poco_puffs

I hear you on the boredom thing, and I had thought about this a bit earlier in the year when the open days of summer seemed full of time and possibility. Anyway, I think part of the appeal of eating out is that food made by other people just has that delicious quality that WE did not make it. To get around that, still save some money, and expand our own culinary horizons, I'm thinking about asking people from my cohort to come to my house and teach me to cook something. Ideally, there'd be 4-5 people, and we'd all cook some element of a feast together in the kitchen, so it has the deliciously ample result of a potluck but with the added value of instruction. It hasn't happened yet, partly because my kitchen and the rest of my living quarters are never quite presentable at the same time.

As my stipend only covers the school year and not the summer, I try to save as much as I can each month so that I'll have a cushion for rent and food during the summer. This past summer I got a part-time job to manage, since my savings weren't nearly as consistent as they could have been. This year my stipend has been adjusted a little higher and I'm heading in with foreknowledge of the money-crunch in January and towards the end of the school year. Originally I was hoping to save and put some each summer toward paying off the interest accruing on my student loans. That didn't happen. Incidentally, my budgeting strategy = spend a little bit more at the grocery store, even though it'd be cheaper to just subsist on staples, because I'll be more likely to eat the $3 microwave meal at home than cook myself a huge thing of chili and rice from scratch. My cooking just doesn't work like that yet, and if I only have staples around the house I'm much more likely to go out and blow $8-$10 on food at a restaurant or take-out place rather than prep, cook, clean, repeat. That being said, food has definitely been the hardest part of my budget to manage.

Besides discussing topics and readings that the students are covering in the main sections of their class, maybe consider mini-lectures and discussions about different elements of pre-writing, writing and revising papers. I'm teaching my own section of comp for the first time this year, and it's been tough to come up with enough stuff to fill out a whole term. This is a list of stuff that I've considered including in the course, although now I'm realizing that I probably won't be able to fit it all in: Intros, conclusions, thesis statements, paragraph structure and topic sentences, evidence, sources and citation, the types of appeal, logic/assumptions, counter-arguments, ethical argumentation, audience, critical reading, and techniques for outlining, revising, and generating ideas to start the whole thing rolling. The students will already know parts of this, and they'll have strengths in some areas and weaknesses in others. Starting the term with activities or free-writing to figure out what those strengths/weaknesses are and what they THINK they are can help you use the time more effectively and show the students that you're treating them as individuals with a stake in the process. It's kind of cool/interesting that you're tutoring in groups of five, as well. Have you considered teaching them how to workshop papers and give each other feedback? After tutoring all year last year, I can also say that part of tutoring isn't just helping them in the course at hand or, especially, just proofreading their papers. The role you choose to take on (coach, cheerleader, older/experienced friend, more formal vs. more informal) can include helping them through stuff like anxiety about school, stress, and time/task management. If this is stuff that you have trouble defining before the term starts, at least keep it in mind as you adjust your style to fit the situation. Also, I'm not sure of the teaching/tutoring situation at your institution, but try to be as aware and updated as possible about what is going on in the course. Keeping student/instructor expectations, schedules and assignments clear in your mind and your students' minds will help you avoid problems and wasted hours. If there are any tutoring/course requirements to remember, keep a list for yourself and make sure that your students have something easily accessible so there's no excuse for them to fall behind on dates or assignments. Do you know if you'll be helping any ESL/ELL students?

Old school texter, here. Swype and I do NOT get along. Spelling errors happen in both of them, but I think they're more predictable/decipherable in old-school texting.

In my post-work stupor I saw the topic title on this thread and thought it said "Starting Graduate Program without a cat" My thoughts: impossible.

Throwing my hat in the pool for the old-fashioned flip-phone, in part because of the reasons Eigen has just offered-- I check my email enough on computers at home and on campus. I also don't need all the added distractions that apps and games can offer. I survived my first year just fine without a smart phone and all of the little things that supposedly make life easier for everyone else. On the one hand, I do worry that not being up to date with the latest apps and tech might put me at a slight disadvantage when compared to my cohort. On the other hand, I'm banking on being judged on my scholarship and personal skills, not whether I have the latest Android. Also, while times have changed a bit, my standby for updating technology is always this: People survived without it 15 years ago, and I can survive without it now. It's saved me a lot of money.

As an aside, I know someone who is applying postcolonial theory to medieval lit. It's legit.

University of Oregon PhD students do two terms of pedagogy training in their first year (including an apprenticeship with a more experienced composition instructor) and then teach one comp class per term until they finish with their dissertation. After you're done with your own coursework and have started on your dissertation I believe you can start teaching Intro to Lit classes, but I'd have to double-check. Either way, UO has a pretty good rep as far as training future teachers. Also, we've got some good medievalists, if you haven't checked.

