Along with a lot of other students that have posted, I am excited and anxious about beginning research with my "serious relationship" MA topic. It's super cool to be passionate about a question and have the opportunity to go into deep study about it. I plan to use my findings in my future classroom and that is so awesome to think about! I have about 10 solid articles right now, but just as Sheridan and Alissa have written, I need to learn strategies to read research and in a more timely manner. I am torn because deep reading takes so long and I am feeling rushed since there is only 5 more weeks of this course. I am looking forward to finding more articles this weekend that I can work on in class on Monday.
I am working on the reading for Monday as I am writing this and I am trying to rephrase my MA question to be more concise and specific. I plan to rephrase my question and have a peer in class edit it. I struggle finding the best way to phrase things (in both oral and written English) and a lot of the time I sound awkward. I am unsure on how to get rid of this and I am worried it will get in the way in my MA. I have discovered a lot of great findings and have great questions, but I don't know how to phrase them. I am a little discouraged with my writing. I am looking for a writing mentor if anyone wants to assist me . . .
This is my revised MA question:
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In what ways can teachers
cope with the stress and demands of teaching to decrease teacher burnout? Somehow, I want to include mental health into the question, but every time I do it sounds weird. Any comments on my blog post or assistance on Monday would be greatly appreciated! :D
I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and I will see you Monday.
Hi Nicole!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you've read it already, but one of the former MA projects that Jolynn sent out was on problematizing teacher emotions (by Julianna Foxworthy). It totally relates to your topic and maybe it'll help you with your process.
Whoops, it's Julianne (not Julianna)
DeleteNicole, I totally understand how you feel as though you sound awkward when you communicate. ( You don’t :) )I too feel like this, especially with my speaking. I find it hard to articulate what I am trying to say. When writing I find I have to rewrite sentences because they sound awkward to me and I get frustrated when something doesn’t come out right. I think your strategy is a great one. Asking classmates to revise/hear out what I write/say is super helpful. It is such a great resource to have 20 other sets of ears/eyes to give us feedback.
DeleteYour interest in mental health totally relates to stress. Do you think this could possibly be a subtopic and a sub-question?
Hi Katharine and Cristina,
DeleteThank you ladies for your feedback. Yes I have skimmed Julianne's paper and I plan to use some of her sources for my paper (heh heh :) ).
I'm glad I do not feel like the only ones that feels awkward when speaking or writing. I have been tinkering with my question since we had class this evening and I am feeling better about it. This is the first question I actually feel like is "good enough" and I can move forward with. I agree that mental health should be a sub-question after reading Ch. 2 H&P and brainstorming today.
Thank you ladies again and I'll see you tomorrow!