24 April 2010

Senior-itis

I cannot seem to concentrate on my school work. I have so many distractions, both fun and work related. I don't know which to focus on first. Most can be put off until this semester ends for me on May 10th. The trouble is that I don't want to focus on the one paper that I have to write to end my course work for my doctorate. I have 14 pages on paper, most of which are quotes from my primary sources with very little analysis or secondary literature to back up my weak/lacking analysis. I haven't touched the paper since Wednesday. I want to get it done, I just have no motivation. This is not good. I want to work on projects that I'm interested. This kind of bothers me for heading into the phase of exams and dissertation.

Part of this I think stems from the fact that in one class I am writing a paper about Girls' Tech's ideological origins and in my other class we are just talking about writing in general. I have this on top of teaching two different courses, my IT job, and developing four courses online. It's just a lot to keep jumping between.

However this fall I am teaching 4 different courses at 2 different schools. While I am looking forward to doing this, especially developing and teaching a course on gender and sex, I am a little nervous to do all of this and my It job while writing my qualifying exams (DQE). My goal is to read all of the books this summer, hardcore, and be ready to defend my DQE around Christmas. I want to fast track as much as I can this summer. I know it is a lot, but if I get it done now, I can be that much closer to getting those three little letters.

Happily, though, I was reimbursed for my trip to San Diego to present my co-authored paper. I had a nice break from reality and my husband came along for the ride. I love education conferences. They are so much more relaxed than the history conferences I have attended. I presented at a roundtable, which means that we just sat around and talked about the ideas in the paper. I can't stand listening to someone read directly from their paper for 15 minutes.

I think I have rambled enough for now. I hope to come back more often this summer, if only to complain about the DQE books that I am reading.