Normally, if they are gunning for a reaction I try not to give it to them either way. Attention-whores hate it when they don't get paid.

Ditto the wikipedia thing. I google and wikipedia terms and concepts CONSTANTLY when I'm at home. I also look up the definitions for probably 10-12 words a week when I'm doing heavy reading. Sometimes more, depending on the level of vocab. It's just like any language, you start picking it up really quickly once you hear and use it on a regular basis. It always helps to understand the meanings of the words when you start to use them though

This is the shotgun approach to advice, so I'm sorry if it seems disjointed... Don't be ashamed of your age, which is also going to mean avoiding a constant self-deprecating humor that constantly points it out. I know a few people who used to do that, and it's really a fine line between "Hey, I accept the fact that I"m a little younger and it does make me different" and "Hey! Look at me! I'm young! Don't judge me! I'm young! (nervous soliciting laugh)" Just a smile, and a quick explanation that you skipped some years should be enough to explain your age, but there's really no reason that your age or your slightly different path through school should be the center of any prolonged conversation at first. There are lots of other interesting things about you, right? So don't let people and first impressions just define you as "the young one." Example: There are two younger people in my program (not quite as young as you) who come under the average by a few years, and they're the same age. One refers to their age quite often, and one doesn't. As a result, one of them is rarely thought of as being "younger," because people didn't find out until later. Good move on the on-campus housing. Grad students still drink a lot of beer, but the loud parties and late hours are toned down quite a bit. Y'all are in it to win it at this point, you've made it through undergrad with good enough grades, people are all working with a similar academic workload, so the general study and living habits are going to be far more moderate, at least as far as I've seen around my own campus. Take advantage of low key hanging out on- and off-campus. It's probably more talking and food and mellow-ish music than the undergrad parties you've seen, but the conversations can still get pretty lively. If you're a nervous talker (like me) here are some strategies: Don't be afraid to take in the atmosphere before participating. Watch and listen a lot. If you find yourself babbling/rambling (don't we all), finish up your sentence and then ask a question to give the other person a chance to talk and maybe relieve some of the pressure on you. In fact, asking questions will be a great way to endear yourself to people, especially people who have been in the area/school for longer than you, and you might get some great information. You also might hear about how everyone else gets nervous, and feels out of their depth, and sometimes just feels awkward as all hell. Don't worry about not making it out to the bar, because there are probably going to be plenty of over-21 grads who still don't go to the bar all that often. Some of us have been of age for quite a while and we hardly drink at all. Alcohol consumption is not that reliable an indicator of age, though your ability to restrain yourself from getting drunk is going to be a fairly reliable indicator of maturity, so taking it easy (if you do start) is an excellent idea. In fact, here's a pro-tip: If you start drinking, be VERY VERY cautious about the amount. Specifically limit yourself to a number (one or two at first), because once you hit three or four, having one more doesn't seem like a bad idea anymore and that, sir or madam, is when the fireworks happen. And by fireworks I mean crying, fighting, vomiting, and passing out in the street. I speak from experience. Edit: Aaahhhh! The typos! They burn!

Personal Observations in a Humanities department: We had a big incoming cohort of MAs and PhDs from all over the country. Some of us had significant others move with us, some had SOs in a long-distance thing, and some came single. In this first year, I can't think of anyone whose situation has changed significantly (though there are probably one or two people who I'm just not as familiar with). Anyhow, I think for a lot of people the first year is just so busy that, whether or not they're lonely, the idea of actively dating can be a little daunting in a new city with a new crowd. I imagine that is going to be changing over the summer and through the next few years once the work loads even out and we're all more familiar with the scene. Pieces of advice that I've heard bandied about, which seem pretty solid: -Avoid dating (or playing around) in your department. These people are technically colleagues now, and it can get messy and awkward. -Check for inter-departmental functions, especially regular meetings (with food!) for Graduate Student Unions and the like. Cross-pollination of the disciplines often = success for grad student dating.

Wellll, the origin of the phrase is still officially murky. Don't discount your mama altogether!

Another explanation: In early typesetting, where the letters were cast in mirror-images to then produce the correct letter on the printed page, the reversal of lowercase Ps and Qs was a big problem since they were already mirror images of each other. Thus, "Minding your 'p's and 'q's" was a practical consideration that turned into advice to be aware of the fine details that might have larger and more lasting consequences. In that light, you could even argue that it's a precursor to "Don't get it twisted."

I can think of more than one grad school situation where I'd have to psych myself up by saying "Kiss. Ass. You can do this, mama. Get to it. Kiss some ass."