write lesson plans for those two classes I’m teaching next fall.
4. Write something for publication (even if it doesn’t get published).
5. Figure out what I’m going to do in December when I graduate (seminary, teaching in a community college, English PhD program, etc.).

The Assessment

1. Rest – A+ – I did do some mighty fine resting. This summer, I really needed to rest mentally. It’s almost impossible to describe the type of strain graduate school puts on you. It’s intense. You never rest your mind. Not even when you’re sleeping, because the question or problem you were mulling over in your mind is there the whole night. Moments of peace are far too rare in this sort of life, and I desperately need them to keep myself oriented.

2. Write my Master’s portfolio – F – I flunked this one totally. I had my panel and everything together going into the summer, and I told them I’d probably get this written over the summer. I tried to start it about two weeks ago, and I ended up restarting it about four times before giving it up for the rest of the summer. I’ll probably give it another shot starting Monday.

3. Writing Lesson Plans – C – I still haven’t written anything, but I still give myself a passing grade on this one. I was expecting Tech to get me some sort of copy of the book I am teaching out of in June. They got it to me last week. It’s difficult to think of very good lesson plans when you don’t know what you’re teaching yet. I do have some ideas though (those poor students).

4. Write for publication – F – I still have an idea or two, but by about halfway through the summer, this didn’t seem that important, and I decided to not care about it.

5. Figure out what I’m going to do in December when I graduate – D – Believe me, this is the one I spent the most time on this summer. I did a lot of reading and writing and praying with this one in mind (even though I decided to not post much on my blog about this). At moments, the answer seems so clear, and at times, it is anything but. I know I’ll write about this one at more length throughout the semester, so I’ll leave it at that for now. I’m a pretty confused puppy.