The "Education" Thread

[Einherjar86]

I am seriously occupied with work lately, but it's a good feeling. In addition to having revisions to work on, there's a panel at MLA next year that's calling my name, on Faulkner and posthumanism. I'm working up an abstract for that, but I'm also putting together a panel submission for the MSA conference in November, which is going to be in Boston. This means that I could potentially chair a panel; but I'm also coordinating participants for it, one of whom is a central figure in the panel's topic, so there's a possibility that he might chair it, in which case I could present a paper. This is all depending on whether the proposal gets enough of a response to be officially accepted.

In addition to that I'm working on a paper to submit to PMLA (my first to that journal, and it'll be a long shot), and I'm trying to get together my orals committee and compile my reading list. And on top of all that, the snow keeps falling and cancelling my damn classes. Shit is hectic, that's for sure.

 

[Dak]

Got a undergraduate research grant which includes a stipend. Woot me.

Yeah that snow situation in Boston has to suck - no way you can really "catch up" at this point in terms of classroom time.

 

[Einherjar86]

Woot you indeed. Woot money.

As of today, I think I'm going to have to push back my students' second paper due date until after spring break, which I feel bad about. I originally had it due the day before spring break so they didn't have to work on it over the vacation. But at this point, there's just no way I can have them complete two rough drafts in the next two weeks in addition to a final draft. On the plus side, it will mean that I can direct all my attention over the break to paper revisions.

 

[unknown]

that panel on Faulkner and posthumanism certainly sounds interesting. Faulkner frequently refers to people in non-humanistic ways (Absalom, Absalom and the first book of the Snopes trilogy).

 

[rms]

I have As I Lay Dying laying around in my room, going to finish that after the semester

 

[unknown]

As I Lay Dying is great. It's also a pretty good intro to Faulkner (as well as introducing the reader to some frequent characters and places in the Faulkner mythos). Absalom, Absalom remains my favorite though. It just has this monolithic feel to it and captures a lot of the themes he explores in his other novels really well. Miscegenation, family relations, the South...it's all there for the taking

 

[Einherjar86]

I prefer As I Lay Dying over The Sound and the Fury.

I'll be reading Absalom, Absalom! for the first time this semester.

I love AILD's narrative structure - i.e. that there's no single privileged narrative voice. It structurally undercuts the possibility of narrative in the first place. Also, to this day, Addie's chapter haunts me. That was such an awesome move.

 

[Funerary_Doom]

I seriously wish I had taken a class in college that focused on those classics.

I'm pretty excited, I got into the NYC Teaching Fellows Program Special Education for 2015 (grades 7-12). I've heard it's intense as its also a MA program as well, but I'm really so happy.

In the meantime (I will have to quit my current job in June) i'm doing a project with some of my guys at the Day Habiliation Center, called the Pace University Project. Basically it's a class where they are paired up with a Pace University student who helps them create a visual resume, apply for jobs and helps them with their social networking online. They really enjoy it, and if any of you guys teach any web design classes or social work classes it's definitely a great idea to open your doors to those with developmental disabilities who are in supportive employment programs. Both the student and individual benefits, and some great relationships build from it.

 

[unknown]

Special Education is a huge field right now. The program is gonna kick your butt, but you already have some experience it seems, so it'll totally be worth it. Congrats

 

[Funerary_Doom]

It is! I'm so ready for this. Thanks man so stoked!

 

[viewerfromnihil]

I also may not be graduating this semester.

What's going on with this?

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Failed my MA Comprehensive Exams and they don't offer another retake until next semester. This wouldn't be that big of a deal if I wasn't already accepted into a Ph.D program, but I don't want to fucking spend another $1000 applying to programs and shit again. Fuck that nonsense.

 

[Einherjar86]

That sucks man.

Is your attending the PhD program contingent upon your passing the MA exam? It could be that your acceptance assumes an MA, and has you beginning at a somewhat advanced phase of the process; and if that's the case, then perhaps your acceptance is voided by the MA exams. But if your MA credits don't carry over (which is sometimes the case), then it may be that your PhD program has you earning another MA at their institution. And if that's the case, then maybe failing the exams doesn't preclude you from attending...?

