The "Education" Thread

[Master_Yoda77]

My busy time too; fortunately one of my seminar papers is nearly complete, and the other is about half-done. On top of that I'll have final grades to calculate and exams to administer.

Also trying to procure some form of summer work, even part-time. Summer funding is limited for grad students, and I doubt I'll pick up any this year since I'm only a second-year.

I'm in the exact same boat as you for summer work. Unfortunately, I wasn't aggressive enough in my employment and all the summer adjunct positions at the local community colleges are full. I'm basically just scrounging around for any minimum wage job I can get until August starts back up.

School-wise, I'm super behind on papers, both grading and my own. I has 23 10-page research papers to grade, and any other revisions for my class. I also have my own 15 page research paper to finish before Monday for my Lit class. In my Personal Essay Writing class, we have to do revisions on our 3 essays, and then write up a 7 page Reflection paper, but I'm not too worried there.

 

[Einherjar86]

Yeah, I didn't hear back from any adjunct positions I applied for. I somewhat expected that, since it's Boston and there are likely hundreds (if not thousands) of people more qualified than me.

I did get an interview for a summer language program on Thursday. It's a company called Berlitz. They might be looking for someone more experienced in language education, but I'll learn more at the interview. If they're just looking for English instructors to teach ESL students, then I'm prepared for that (lots of students at BU are ESL).

 

[Zephyrus]

They handed me another online course to teach this summer, in which I get paid basically to grade bubble sheet exams every other week and answer student emails. It's a class on vocab-building by studying Greek and Latin root words.

But I'll also be teaching scientific writing for Upward Bound again in Maine for the third year in a row this summer. Gonna make some mad stacks.

 

[Matt]

I have a 15 page paper due Friday, another 8-10 page one due next week as well as a group project I am basically doing alone. On top of finals. Thank god undergrad is almost over.

Also I have barely started on any of these assignments.

 

[Funerary_Doom]

Man well here is where I'm happy I teach special education.
No papers! W00t!


However, between this month and next I do have to do a ton of assessments, which means I gotta see what level their math, reading and writing skills are at. I also gotta see where their computer skills are as well. I only did two assessments so far for Discovery, and they both wanted to know what level they were on. I felt awkward telling them, as one is currently working as a substitute paraprofessional she comes to me to increase her math skills (and of course I job coach her on the field). The sub para's math is at a 5th grade level and reading at at 2nd grade (which is actually not bad especially the math) but it was hard for me to say that to her probably because I'm still new at this and walk on eggshells with everything.

 

[viewerfromnihil]

My 30 pager on Richard Wagner is finished, so I'm not too concerned about the end of the semester. I've got a ten page comparing antisemitism and racism against blacks, a 5 page Geography paper written through the lens of Huntington's Clash of Civilizations, and a 5 page final on American foreign policy. Then I'm off to a university next semester.

I was hoping to spend my summer in the Maryland State Archives with a paid internship writing women biographies, but Washington College negotiated their students and pocketbooks into the positions, so I'm stuck in the pharmacy.

 

[Dak]

30 page paper? Good god. Happy I had no real papers like that to write this semester, but the senior thesis looms in the distance.

 

[Einherjar86]

Thirty pages is serious business. My longest has only been twenty-six.

 

[Zephyrus]

My history thesis in undergrad was 35 pages, and my Latin thesis was 60.

15-20 pages is the standard length for seminar papers in my grad program. Luckily the only one this semester is a stylistic analysis of a Latin author, due in two weeks. No sweat.

 

[unknown]

yeah I had a couple of 30 page papers in grad school. 12-20 pages was the norm. The papers in my Middle English class (which was the last class I took) were only 6-10 pages though, which was actually really hard. I forgot how to be concise and write short papers.

 

[Einherjar86]

I've written almost all my seminar papers with an eye toward potential publication, which means keeping them below twenty-five if possible. Usually it doesn't clash with class requirements.

 

[Zephyrus]

Have any been published yet? I'm working with a professor on whipping one of mine into article material.

 

[Einherjar86]

I've had two rejections. None published yet.

The last rejection I received was actually encouraging because they insinuated that they liked the premise, they just didn't have room for the topic.

I'm currently trying to work up a piece on Faulkner's As I Lay Dying for the journal Modernism/Modernity. Hopefully I'll send it out this summer sometime. What's your current project?

 

[unknown]

the best rejection letter I ever got was from Critique, the only journal I've found that has published scholarly papers on House of Leaves. I sent in a paper talking about House of Leaves and third spaces/liminality and Navidson being "in the closet". My professor loved it, as he is a big HoL fan, so I sent it in.

I lost the letter, but both editors commented saying something to the effect of, "There are some things which should never be published. This paper is one of them." it was like I genuinely offended them. Whatever. It just made me laugh

 

[Zephyrus]

The thing I'm working on now would fit pretty well into a journal such as Late Antiquity or Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, but I keep thinking my methodology and writing style is still too sophomoric to be acceptable to anyone.

 

[Einherjar86]

the best rejection letter I ever got was from Critique, the only journal I've found that has published scholarly papers on House of Leaves. I sent in a paper talking about House of Leaves and third spaces/liminality and Navidson being "in the closet". My professor loved it, as he is a big HoL fan, so I sent it in.

I lost the letter, but both editors commented saying something to the effect of, "There are some things which should never be published. This paper is one of them." it was like I genuinely offended them. Whatever. It just made me laugh

I remember you telling that story; I still find it absolutely crazy and, in all honesty, pretty unprofessional.

I also admittedly find it odd. I don't mean this to sound condescending, but are you sure you sent it to the right Critique?

The thing I'm working on now would fit pretty well into a journal such as Late Antiquity or Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, but I keep thinking my methodology and writing style is still too sophomoric to be acceptable to anyone.

I had to get over the same anxiety. Methodological concerns are huge, but I honestly believe that if you've made it to graduate school then you must be doing something right as far as your approach goes. That doesn't mean you won't have detractors, of course; but you'll have those who agree with you too.

 

[unknown]

oh yeah. It was the right journal. I wasn't torn up about it. Instead I went on to be editor of a peer-reviewed journal for two years. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em I suppose

 

[viewerfromnihil]

Thirty pages is serious business. My longest has only been twenty-six.

Mine was twenty-six pages with the cover page and bibliography excluded (I drew a lot from letters, which takes up a ton of space on a bibliography for a minimal amount of reading). I went way over the top on the minimum expectations, but, since I'm still in a CC, it wasn't hard to find the time between my other classes and I figured it was a good opportunity for the practice.

 

[Baroque]

My Master's thesis was 282 pages.

 

[viewerfromnihil]

What was it on?