Forgive my transgressions...
...and especially forgive me for not posting in so long! With all of the free time I've had lately, there's no excuse! So, a retrospective on the past few months:
April - I finally and heroically took my MA written exam. Thankfully, I ended up making it through all of the texts (see my last post), except for two: The Squatter and the Don and The Portrait of a Lady. I have since finished reading Portrait, but have absolutely NO intentions of finishing Squatter. Anyone that's intrigued by my hatred, don't even attempt it. it's dry, boring,repetitive, and practically useless. Oddly enough, I ended up using it on the exam!
So, we were required, in 6 hours, to write three essays: one British, one American, and one applying criticism. There were choices for each, which I was extremely thankful for! For the British question, I chose to write about authors' uses of sexuality as a way of rejecting and challenging their various contemporary societies. For that, I used "The Wife of Bath" and "General Prologue" from The Canterbury Tales, John Donne's "The Flea," Christina Rossetti's "The Goblin Market," and A Passage to India. Turned out rather well and I relied a lot on my past studies of Rossetti and Forester (THANK YOU PROFESSOR PEAVOY!).
For the American question, I discussed authors' representations of racial identification, conflict, and interactions. This is where I had SO much fun and I definitely relied A LOT on Scripps classes (THANKS PROFESSORS SUH AND DRAKE!). So happy to be able to work with this question, I could barely decide what texts I actually wanted to write about! I ended up going with Melville's "Benito Cereno" (and I actually remembered a lot of Becky's discussion of the text from her thesis and it really helped me!), "The Wife of His Youth" by Charles Chestnutt, Wright's Native Son (my FAVORITE ever), and A Raisin in the Sun. I was able to trace the changes in the three areas it asked for (identification, conflict, and interactions, and show that despite the fact that black characters gained more and more control over their self-identification, their interactionr remained defined by the white community.
Lastly, I applied Toni Morrison's Playing in the Dark to Jane Eyre (I am forever in your debt, Professor Harper), Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, "Song of Myself," and, to my surprise, The Squatter and the Don. Not only was I able to address hidden racial tensions and dichotomies (which was the focus of Morrison's original text) by looking at the Native/Spanish/"White" relations in The Squatter in the Don, but I was able to explore those same issues in relation to gender (male/female in Jane Eyre), nationality (English/French/Creole in Wide Sargasso Sea), and sexuality (hetero/homosexuality in "Song of Myself"). Overall, I rocked it. And passed.
Enough about the test...in April I also had the first of many job interviews. I met with the academic coordinator at Natomas Charter School for Performing and Fine Arts. It's a place where I have always wanted to work! The position was for a 6th grade language arts and social studies instructor, and even though I never saw myself teaching 6th grade, I thought it would be a fit. I never heard back from them.
May - Found out I passed the exam, and I walked at the CSUS graduation. Being the first person out of 800 to have your name called is rather awkward. Take my word for it.
During May I was also working to finish up the semester both at UCD where I was still taking classes and at Cordova High School where I was teaching them. Both turned out well and I miss my seniors so much! They were wonderful and I hope to have a group exactly like them some day. A few weeks into May I interviewed for another middle school position, this time in West Sacramento, and thought it went really well. The actually did call me back and I didn't get the job.
Right smack in the middle of all this, I was able to fly down for Scripps's graduation and it was such an awesome weekend! I met a bunch of recent students who were all amazing, spent time with Dani, hung out with Karyn, and in general just relaxed. There was mac and cheese with hot dogs, hiking, and massages. Life was good.
June has been hectic even though I finished teaching and graduted from UCD. I ended up with a straight 4.0 gpa in my credential program without even one A-. While this isn't something to be surprised about (come on...it's a credential program), I still get to boast because that's the first time I have ever graduated with a 4.0, let alone get one in a single semester!
After UCD's graduation, my mom and I flew to Arizona for a lovely week of relaxing. My friends Ted and Katharine, whom I met (and introduced to each other) in Denmark got married! It was an amazing ceremony and an awesome party at the reception. Which, by the way, was held at the Phoenix Modern Art Museum. Swanky much? Yes.
After the wedding, my mom and I took a few days to drive around. We stopped in Sedona, which was absolutely gorgeous and took an offroad jeep tour up to the top of the red rock formations. Stunning and awe-inspiring views. From there, we drove to Northern AZ and went to Grand Canyon National Park. Boys and girls, this is not your usual hole in the ground. It left me speechless and I can acutally say that it was one of the most spiritual and awakening moments of my life. We hiked half-way down the canyon, which meant hiking back up. A round trip of 6 miles (most of those quite vertical), but it was well worth it.
Since coming back, I've had two more interviews. One was at Sacramento High (a public charter school) and went really well. I did a teaching demo for their summer school kids and then had a full interview. However, the interview left me with a very odd feeling. The pricipal stressed over and over again how much standardized testing is the focus of their classroom and that teachers are evaluated on students' scores. I do not find standadized testing to be valuable or an accurate reflection of student learning. I have yet to hear back, but if I am offered the job, I am seriously considering turning it down. Then last week I had another interview at the Natomas Charter School, this time for a 7/8 position. They also have a 9th grade opening. I really hope I hear from them soon. If not, I will email the coordinator and ask for updates. I want that job!
Next week I have two interviews. One is in Placerville (up in the foothills) for a part-time high school position. The other is in West Sacramento and is for a continuation high school. So, I'm still getting interviews, not giving up, and still plowing on! Wish me luck for the ones next week :)
Also, next Friday, my host family will be coming in to town and staying for three weeks! We have trips planned to Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, and Fort Bragg. They have never been camping before, and it will be interesting to see how they do with it.
So, that was possibly the longest post I have ever written and I am quite proud of it :) If anyone acutally reads the whole thing, I will be pleasantly surprised!
Hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all!
April - I finally and heroically took my MA written exam. Thankfully, I ended up making it through all of the texts (see my last post), except for two: The Squatter and the Don and The Portrait of a Lady. I have since finished reading Portrait, but have absolutely NO intentions of finishing Squatter. Anyone that's intrigued by my hatred, don't even attempt it. it's dry, boring,repetitive, and practically useless. Oddly enough, I ended up using it on the exam!
So, we were required, in 6 hours, to write three essays: one British, one American, and one applying criticism. There were choices for each, which I was extremely thankful for! For the British question, I chose to write about authors' uses of sexuality as a way of rejecting and challenging their various contemporary societies. For that, I used "The Wife of Bath" and "General Prologue" from The Canterbury Tales, John Donne's "The Flea," Christina Rossetti's "The Goblin Market," and A Passage to India. Turned out rather well and I relied a lot on my past studies of Rossetti and Forester (THANK YOU PROFESSOR PEAVOY!).
For the American question, I discussed authors' representations of racial identification, conflict, and interactions. This is where I had SO much fun and I definitely relied A LOT on Scripps classes (THANKS PROFESSORS SUH AND DRAKE!). So happy to be able to work with this question, I could barely decide what texts I actually wanted to write about! I ended up going with Melville's "Benito Cereno" (and I actually remembered a lot of Becky's discussion of the text from her thesis and it really helped me!), "The Wife of His Youth" by Charles Chestnutt, Wright's Native Son (my FAVORITE ever), and A Raisin in the Sun. I was able to trace the changes in the three areas it asked for (identification, conflict, and interactions, and show that despite the fact that black characters gained more and more control over their self-identification, their interactionr remained defined by the white community.
Lastly, I applied Toni Morrison's Playing in the Dark to Jane Eyre (I am forever in your debt, Professor Harper), Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, "Song of Myself," and, to my surprise, The Squatter and the Don. Not only was I able to address hidden racial tensions and dichotomies (which was the focus of Morrison's original text) by looking at the Native/Spanish/"White" relations in The Squatter in the Don, but I was able to explore those same issues in relation to gender (male/female in Jane Eyre), nationality (English/French/Creole in Wide Sargasso Sea), and sexuality (hetero/homosexuality in "Song of Myself"). Overall, I rocked it. And passed.
Enough about the test...in April I also had the first of many job interviews. I met with the academic coordinator at Natomas Charter School for Performing and Fine Arts. It's a place where I have always wanted to work! The position was for a 6th grade language arts and social studies instructor, and even though I never saw myself teaching 6th grade, I thought it would be a fit. I never heard back from them.
May - Found out I passed the exam, and I walked at the CSUS graduation. Being the first person out of 800 to have your name called is rather awkward. Take my word for it.
During May I was also working to finish up the semester both at UCD where I was still taking classes and at Cordova High School where I was teaching them. Both turned out well and I miss my seniors so much! They were wonderful and I hope to have a group exactly like them some day. A few weeks into May I interviewed for another middle school position, this time in West Sacramento, and thought it went really well. The actually did call me back and I didn't get the job.
Right smack in the middle of all this, I was able to fly down for Scripps's graduation and it was such an awesome weekend! I met a bunch of recent students who were all amazing, spent time with Dani, hung out with Karyn, and in general just relaxed. There was mac and cheese with hot dogs, hiking, and massages. Life was good.
June has been hectic even though I finished teaching and graduted from UCD. I ended up with a straight 4.0 gpa in my credential program without even one A-. While this isn't something to be surprised about (come on...it's a credential program), I still get to boast because that's the first time I have ever graduated with a 4.0, let alone get one in a single semester!
After UCD's graduation, my mom and I flew to Arizona for a lovely week of relaxing. My friends Ted and Katharine, whom I met (and introduced to each other) in Denmark got married! It was an amazing ceremony and an awesome party at the reception. Which, by the way, was held at the Phoenix Modern Art Museum. Swanky much? Yes.
After the wedding, my mom and I took a few days to drive around. We stopped in Sedona, which was absolutely gorgeous and took an offroad jeep tour up to the top of the red rock formations. Stunning and awe-inspiring views. From there, we drove to Northern AZ and went to Grand Canyon National Park. Boys and girls, this is not your usual hole in the ground. It left me speechless and I can acutally say that it was one of the most spiritual and awakening moments of my life. We hiked half-way down the canyon, which meant hiking back up. A round trip of 6 miles (most of those quite vertical), but it was well worth it.
Since coming back, I've had two more interviews. One was at Sacramento High (a public charter school) and went really well. I did a teaching demo for their summer school kids and then had a full interview. However, the interview left me with a very odd feeling. The pricipal stressed over and over again how much standardized testing is the focus of their classroom and that teachers are evaluated on students' scores. I do not find standadized testing to be valuable or an accurate reflection of student learning. I have yet to hear back, but if I am offered the job, I am seriously considering turning it down. Then last week I had another interview at the Natomas Charter School, this time for a 7/8 position. They also have a 9th grade opening. I really hope I hear from them soon. If not, I will email the coordinator and ask for updates. I want that job!
Next week I have two interviews. One is in Placerville (up in the foothills) for a part-time high school position. The other is in West Sacramento and is for a continuation high school. So, I'm still getting interviews, not giving up, and still plowing on! Wish me luck for the ones next week :)
Also, next Friday, my host family will be coming in to town and staying for three weeks! We have trips planned to Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, and Fort Bragg. They have never been camping before, and it will be interesting to see how they do with it.
So, that was possibly the longest post I have ever written and I am quite proud of it :) If anyone acutally reads the whole thing, I will be pleasantly surprised!
Hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all!