I really don't know, it's a shitty situation. Sorry to hear man.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Yeah, my Ph.D program assumes that I will have my MA by the time that I start. I have a few options though. One, I can set a world record and write a thesis and defend it over the summer and graduate in August, effectively getting my MA before I start at my new university. The other option requires me taking another year at my current institute (no big deal) and requesting a Deferred Enrollment at my new Ph.D program. I do have some rhetoric here that would help my argument, but my Ph.D program still needs to grant that request. However, I can tell them that my MA Thesis is taking longer than I anticipated and that I want to spend an extra year at my current institution because I am teaching a different class and would like more experience there.

So, I have options, which is nice I guess. I'm going to try and churn out that thesis over the summer, but fuck that only gives me like 2 and a half months to write it and another month to polish and perfect it for a defense in July. Doable, but difficult. I have nothing to lose though (and, I already have 15 pages written).

School sucks. Bart Simpson rules.

 

[viewerfromnihil]

I was going to suggest requesting a deferment. I'm trying to find my way around Germany for a year after graduating with my BA and have considered deferment as an option if I can't win a Fulbright or a DAAD grant. How long does your thesis have to be? Best of luck!

 

[Master_Yoda77]

They vary in length, probably around 50 pages. There is no set number or anything though.

 

[tagradh]

I'm self teaching for a certificate from the royal statistical society. I don't even know why, asides that learning is fun.

I want to do a MA but deciding what is so tuff. And it might be smarter just to do a law conversion course. Or become a builder.

 

[unknown]

They vary in length, probably around 50 pages. There is no set number or anything though.

That sounds about right. My English department didn't like students doing theses, which bothered me. They actively pushed students towards taking the comps.

My thesis ended up being 92 pages because fuck you, English department

 

[Zephyrus]

Fuck that nonsense.

As I've discussed with you the other day, even if you can't get your enrollment deferred and you have to do another round of applications, it might be a blessing in disguise (as it was for me). With another year of credentials (i.e. second year transcript plus whatever teaching experience you gain over the interim year) you'll look more valuable to potential programs, including the ones that rejected you. Don't be spiteful, because they will take you much more seriously if they see you be persistent, and that you genuinely want to go there.

That sounds about right. My English department didn't like students doing theses, which bothered me. They actively pushed students towards taking the comps.

I imagine it's because MA programs are designed to certify people as having general knowledge of their field, and not just in the more specific area of their research interests (which is what the PhD. dissertation is for). Also, institutions that put a higher value on producing good teachers as well as researchers would prefer training people who have the know-how to teach the more popular texts and not just be good at a sub-corpus of literature that few undergrads courses would even offer.

 

[unknown]

I don't think it was necessarily that. I actually had some faculty admit to not wanting to be on thesis committees because it was extra work for them. The comps were a joke. The faculty would post the five possible questions you might get tested on at the beginning of the semester and then let you know which professors would be reading the exams. You then had the full semester to craft an essay for each answer and then memorize it. A week before the comps, you, the student, had the chance to say "I don't want question X", and they would honor that request. When the day of the comps came, they gave you your question (one of the remaining four), and you had three hours to type an 8 page paper that you had memorized.

Luckily, in my area of study (rhetoric & composition), the four professors encouraged me to write one. Ultimately, I felt a lot better and confident after having written the thesis and going through the IRB and research process. I had to do IRB because my thesis involved surveying students. It may have added an extra year to my studies, but I feel like it was absolutely the best decision I made. I loved the writing and research process. The IRB was a fucking pain in the ass though.

There were a lot of shitty politics in our English department. Rhet/Comp was at the bottom of the totem pole with Lit and Creative Writing at the top. Whatever. Luckily, two of the three campuses I work at now are much more camaraderie based (camaraderic?) and encouraging of any sort of endeavor