Week 1
The pursuance of a doctorate degree is not an aspiration everyone seeks to obtain and for good reason. In my situation, this type of laborious endeavor would seem impetuous. To begin, I am a mom of two girls; Victoria turns 4 tomorrow and Violet turned 1 on May 1. Not only this but I am an elementary school teacher and wife. It would be nonsensical to deny the fact that I am absolutely petrified.
Monday:
I logged into my Canvas account to find that my courses had not been "loaded" effectively. I didn't actually see the syllabi for the three courses I am enrolled in until later that evening. These courses are: Applied Research Methods in Education, Foundations of Education, and a Seminar for Educational Practitioners. Unable to view my course documents at an inept time prevented me from starting off on the right foot.
Tuesday:
I logged into my Canvas account and began tout suite. I began printing articles, a chapter out of the applied research text, and power point slides. I began creating an assignment checklist. I also began to become increasingly anxious as I am going full speed through the school week. Exacerbating my anxiety was the fact that my team had to present to an audience of parents on the expectations of the next school year. After getting that out of the way, I had to navigate through posting a video of myself talking about myself, using technology I was unfamiliar with. This was one of the most challenging experiences I have ever had to muscle through in graduate or undergraduate. I recorded take after take of my somewhat prepared but not wanting to sound overly robotic speech. These recordings lasted until after midnight. When I had finally felt satisfied with my recordings, I realized that I had no idea on how to upload the media to the discussion board. After educating myself on these procedures, uploading the videos were futile because the sizes were too large. Can you imagine my dissatisfaction? If this wasn't enough, Lettie Delle (Violet), was having a bout of teething and was not accepting the fact that mommy was terribly busy. Amidst those video clips, I was going back and forth between nursing and shushing her to sleep. I finally figured out that I had to resize the videos. Was that the aspect ratio? I'm really not sure. I just know that I figured it out.
Friday:
This was a disappointing day. When I logged into Canvas, which I must say I do neurotically, I realized that I had not completed one of my assignments ALREADY. Well, it was partially completed. After answering some survey questions, I failed to post them to the discussion board. Quel dommage! Imagine my chagrin. This is an initial assignment in which first impressions are everything. I took it upon myself to retake the survey and post my answers to the discussion board albeit their succinctness and poor quality due to having to rush through it during my 25 minutes or so of lunch. Needless to say, I emailed the professor, admitting of my feeble judgment, and she responded with an "it's fine" "smiley face". No biggie.
As I perused the discussion board, I was floored by the writing capabilities of my colleagues. I questioned whether or not this is the right path for me. Am I going to be able to do this? Well, I really don't know until I try, and I'm not really one to be called a quitter.
Through this blog, I hope to document the evolution of my writing, my research, and memories of this entire process of achieving my doctorate degree. I'm really not sure of the trajectory, but wherever it is going, I am on it.
Let's recap the first week of school.
Monday:
I logged into my Canvas account to find that my courses had not been "loaded" effectively. I didn't actually see the syllabi for the three courses I am enrolled in until later that evening. These courses are: Applied Research Methods in Education, Foundations of Education, and a Seminar for Educational Practitioners. Unable to view my course documents at an inept time prevented me from starting off on the right foot.
Tuesday:
I logged into my Canvas account and began tout suite. I began printing articles, a chapter out of the applied research text, and power point slides. I began creating an assignment checklist. I also began to become increasingly anxious as I am going full speed through the school week. Exacerbating my anxiety was the fact that my team had to present to an audience of parents on the expectations of the next school year. After getting that out of the way, I had to navigate through posting a video of myself talking about myself, using technology I was unfamiliar with. This was one of the most challenging experiences I have ever had to muscle through in graduate or undergraduate. I recorded take after take of my somewhat prepared but not wanting to sound overly robotic speech. These recordings lasted until after midnight. When I had finally felt satisfied with my recordings, I realized that I had no idea on how to upload the media to the discussion board. After educating myself on these procedures, uploading the videos were futile because the sizes were too large. Can you imagine my dissatisfaction? If this wasn't enough, Lettie Delle (Violet), was having a bout of teething and was not accepting the fact that mommy was terribly busy. Amidst those video clips, I was going back and forth between nursing and shushing her to sleep. I finally figured out that I had to resize the videos. Was that the aspect ratio? I'm really not sure. I just know that I figured it out.
Friday:
This was a disappointing day. When I logged into Canvas, which I must say I do neurotically, I realized that I had not completed one of my assignments ALREADY. Well, it was partially completed. After answering some survey questions, I failed to post them to the discussion board. Quel dommage! Imagine my chagrin. This is an initial assignment in which first impressions are everything. I took it upon myself to retake the survey and post my answers to the discussion board albeit their succinctness and poor quality due to having to rush through it during my 25 minutes or so of lunch. Needless to say, I emailed the professor, admitting of my feeble judgment, and she responded with an "it's fine" "smiley face". No biggie.
As I perused the discussion board, I was floored by the writing capabilities of my colleagues. I questioned whether or not this is the right path for me. Am I going to be able to do this? Well, I really don't know until I try, and I'm not really one to be called a quitter.
Through this blog, I hope to document the evolution of my writing, my research, and memories of this entire process of achieving my doctorate degree. I'm really not sure of the trajectory, but wherever it is going, I am on it.
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