a new approach to paper-writing

i took the day off today to work on my "selected questions" paper, which is the second of the two main papers that make up the master's portfolio. i've been working on it a lot this week and especially today but in the process of doing so, i've realized that i have developed something of a new process of writing and it looks kind of like this:

1. table of contents as a working outline
so, i've pretty often used outlines as a good start to writing, but lately, i don't necessarily write in-depth outlines right away. instead, i start by writing a table of contents, which acts as my pg 1 for my document. it's kind of a working outline with notes hear and there, but primarily, with a general sense of the "sections" i'm looking for and approximately how many pages i see each one becoming.

2. "what i already know"
prior to doing a lot of reading i write into each table of contents section with notes and ideas formed by "what i already know." this helps me to flesh out some of the ideas i already have, as well as to ask questions around what i want to learn.

3. journaling throughout the process
i keep a hand-written journal of the process. this includes notes, ideas, questions, and so on. it also includes things that are semi-relevant like, "this paper is annoying me" or "what should i eat for dinner tonight?" in any case, it's kind of living documentation of the work in progress. i also use this journal to take notes of the things i read. as my journal fills out, there are also page reserved for special types of notes. for example, in my SQ paper journal, i've got pages like:

-journals (journals that many of the authors i'm reading publish in that i want to check out or can imagine eventually submitting manuscripts to)
-terminology (words certain scholars use that i want to dig into or question further. for example, i've read quite a few articles by an australian scholar who is writing on work and learning, like i am, but who uses different terms for things than i or other american writers might)
-ongoing questions (questions that this work brings up for me)
-future work (questions and ideas that may or may not be related to the topic at hand, but things i want to come back to)

4. gather literature, read, and take notes
i gather a lot of literature via google scholar, as well as other places. i begin by reading abstracts and conclusions and then dip in and out of the bodies of articles. as i skip through the articles, i note down interesting ideas, questions, and so on into my journal. i also have a somewhat formalized system for my marginal notes. for example, i use stars to point to big ideas; i sometimes underline terms and concepts i want to return to; and i use astrisks for things i want to dig deeper into, namely other authors/works/texts that the authors reference.

5. stop at any point in this process to write into the main paper doc
i stop reading/note-taking somewhat frequently when i feel inspired to add to my main paper document.

i find this current system to be easy but also very organized, so its made paper writing feel a lot more thoughtful, simplified, and inviting. i end up feeling very focused and not scattered, which also helps me to feel closer to the work.

lately, i've been struggling to balance my various responsibilities. this week was really busy at work with two big events to deal with. on top of that, i just had a ton of reading to do, so much so that i took a half day on tuesday to get a nice chunk done. turns out i was one of the only people in class who actually read all of the articles, so i think i need to cut myself a break and just do whatever i can.

i guess the thing that's been hardest for me is to focus on my "selected questions" paper, the second paper in the master's portfolio, with classwork piling in. i find myself having difficulty just sitting down and working on it. i could potentially ask for an extension, but the truth is that i just need to get it done because i have so much other regular semester work to focus on. also, my husband and i are finally going on a vacation (to jamaica in mid-october -- yay!) and i just can't have a paper like this hanging over my head when i'm trying to relax.

my current plan is to try and get a lot of my work done early so that i'm not stuck doing work while on vacation. in any case, we'll see how well that goes. right now, i'm barely staying afloat. but at least i'm smiling through it.

first week down...

so, i got through my first week of classes okay. something i want to do a little differently this semester is spend more time reading and less time stressing out about reading. i'm not sure if that makes sense, but i guess what i'm saying is that i really want to read something every single night and make that a part of my practice (not just as a student but also as a person and a reader), but i don't want to stress about what doesn't get done. the truth is we're all doing the best we can and i have to respect myself and my capacity and not freak out about what doesn't get done.

that said, my first week of homework is feeling a little intense already, especially given the big things i need to get done at work this week. in terms of work, on top of all my regular stuff, i also have two events happening (the memorial service for dr sipe and another event later on next week). it's hard to think about homework with these time-sensitive things going on.

for my "(re)forming the elementary RWL curriculum" course, i have to read 7 articles and a book intro and write a 5-pager. for my "leading nonprofits" course, i have to read 8 articles and 4 book chapters and write what i think will be a 2-3-pager. sigh.

on top of all this, i also have a 12-pager due for my master's portfolio. i have no idea what that will turn out to look like. it's kind of scary. but like i said, i'm working on not stressing out. and i have faith that i'll get as much of it done as i can.

back in session

so, school is back in session. although my classes don't begin until next week, i had the privilege yesterday of overhearing the voices of many, many new students who came through our building for orientation. i always forget how exciting and new fall feels, not just because of the start of the new school year but also because it's a season of rebirth.

this semester, i'll be taking two courses and working on my master's portfolio. on september 1, i handed in a draft of one of the main master's portfolio papers, which is called the "conceptual territories" paper and which i wrote a bit about in an earlier post. on october 1, i'll be handing in a draft of the other main paper, which is called the "selected questions" paper. i'll be writing an i-search paper, which i've never done before. my question is about the intersections of learning, work, and identity. i had planned to start writing a draft of my paper this week, but so far i've just done a bunch of reading (which has been fun). one of the books i'm reading is mike rose's lives on the boundary. it's really well written and easy to dive into.

[as an aside, i've also been re-re-reading salman rushdie's haroun & the sea of stories with my husband. we read about a chapter a night before bed. it's such a good story. if you haven't read it, you should. here's a great line from the chunk we read last night: he knew what he knew: the real world was full of magic, so magical worlds could easily be real.]

in any case, as i said, i'm also taking two courses this semester. the first is dr. campano's "forming and reforming the reading/writing/literacy elementary curriculum," which is one of the required courses for the master's degree. i'm interested in the course, but also a little nervous that it'll be quite a bit out of my focus of study. i'm curious as to whether it's appropriate for me, but i guess i'll have to wait and see. i haven't seen the syllabus yet. the second course i'm taking is a fels course called "leading nonprofits," taught by tine hansen-turton and nicholas torres. they just sent the syllabus today and it looks pretty interesting. over the course of the course (heh), students work in groups and build a mock non-profit together. i really hope that my group is a good group of stable, professional, reliable folks. my group in my fels class last spring was so, so good and i'd love to have a similar dynamic.

anyway, that's kind of what i'm looking forward to this fall. and you, if you're interested, can look forward to more frequent posts from me. in keeping with the semester schedule, i'll be trying to post once a week. yay.