So it's been awhile since I first made an entry in this thing. Kind of a lot has happened since July. In no particular order:
-I caught the Black Plague (otherwise known as the TSI flu)
-I coached a soccer season
-I got a new car
-I have had a blast teaching Brit Lit to 12th graders for the first time
-I have generally had a blast teaching these 12th graders (these are the kids that I first taught as
9th graders, when we were both brand new at NHHS)
-I took the GRE (not bad, but not where I wanted my score to be)
-I applied to graduate school
-I coached a wrestling season (learned it new this year)
-I might coach a tennis season (there's a wee bit o drama there)
That pretty much brings me to now and the reason for a new journal entry after all this time. I'm both in a groove and in a rut. I like what I'm doing, but I have a passion for more. I've been teaching for four years and, at the age of 29, I'm worried that if I don't take the plunge at being a bona-fide scholar now, that I may get caught up in the "comfortable life" and see graduate school as one of those foolish kid dreams. Now, after spending 4 years in a high school, I find that I am resonating quite a bit with my 12th grade students. I'm anxious for the next step, while nervous about leaving somewhere that I have great fondness for. I'm a mess of nerves as I wait to find out which, if any, of the three schools that I've applied to will let me in (Georgetown, Delaware and Bonaventure are the schools, on the off chance that anyone actually reads this). I found myself getting a bit emotional when I wrapped up the last soccer game of the season this year.
I re-started this blog for two reasons:
1: I plan to post, step by step, my graduate process, from acceptance/rejection letter to Masters degree and beyond. If anyone reads this, maybe my experience can help to persuade/disuade them from following the same path.
2: I plan to give the link to this blog to my students (especially my current 12th graders, who will always be my FIRST students, and thus hold a special place for me), so they can keep track of my zany antics and hopefully stay in tough through the comments feature.
That's all for tonight. Hopefully it won't be another few months until the next entry. I don't expect to hear from Delaware or Bonaventure for awhile yet, but Georgetown's application deadline was over a month ago, so I fully expect to be back on here soon either gleefully celebrating or bemoaning the dashing of my delusions of grandeur.
Till next time...
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Sunday, July 20, 2008
First entry 2 weeks in...yup, this must be my blog
7/19/2008-
OK, so time for some background info. I am a 28 year old English teacher from Pylesville Maryland. My school has corn, cows and its own barn. It has a tractor day. Yet here I find myself leaving my flannel-clad town behind and spending the entire month of July in downtown Washington, DC. Wait, what? Yeah, I'm in the big city.
So why am I here? Back in March, I applied to the Folger Shakespeare Library's Teaching Shakespeare Institute. I never thought that I would get accepted, but it was one of those "if I don't at least try, I'll regret it later" moments. I sent off the materials and waited patiently for my rejection letter to arrive (on, of all days, April 1st). I didn't get a rejection letter. I got an acceptance phone call (during a tennis match that I was coaching. Tennis is a good place to get news like that, because tennis kids are usually dorky enough to appreciate my excitement over the news).
Fast forward a few months. On August 6th, I arrived at Georgetown with my suitcase, my computer and a small library of books in my arms. They suggested that we keep a blog as we go. Today, two weeks into my four week experience, I took the plunge.
The first week was extremely fun. The Institute is focused on three components: scholarship, curriculum development, and acting. We are studying four plays altogether (Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, Richard III and King Lear). Each play gets a week to itself, though we do often turn down tangent road (Gotta love that Merchant of Venice, Hey nonny nonny?). We start each day with free coffee and a lecture from some of the best Shakespearean scholars on the planet. It is so interesting to hear a lecture from so many sources on the same play. It truly drives home the point that you can interpret Shakespeare's work in any number of ways. On top of the academic intrigue, the reality of where we are for these lectures is equally as fun. We spend half of our time in the theater of the Folger (a mock up of the Globe). We walk past a first folio every morning. We eat lunch surrounded by paintings that are 300-400 years old. Most of us are in a state of total nerdgasm.
The other two components are designed around learning how to act in order to create performance pedagogy. I've been having a lot of fun with the curriculum while living in terror of the acting (nothing personal Caleen- I'm love theater...from the vantage point of the audience, not the stage).
The first two weeks we worked on Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing. I've never been as interested in the Comedies, having only read a handful of them. This first two weeks changed that. By watching the scholars deliver their papers, I was able to figure out how to investigate the Comedy genre. Rather than view it as an absurdity due to the plot, I have begun looking at both Taming and Much Ado as puzzles and pieces of ambiguous art (the ambiguously play duo?)
