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EndlessAshley

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Posts posted by EndlessAshley

  1. Thank you both so much for your very thoughtful responses!

    I love the idea of rubrics and have done well with them before. This is something I can bring up with the lead instructor and fellow TAs so that we're on the same page, and something that I'll definitely implement when I'm teaching my own courses. 

    I do feel assured that the professors have got my back. I'm in the habit of forwarding these complaints to them, even after I've responded to them myself, just to keep them informed  in case the student decides to appeal it up. I usually get commiseration or assurance that I've responded well, and most of the time the student never follows through. I also like the idea of inviting them to take it to the professor. It's a subtle way of letting them know that the professor is my advocate and not a card to play against me.

    I think the basic problem is that I chose to prioritize creating a space for tossing around ideas and testing out interpretations at the expense of being more authoritarian.  If someone throws out a sloppy reading, or something from left field, my impulse is to have the class keep working through it, measure it against the evidence, work their way toward something more sound. Basically, I want them to feel like they can get there on their own and use the time in discussion to model how that's done. (I'm in Bible, so most of the discussions I lead are text and interpretation based.)  I do always try to be clear that some interpretations are stronger and more accountable to the evidence than others, or that almost everything is more complex than meets the eye and that solid arguments really do need to be laid, but I can definitely see how all this might make them feel empowered in the wrong ways, if they're inclined toward that kind of thing. I should probably rethink this, or find some better compromise, or maybe accept that I'm not in the position just yet to be this kind of pedagogue. Thinking in terms of gender, I may not be able to afford this approach if I need to be that much more conscious and intentional about staking out my authority in the classroom.

     

  2. I'm an advanced PhD student and have had several semesters of TAing under my belt. I'm one of the lucky ones in that I've only been assigned to teach courses in my general wheelhouse with content about which I feel confident and can speak with authority. As more time passes, however, I'm becoming less secure and way more hyper-aware of my authority in the classroom. It doesn't help that I'm female, five feet tall, and still get carded on a regular basis. 

    I've begun to notice in particular that students challenge my grading exponentially more than the other male TAs teaching the class. I'm actually kind of impressed by how much of their own free time they spend trying to put me in my place, explaining why they're right and I'm wrong, or that they know how the professor would have wanted this essay graded and that they're certain I've failed to meet that professor's expectations. Hm...maybe they should tell the professor. It seems like something they would want to know... (Not true. The professor meets with the TAs weekly and grades a handful of assignments with us together so that our expectations and averages are uniform. I know we're all grading the same way, but my co-workers don't get all this flack.)

    Up until now, I've been content to base my authority sort of indirectly on what I know, the detailed feedback I give them on their work, and my enthusiasm for the material. Unless I feel it's really justified, I don't budge on the original grades I've given. But I feel like most of my job now is justifying myself to them, being on the defensive about why I took off a point, even if I already explained it once. I try to be transparent about grading and will give speeches to the class about what sets an A paper apart from an A-, etc. etc., half because that's a valuable thing for them to know and half because I want to stave off their challenges before they start, but it doesn't seem to change much.

    I really love(d) teaching, so I'm extra sad that I'm starting to think of my students as my adversaries. Maybe I'm just unlucky and got all the jerks, but I think it has to do with some factors that are out of my control. 

    Has anyone ever dealt with something like this? How have you navigated it? Is it just par for the course? Certainly it is to some extent, but is there some strategy I haven't thought of?

  3. My little piece of advice, silly as it may seem, is to use a binder and carry it with you to every class. Preferably a binder with tabs. 

     

    During my first semester as a TA, I made PowerPoints and uploaded them to the course website after each class, I always handed back graded assignments by the next class meeting, I developed lesson plans, and I brought print-outs with all answers to the preassigned study questions. Basically, I did my job. Nevertheless, some of my student evaluations were "neutral" about whether I was prepared and organized, and some even disagreed. I couldn't help but wonder (a smidge bitterly) what more they could ask of me. 

     

    This time around, all of my students gave me highest marks for preparedness and organization, even though I didn't alter my preparation time or methods at all. The only thing that changed was that I began to carry around a binder with all course materials separated by week, rather than bringing only that week's materials. It's such a simple little thing to do to reinforce the impression that you're organized, which I'm beginning to discover carries almost as much weight as actually being organized. (But of course, do be prepared and organized! Off weeks really don't go unnoticed!)

