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I'm almost done grading the response papers! The last batch, most of the students didn't want comments, so that will be a breeze.
I was going to Petco today to see if they had any adoptable pets for their adoption day event, but I didn't realize that it was also Open Day for undergrad recruitment. I moseyed out to check out who was manning the table for our department and it was the undergrad advisor/administrator, and I hung out for a bit and answered a question about what the heck Comp Lit was, exactly, and then went off for lunch. I felt bad about leaving the adviser all alone though, and it occurred to me, that our grad students don't have that much contact with the undergrads majoring in the department? Not even the upper division kids? It strikes me as a wrong. I guess because at SMU I had all this access to the professors and I haunted the department offices so much just to drop in and say hello to profs. We've been talking about holding an event for the undergrad students to get to know the graduate program, and possibly holding a contest--the prize would be that we'd pay their GRE fees. I really do think we could be doing more to cultivate a relationship with undergrads, even if the end goal wouldn't be to have them become grad students. Anyway, I guess that's something on my graduate career agenda: cultivate undergrad individuals.
(And on another note, I had a nice conversation with her about the Hispanic Studies department. Specifically their men.)
This batch of response papers was SO GOOD! I had a lot of fun reading the students' opinions on various things, and it was clear that many of them really improved and pushed their thinking a bit more. I think we'll have a good final discussion this coming week. I finally decided that maybe, my approach all along should have been to make the material relatable, not just getting them to read and understand the text. They never read the text in time for class anyway. It kind of sucks because this week is the last week! On the semester system, it's a given that we get to know the students about in the 8th or 9th week and the last few weeks are the more relaxed ones, but on the quarter system, it feels like I barely had time to really get to connect with the students. I'm not a fan of the quarter system very much (I am still convinced that this is why a lot of U.S. grad students end up hateful bitter angry shits; the intellectual exhaustion is really painful) and this is just one more strike against it.
I've finally read the hardest Fanon chapters (the first two) and tomorrow I'll finish the book. I also discovered that the book on T.S. Eliot I bought which I thought had the Four Quartets? Is actually literary criticism -_-;; I was hoping to find time to do some exegesis for my Tuesday seminar as well. Hopefully it'll work out... now that the end is in sight for the work I have to do for the TAship, I can finally relax and work on my own stuff. I have a much better idea now of the amount of work I am capable of. Which appears to be, "more than what my colleagues think I can do" at the moment. My time management skills could be better though; I feel I shouldn't have fallen behind on my exegesis. The sickness and depression really set me back. I'll mention that to the psychiatrist when I see her next week.
My own stuff:
- Some ridiculous number of exegesis: Butler (two of them), Kristeva, Cheah, Spivak, Grosz, Braidotti
- 20-page religious studies paper for which I need to get started on reading; so many interesting books!
- 10-page ethnic studies paper (which ought to be easy; there's a prompt and all)
One by one, one by one, almost at the end of the quarter now...
I was going to Petco today to see if they had any adoptable pets for their adoption day event, but I didn't realize that it was also Open Day for undergrad recruitment. I moseyed out to check out who was manning the table for our department and it was the undergrad advisor/administrator, and I hung out for a bit and answered a question about what the heck Comp Lit was, exactly, and then went off for lunch. I felt bad about leaving the adviser all alone though, and it occurred to me, that our grad students don't have that much contact with the undergrads majoring in the department? Not even the upper division kids? It strikes me as a wrong. I guess because at SMU I had all this access to the professors and I haunted the department offices so much just to drop in and say hello to profs. We've been talking about holding an event for the undergrad students to get to know the graduate program, and possibly holding a contest--the prize would be that we'd pay their GRE fees. I really do think we could be doing more to cultivate a relationship with undergrads, even if the end goal wouldn't be to have them become grad students. Anyway, I guess that's something on my graduate career agenda: cultivate undergrad individuals.
(And on another note, I had a nice conversation with her about the Hispanic Studies department. Specifically their men.)
This batch of response papers was SO GOOD! I had a lot of fun reading the students' opinions on various things, and it was clear that many of them really improved and pushed their thinking a bit more. I think we'll have a good final discussion this coming week. I finally decided that maybe, my approach all along should have been to make the material relatable, not just getting them to read and understand the text. They never read the text in time for class anyway. It kind of sucks because this week is the last week! On the semester system, it's a given that we get to know the students about in the 8th or 9th week and the last few weeks are the more relaxed ones, but on the quarter system, it feels like I barely had time to really get to connect with the students. I'm not a fan of the quarter system very much (I am still convinced that this is why a lot of U.S. grad students end up hateful bitter angry shits; the intellectual exhaustion is really painful) and this is just one more strike against it.
I've finally read the hardest Fanon chapters (the first two) and tomorrow I'll finish the book. I also discovered that the book on T.S. Eliot I bought which I thought had the Four Quartets? Is actually literary criticism -_-;; I was hoping to find time to do some exegesis for my Tuesday seminar as well. Hopefully it'll work out... now that the end is in sight for the work I have to do for the TAship, I can finally relax and work on my own stuff. I have a much better idea now of the amount of work I am capable of. Which appears to be, "more than what my colleagues think I can do" at the moment. My time management skills could be better though; I feel I shouldn't have fallen behind on my exegesis. The sickness and depression really set me back. I'll mention that to the psychiatrist when I see her next week.
My own stuff:
- Some ridiculous number of exegesis: Butler (two of them), Kristeva, Cheah, Spivak, Grosz, Braidotti
- 20-page religious studies paper for which I need to get started on reading; so many interesting books!
- 10-page ethnic studies paper (which ought to be easy; there's a prompt and all)
One by one, one by one, almost at the end of the quarter now...