Next week we move into Richard III (my favorite of the four before the TSI). We will also be finalizing our own research papers (more on the assignments and my progress/lack thereof later).
On to the people. I had no idea what to expect when I came down to DC. I've only been teaching for three years. I was worried that everyone else was going to have a combined 800 billion years of teaching experience next to me. While most of the rest of the group DOES have plenty more time in the classroom, my roommate (another sarcastic guy) just finished his first year. We end up awake half the night discussing the literature, teaching in general and other ideas. It's a good thing the coffee is free.
There is MUCH more to discuss about the social end of TSI 2008, but hey, I have to leave something for blog post number 2, right?
If anyone actually reads this, these are possible topics to be included in the next blog. Comment and tell me which ones sound most interesting to you.
Pushup counting, word of the day, cuckold, Albert's hats, Joel's great rare book theft (foiled), Anti-Shakespearean attitudes at 550 feet, A two day break to reunite with a bunch of Dicks, graduate school, My county and Shakespeare.
See you next time (which, I'm sure, will probably be two weeks from now, but I'll try to be good. :) )
Scott
OK, so time for some background info. I am a 28 year old English teacher from Pylesville Maryland. My school has corn, cows and its own barn. It has a tractor day. Yet here I find myself leaving my flannel-clad town behind and spending the entire month of July in downtown Washington, DC. Wait, what? Yeah, I'm in the big city.
So why am I here? Back in March, I applied to the Folger Shakespeare Library's Teaching Shakespeare Institute. I never thought that I would get accepted, but it was one of those "if I don't at least try, I'll regret it later" moments. I sent off the materials and waited patiently for my rejection letter to arrive (on, of all days, April 1st). I didn't get a rejection letter. I got an acceptance phone call (during a tennis match that I was coaching. Tennis is a good place to get news like that, because tennis kids are usually dorky enough to appreciate my excitement over the news).
Fast forward a few months. On August 6th, I arrived at Georgetown with my suitcase, my computer and a small library of books in my arms. They suggested that we keep a blog as we go. Today, two weeks into my four week experience, I took the plunge.
The first week was extremely fun. The Institute is focused on three components: scholarship, curriculum development, and acting. We are studying four plays altogether (Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, Richard III and King Lear). Each play gets a week to itself, though we do often turn down tangent road (Gotta love that Merchant of Venice, Hey nonny nonny?). We start each day with free coffee and a lecture from some of the best Shakespearean scholars on the planet. It is so interesting to hear a lecture from so many sources on the same play. It truly drives home the point that you can interpret Shakespeare's work in any number of ways. On top of the academic intrigue, the reality of where we are for these lectures is equally as fun. We spend half of our time in the theater of the Folger (a mock up of the Globe). We walk past a first folio every morning. We eat lunch surrounded by paintings that are 300-400 years old. Most of us are in a state of total nerdgasm.
The other two components are designed around learning how to act in order to create performance pedagogy. I've been having a lot of fun with the curriculum while living in terror of the acting (nothing personal Caleen- I'm love theater...from the vantage point of the audience, not the stage).
The first two weeks we worked on Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing. I've never been as interested in the Comedies, having only read a handful of them. This first two weeks changed that. By watching the scholars deliver their papers, I was able to figure out how to investigate the Comedy genre. Rather than view it as an absurdity due to the plot, I have begun looking at both Taming and Much Ado as puzzles and pieces of ambiguous art (the ambiguously play duo?)
Next week we move into Richard III (my favorite of the four before the TSI). We will also be finalizing our own research papers (more on the assignments and my progress/lack thereof later).
On to the people. I had no idea what to expect when I came down to DC. I've only been teaching for three years. I was worried that everyone else was going to have a combined 800 billion years of teaching experience next to me. While most of the rest of the group DOES have plenty more time in the classroom, my roommate (another sarcastic guy) just finished his first year. We end up awake half the night discussing the literature, teaching in general and other ideas. It's a good thing the coffee is free.
There is MUCH more to discuss about the social end of TSI 2008, but hey, I have to leave something for blog post number 2, right?
If anyone actually reads this, these are possible topics to be included in the next blog. Comment and tell me which ones sound most interesting to you.
Pushup counting, word of the day, cuckold, Albert's hats, Joel's great rare book theft (foiled), Anti-Shakespearean attitudes at 550 feet, A two day break to reunite with a bunch of Dicks, graduate school, My county and Shakespeare.
See you next time (which, I'm sure, will probably be two weeks from now, but I'll try to be good. :) )
Scott
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