Reflections on Eng 652

This course, English 652, has been one of the most unique educational experiences I’ve had since…well, perhaps ever.

All my life I have been motivated by grades. Ever since I was little I earned basically straight As. My high school cumulative GPA was 4.25 and I graduated 24 out of 860 students. In college, I graduated with a 3.8 from U of M Morris. I’m not writing this to show-off; quite the contrary. I say this only to make a point- I wouldn’t necessarily call myself smart- I just have always worked very hard to earn a good grade.

My graduate school experience was not much different. I ended up earning almost all As with the exception of one B while earning my MS in English. But again, I wonder what I learned.

What makes this course experience different, is that it is the first class I’ve taken in eight years. Therefore, it’s the first class I’ve taken as a mom with numerous other responsibilities. I took this course because it was an exact match for my school Q-Comp and PLC goals- utilizing more technology in my classroom. When Chris Gordon forwarded me the course description, it was like divine intervention hitting me in the face.

Taking this class has been very freeing. Every activity and assignment I spent time on making direct connections to applying it in my classroom. I wasn’t driven by getting a good grade. Don’t get me wrong- my work ethic is essentially intrinsic; it’s hard to not naturally want to be successful and get an A. However, ultimately I wanted to get something out of this class, and beyond a shadow of a doubt- that goal was met in more ways than one.

Do I want an A- sure. Do I feel that I totally earned it- not necessarily. I dropped the ball numerous times with deadlines. I have some remorse for that only because I feel that I had let my classmates down at times (not offering feedback to Websites, for example). But I have been admittedly busy. I’ve spent many, many hours away from home, away from my children. So there were a few times when my choice was to either spend a little time with my children (who hadn’t seen me for days, literally), or spend time in front of the computer Blogging- well, I chose my kids. For that I don’t feel the least bit bad- a person can only spread themselves so thin at times.

But this has been fantastic class. I’ve learned a great deal- I’ve completely gone outside of my comfort zone!