Week 1

I am officially a graduate student!  I've just finished my first week at William and Mary, and I have to say, it was certainly fantastic.  I love my classes and the people in them.  We've actually all started to get to know each other because we spent the first hour and a half of both classes interviewing each other and introducing each other to everyone else in the class.  Here is a rundown of everything so far:

Monday

After presenting my in-depth project with my group in journalism, I packed up my car and drove to Williamsburg.  The only education-related thing that I did was meet with two of the Graduate Education Association (GEA) leadership girls, my roommate Ashley and another counseling student, Amanda, for dinner.  Did some unpacking and homework to get ready for class on Tuesday afternoon, and then it was time for bed.

Tuesday

Met everyone at orientation in the morning.  It was pretty long, but it was all valuable information, and I met some great kids.  My first class was in the afternoon, a research methods class.  Potentially boring, but the professor is really engaging and makes the course interesting.  He knows that most of us aren't math people, but we all have to understand this material.  I never realized how important research is to education.  In reality, research drives education.  What is the most effective way to teach a subject?  How do children of different ages learn?  How much rest do kids need during the day?  Should boys and girls learn in the same classrooms?  It's really interesting.  I met with my GA advisor afterwards and we talked through my projects for the summer.  It's SO great to be able to do research on something and use the skills that I have to make an impact.  And, then I went back to W&L to be an undergrad again.

Wednesday

Was rather proud of myself because I presented my anthro paper with minimal notes and minimal nervousness, I just kind of got up and spoke for 20 minutes.  I used to be really afraid of public speaking unless I was teaching something -- for example, in high school I was terrible at oral foreign language tests, but did fine when "teaching" a unit in one of my history or English classes.  It's something I've worked on a lot and know that I just need to keep practicing for when I'm a real teacher.  Anyway, my presentation made me feel great, and this feeling was further affirmed when I went to my first Foundations of Education class that afternoon.  The class is all about equipping us to understand ourselves as teachers and how we relate to the public school system, the community, and the teaching profession itself.  It's very reflective and our prof really makes us think about important issues.  He's very engaging, which is good for a class that meets 5:30-9:30 at night!  I don't think I got bored once.  And he brought us donuts :) as well as a sign-up sheet for everyone to bring in snacks, haha.  It's rather like a Bible study, just with the focus being teaching instead of the Bible.

Thursday

I spent the morning working on the anthro paper, and then went to Research Methods again in the afternoon.  Where Tuesday sparked interest in the subject that I figured would be boring, Thursday added an ambiguity that made me realize how difficult it is to define research.  We spent the first bit of class talking about qualities of good research questions and investigating research studies that appeared to be good on the surface, but really had fundamental flaws.  Then we spent about an hour or so in small groups working on research questions and discussing different steps.  I worked with the two other social studies ladies, Acadia and Sara, so that was fun.  I had never realized that defining research was such an undertaking!  The class is more challenging than expected, but the prof is really good at explaining.  Drove back to Lexington for the LOST finale, and all I have to say about that is ... wow.

Friday

Finished the in-depth project at 2:30!  Also turned in my anthro paper and did a lot of errands, like picking up my cap and gown.  Relaxed in the afternoon in the bliss of no more undergraduate work.  It's a beautiful thing.

And now I'm going back to Williamsburg, for the next few days, and then graduation.  God is good.  :)  I'm tired, and glad that I got through the crazy week.  Hopefully I'll have more time to blog now.