Year Two Begins…

I am starting my second year as a PhD graduate student. My classes are scheduled, my binders are lined in an organized and labeled row on the book shelf that is close to my desk, my thoughts need to be organized now. So here I am.

I am teaching Classroom Learning Theory again which is awesome! I have my plans from last year which have been completely changed for the new year, but this time I had something to work from. That is what I do, I take the plans from before and rearrange them for the next class, hopefully making it better. I also have two other professors (one GA like me and one Dr.) teaching with me and they are science people too! So we are already connected and thus can work directly on the plans rather than learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

So what I am doing the last Saturday of the summer…I am pre-reading class books, I am searching for activities that might improve the first class (a plan that I have rewritten about 20 times), I am organizing my thoughts and notebooks. I am looking forward to meeting my students, wondering what they will be like. Will they get along? Will they have the rich discussions I plan? Will they like me?

Yes, I know that last one seems silly. But if they don’t like me then it will be very difficult to lead their learning in the way I hope. So will they like me is important to me, not for the “popularity” reasons but for academic reasons. When you don’t like a professor, you probably aren’t going to comply easily to their requests. Or at least that is what happens to me as a student.

As a student this year I hope to narrow and focus my ideas. I have so many topics that seem interesting and so much to read and explore. But I am going to have to write a dissertation in a couple of years, and would like for it to be more than an interesting literature review. I wrote a paper for my class over the summer about combining some teaching techniques to improve science teaching, and my professor said I might be onto something, so maybe I will explore that a bit more?

I am taking another theory class. The last one about many theories, kind of a history of theories. This one is just Vygotsky so I am looking forward to exploring socio-cultural ideas. I am also taking a class about how to be a professor, one about how to write a grant and then my Advanced Science Teaching Methods class. Yes you counted correctly, that is four classes besides the one I am teaching. Full schedule. But I am so excited to continue my learning.

So year two begins…I will be busy, but I will love every nerve-wrecking moment of it! Year two here I come!!!