     

    So there's one quick trick that can elevate at least that part of the students' perceptions of you, and I also found that it made me feel more put together as well - and so more confident. 

  4. I use Growly Notes to organize everything by class/topic/article (but Mendeley sounds very interesting!) and synthesize as I go. I don't just hit the high points, but note questions, work out the logic of the argument, recognizing its underlying assumptions/what it does well/what it fails to answer. At the end, I feel I've engaged the text pretty well and retain more of the information as a result, and I imagine my Growly Notes strategy is going to serve me well come comps time.

  5. I may be biased, as I am currently attending the University of Virginia, but it could be a department you'd like to check into! Larry Bouchard is in the field of religion and literature, not Bible per se, but modern fiction,  listed as both faculty in the Theology, Ethics, and Culture program and the Scripture, Interpretation, and Practice program. (He held a class last semester called "Narrative Ethics," which, although you didn't mention ethics explicitly, strikes me as perhaps relevant to your queer studies interests - but correct me if I'm wrong!). SIP is an interesting, somewhat experimental and highly inter-disciplinary program which links close scriptural study and issues of lived theology, and to boot we have a current student in that program who is focusing on gender, sexuality, and LGBT issues in Judaism. We also have faculty in the more traditional biblical studies track with interests in literary approaches to the Bible and biblical narrative (Martien Halvorson-Taylor comes to mind, and I also recall a gender component in the classes I've taken with her).

  6. My advisor has been beyond awesome, and I would really like to give hime a small token of my appreciation upon finishing my masters. Of course I've considered the gift card route, but I would much rather come up with something more thoughtful than that. He is a professor of Jewish philosophy and has also pioneered a type of interfaith dialogue (although he would probably kill me for using that term!). It would be great if I could get him something that speaks to either of these, but any more general ideas are also welcomed!

     

    So what do you say? Any suggestions? 

  7. I haven't gotten a physical envelope, either, but I think that may have something to do with the fact that I'm already here finishing my MA. In my full offer letter, though, they listed the MA courses they are prepared to count toward my PhD (all incoming PhDs with  prior M*s can petition for advanced standing, so this isn't just me), more detailed information about the sources of my funding and my TA requirements, and a breakdown of when they expect me to clear the various hurdles (completing coursework, taking comps and language exams, finishing the dissertation). I had some questions about how the funding would be disbursed, so I talked to the graduate coordinator about it.

     

    When I accepted the offer from the link provided in the electronic application, I automatically got an e-mail about how to log on to the registration system.

     

    This all may be idiosyncratic to my school, but perhaps it is helpful!

  8. I also would have double majored in Classics/Religious Studies rather than Religious Studies/English! I do feel like I've been able to leverage my English degree in a lot of ways, but I also think I could pull off my current research without having written a bunch of papers about Jane Austen first. 

     

    And the languages. Oh the languages. My undergrad institution didn't even offer Hebrew, but I wish I at least had the time in my schedule to take what Greek they did offer. 

     

    The curriculum there was also a bit weird. All of the courses were super specialized and topical, and there was no proper intro to Hebrew Bible or New Testament. I loved it at the time, but in hindsight I wouldn't have hated a little conventionality. I spent the first year of my MA scrambling to catch up on basic things like the documentary hypothesis (sheesh!) and severely overloading on credit hours with Greek, Hebrew, French and German.

     

    So yes, languages.

  9. I was told time and time again that I had to hit that 700/166 mark (96th percentile) to be a truly competitive candidate. I only weighed in with a 164 (93rd percentile), and while my application season was not wildly successful, I made my way onto two wait lists. I was first on one list (I'm still on the other and have no idea where I stand) and was subsequently accepted with a fully funded offer. 

     

    I feel like I totally lucked out. I think that my overall application was strong, but I knew that there was nothing exactly stellar about it, either. But if I remember correctly, you will have two M* degrees by the time you apply? I'm sure that will be a huge factor in the strength of your application. I would still shoot for the 90s, but obviously there are so many factors that go into admissions decisions. 

  10. I was on a train from Philadelphia, where I was visiting my parents over spring break, heading to New York City. I was going to be taking minutes at several meetings for my MA advisor's non-profit project. He was graciously trying to provide me with work after a string of upsetting rejections. My phone was on vibrate so that I wouldn't disturb the other passengers, and when I saw that he called, I assumed that he was just confirming my hotel reservations. His voicemail, though, had some much better news than that! 

