I'm officially a grad student. I wrote my first paper, well, "response" to a reading. An informal one-pager full of my thoughts on David Bartholomae's "Inventing the University". I feel so grad student-y now.
Actually, the text had a lot of tough ideas and I spent about two hours trying to figure out what to put in or leave out of my response. I want to start strong. Or at least with minimal typos.
I really like grad school so far. I'm a whopping two days into my graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training/orientation that should prepare me to teach Freshman Composition. The instructors are helpful and organized, and the new GTA's are fun and smart. I'm still getting used to sharing my thoughts and questions in front of 30+ people (why do the dumb questions make me raise my hand?). I will also get back in the Writing Center this fall, and I might even get to do some writing tutoring outside of the WC. Oh yeah, and I'll be taking graduate courses in TESL. It will be a lot of work.
I've been riding my bike to campus. It's 20 invigorating minutes of rolling hills each way. Pant Pant Pant. Helmet hair. Sweat on my dress pants. Heavy backpack. No big deal. The weather is gorgeous, it's Flagstaff, and I'm getting exercise without going to the gym.
Life is good.
You have a lot on your plate this year! I have a very important question: How do you negotiate helmet hair and sweaty non-sweat pants with professional demeanor? I would have to take a shower once I got to my destination because when I get sweaty...I stay sweaty. And that makes my workout schedule very inflexible. What's your secret???
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