Tips All Around

Here we are again, another week passed BUT, it is another week closer to seeing my lady. I am pretty excited for her to come back to Texas so I can show her off to all my friends/colleagues and take her to all these cool places! Lots of things planned for her week-long visit: Palo Duro Canyon, First Friday Art Trail, Department Tailgate and Tech game against Oklahoma, Cadillac Ranch, among other things but so far, it's a full schedule!

This past week has been a pretty good one. My Grad classes are developing some great conversations, which is one of the main reasons I was so excited to continue my studies; to have upper-level discussions! I've gotten a pretty good handle on my readings so far, one of my professors gave the recommendation of reading 3 different readings a day, splitting up the readings of each class amongst the days. That has certainly helped, although I still have not gotten to the papers yet.

My Public Speaking classes are coming along; I conducted a post-it note feedback activity in each of my classes where I had them, on one post-it note, write something positive about my teaching methods or the class, something they enjoyed or wanted me to keep doing. On another post-it note I had them write something I could improve on, something that maybe another professor does or has done that they thought I should start doing, or something that I am doing that I should stop doing.

It turned out to be VERY useful. I learned some pretty great tips from my students: leave blanks in some of my powerpoint slides to keep students more engaged and figure out what goes in the blanks, send out mass email reminders, periodically, with important upcoming dates, and to give more video examples of speeches as well as conducting more class activities. Not only did I get some great suggestions, but they said some awesome things about me: I am very down to earth and do a great job of relating to my students, treating them like people and not just students, I am energetic and keep them engaged, I even had one student say I was their favorite teacher! I think the most entertaining improvement that seemed to come up a bit was that I needed to improve my candy-throwing skills lol!

On Friday I let my inhibitions go to the wind for a night and joined a few of my friends/colleagues for a night out. It was just what the doctor ordered! I had a complete blast and am very glad I went, instead of staying in the entire night to read.

I have managed to find a pretty good study spot at J&B Coffee, they have a bottomless cup of coffee for $2.98 (with tax), just in my budget! I plug in my headphones and spread out in a booth with my laptop, books, notebooks, articles, highlighters, post-it notes...I think that is it haha. Unless I am already tired when I get there, I tend to get a lot done. I think I will be frequenting this place, so much so, I got a frequent buyers card, "Buy 15, Get One Free!"

This coming week I am giving my classes a Jeopardy Review Day on Friday for their upcoming midterm exam on Monday; I am pretty stoked for this. Playing Jeopardy was a great way for me to review material in my own classes as an undergrad so I am hoping that they can get as much out of it as I have in the past.

Friday night my Qualitative Methods class is taking a "field trip" to Odessa, Texas to do some fieldwork at the high school football game. We are reading Friday Night Lights for this class and the entire book is based in Odessa, so it will be really cool to see the actual environment that I've been reading about. It will be nice to see my colleagues in a new environment versus the classroom.

As I look forward to my first payday, I anticipate more than half of if going towards bills- oh the life of an adult! Until next week my friends..

An Age-Reminding Weekend

Another week has passed and I am starting to get into a nice groove of things, at least I would like to think so. Teaching has been rather rewarding, my students seem to like me and respond as such. I certainly don't mind making good use of my array of ties! I feel all professional when I dress up and I think that adds to the teacher persona. I even had a student write on the back of his quiz (see picture below). It is also pretty awesome to see the ALLY Safezone Fliers attached to a few of my professor's office doors. I really like the layout they have going on there.

Aside from teaching, classes, and reading, this weekend I decided to remind myself of my actual age. I attended DayGlow, the World's Largest Paint Party, on Friday night with a colleague and friend in my department. It was SUCH a great time: Electronic music, lasers, acrobats and dancers, 400 gallons of paint spraying at you- oh yes, it was glorious. It definitely served its purpose of helping me realize that I am indeed only 22 and not the 34 I sometimes feel like I am haha.

Not only did I go to a "concert" on Friday night, but I went to my first Red Raider football game on Saturday. That too was a pretty great time. As depicted in the collage below, I sported my Texas Tech shirt on top and my Pirates longsleeve underneath; I couldn't help but cheer on both teams at the same time in my attire. The atmosphere was definitely different from Pirate Nation, as expected, but all in good ways. Both have their perks. I would say that the environment makes the people at Pirate Nation and the people make the environment at Raiderland. We played University of New Mexico and smoked them with a score of 49-14. I find it fascinating that TTU is the ONLY University with a LIVE mascot- we have a masked rider that rides on a black stallion through the field. Also, after every touchdown, they shoot fireworks into the sky. What a GREAT experience, I may miss my Pirates, but I think I will fit in just fine with my Red Raiders :)

I am definitely looking forward to future home games. I desperately needed this weekend of fun, although I am paying the price by having to catch up a little on my readings. It's a good thing I got ahead during the week!! Another week ahead, more assignments to give and more readings to complete. Welcome to Grad school! Please leave comments and such, I love reading them; they are a nice leisure break from the textbooks!

Getting into the Grind

I realize I am overdue for a post. As you can imagine (or may know), Grad school is nothing near easy. I am no where close to getting into the "nitty gritty"of the real experience, I am simply overwhelmed by the amount of reading required. Writing papers and research proposals has not been added onto the pile just yet.

So far, teaching is my favorite part of my week, mainly because it is the easiest! Haha I look forward to creating my lesson plans, powerpoint presentations, and coming up with different activities for each class. It's something that I have flexibility over and can express myself in the most.

Reading has been my biggest feat; articles haven't been SO bad, it's these books that just don't speak to me. I am still waiting on a few to come in from Amazon which is only slightly frustrating. Usually, I enjoy reading, but these books have nothing leisure about them. However, Zoey certainly likes to encourage me in my reading by keeping me company when I do read. Or it may just be that she misses me all day when I am gone! Perhaps a mixture of both?

I am doing my best to find "me" time and discover activities I enjoy alone (or with others). I tend to watch a lot of movies. This past Friday night I went with a colleague to "First Friday" in Lubbock. Every first friday, there is an art trail. It's really cool and a very community-friendly idea. Local artists, of all types, convene in one of many buildings along this trail. A trolly carries you from place to place so you can stop and look at all of the beautiful art and maybe buy something you fancy. THIS Friday I am VERY excited to go to DayGlow, the World's Largest Paint Party!! I think it will be a very nice reminder that I am still young and sometimes, I should act like it. Also, I will be attending my FIRST Red Raiders Football game on Saturday- very excited to see if it can live up to Pirate Nation!!

I've been missing my lady pretty hard. We have been doing really well with this extra distance built into our relationship. Almost 15 months strong!! We depend quite heavily on our Skype dates, scheduled twice a week and our usual morning/goodnight text messages. With my schedule being so heavy in the office and with reading/teaching it is sometimes hard to catch a break for a phone call. She has been super awesome at being understanding of my demands and I do my best to compensate for all of that. We are shooting for her to visit in early October (events on the list so far: Palo Duro Canyons, First Friday Art Trail, and Llano Winery). Then the plan is for Thanksgiving to be in NC, as well as Christmas. All contributions to our travel costs are welcome :D

I'll do my best to post again within the 7-day week. I certainly cannot guarantee anything though. Have a great week and leave me comments!!!