  11. I can't speak for Italian universities, but I know that all of the U.S. PhD programs I've looked into require both French and German - so ultimately, all of your bases will be covered.  

     

    There are also summer language institutes in German and French if you can work it out financially. You may actually be able to secure funding to attend one of these programs from your university. 

     

    I know that, at my school, semester-long reading knowledge courses are taught for both French and German after which most students are able to pass proficiency tests. It's a good start, if your school offers something similar. 

     

    If I were in your shoes, my instinct would be to take an intensive summer course in German (these usually emphasize oral communication, which would be relevant for your post-grad year but which would also be useful for reading) and work on French throughout the school year. Even if you can only fit in a French reading proficiency course, your skills would become more sophisticated as you continue to work with your primary sources. If you've already got a decent background in Italian, I'll bet you could bone up independently. 

     

    Hope this is helpful!

  12. My verbal and writing percentiles were in the mid 90s. The upper 90s is the place to be, though, and I'm planning on retaking if this application season doesn't pan out. My best piece of advice would be to use the writing scorer on the ETS website. When you take the actual test, it is scored once electronically and once by a human being. These scores almost always concur, so having practice essays electronically scored is a great option. I had a lot of trouble figuring out what kind of writing was considered "good" by the GRE. I am still somewhat baffled!

  13. I already extended my masters by a year before I even applied for a PhD, so that option is out, but my generous, wonderful, can't-possibly-be-thanked-enough parents have offered to pay for me to continue to take Hebrew as a community student in whatever town I end up in. So I'll probably be working some completely irrelevant job to pay the bills and student loans, studying Hebrew, and equal parts re-preparing for the GRE and complaining about what a worthless indicator of academic ability it is. And then I try again. The thing about student loans is that they can be such excellent motivators. The thought of incurring that much debt only to stop pursuing the goal is just enough to get me to climb my way out of this pile of tissues to submit my applications (and myself) to this dreadful process all over again.

  14. My advisor offered some excellent advice the other day (this is his patented dissertation advice, so it may still be helpful if y'all are past this point in your thesis.)

     

    After you've done some reading and have ideally been mulling over your topic for quite a while, spend a few weeks writing a 'draft' without any sources or compunction about style. Just get all those ideas that have been swirling around in your head out onto the screen (we're talking, like, a significant number of pages in which you're actually working out the logic and not just free associating). Once you've finished and you've got all the elements in front of you, start structuring your outline from there. That way, when you seek secondary sources to beef up your arguments, you'll know exactly what information you're looking for and your research will be much more efficient.

     

    This advice probably won't work for everyone, depending on your own writing style. But as for me, I usually know exactly what I intend to say but don't know the best way to proceed. I have never actually followed an outline that I made prior to writing, and I've been known to spend days stuttering over the first paragraph. The logical sequence fits together naturally once I get going, but it's more something I sense as I'm writing and less something I can plan ahead of time. So I feel like this informal draft is a great (and much less overwhelming) way to dive in. 

  15. Thanks for the advice, guys. Calling a moratorium on research and starting in today, assuming that the areas that need more development will become clearer as I actually work out the argument. And this way, when I panic about how far I have to go, I can console myself with the knowledge that at least I've got X pages down! 

  16. Hi everyone,

     

    I know that we are all neck-deep in the mire that is waiting (which somehow manages to be a full time job), so I hope this topic is a welcome, if meager, distraction. 

     

    I am about a month into researching my thesis. It's an expansion of an old seminar paper, so I think (hope, pray) that my ideas are hardy enough to proceed. As I get into the nitty-gritty, however, I'm noticing that every new book I read spawns another mile-long list of other sources to look into, and I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed. 

     

    I've got lots of questions, and I would be really grateful if any other fellow thesis writers or veterans could share some advice! How do you structure your paper, or your time? How do you know when it's time to dive into writing? How did you balance your survey of the field with your original scholarship? 

     

    I should mention that my department doesn't really have a system in place in which you have to reach certain milestones by certain deadlines, so I'm kind of in the dark. 

     

    And finally, how does one stay motivated while staring down a slew of rejections, and when researching feels a lot like sitting around in your ex-boyfriend's sweatshirt all day, listening to what used to be your song?

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