Ready As I’ll Ever Be

by Emily May Anderson

Tomorrow, at 9:05am, I will attend my first graduate class. Tomorrow at 4:40pm, I will teach my first English 15 class.

This is so exciting and scary!

Last week was very busy. I got on the bus at 8:36 every morning and orientation started at 9:00. We were mainly in one particular room; the location of the building was convenient but the desks/chairs in the room were horribly uncomfortable. Not just not comfortable, but truly painful. We had lectures about the Composition program and English department policy, we got course syllabi and rosters and schedules and keys and lesson plans and all sorts of information. We heard from faculty and current graduate teachers about how exactly they conduct the first week of classes. We graded some practice papers and spent a whole morning discussing them - by the far the most fun and helpful morning of the week. We had people come in and speak to us about diversity issues, sexual harassment, the Writing Center, the Counseling Center, the Women’s Center. We got a tour of the library and free lunch that day. We spent one morning and a separate afternoon in a computer lab learning about all sorts of technology issues. It was exhausting, mentally and physically.

But we socialized too. Except for the day the library gave us lunch, we were on our own for an hour to an hour and a half, so we got to eat with our classmates, or run errands with them, and just talk and get to know people. Thursday night, two of the other new MFAs and I walked over to the milk and cookie party. All the new MFAs were there and quite a few of the returning ones. We chatted and ate cookies and it was nice and relaxing. Friday night, my roommate and I and our neighbor drove out to a party at one of the faculty member’s houses; there was very good food, and I think all of the new students were there, along with a few returning students and a few other faculty people. Some wine was drunk by me, and much fun was had. Maybe 1/3 of us new folks convened at Mad Mex downtown after the party wound down and enjoyed some more laidback talking and drinking. Saturday was the EGO party. N cooked dinner for my roommate and I, then we went to the party. It was packed and hot and loud and crazy, but less so than the last time I’d been to that house (same house that hosted the first party of recruitment weekend). I got to talk with a few of the older students I’d either not met, or not spoken much with, before; and got to bond with a few of my fellow newbies. Some people got drunker than I had yet seen them, and I got drunker than I had been since moving here, but not too drunk. Four of us were singing along to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” in the car on the way home though. Fun stuff!

Everyone here, from the new students to the returning students to the faculty and staff, really is ridiculously nice, and, for a group of academic people, remarkably social. A handful of folks skipped the party last night, but most attended, and I think everyone there had a good time.

Today, I finished prepping to teach for the first week – I have outlines for each day, and I wrote out a full script for Monday and Wednesday, though I may not even refer to them; it was just helpful to write it. And I cooked a big pot of soup so I can eat leftovers this week, and I picked out an outfit to wear for my first day of teaching. I am as ready as I’m gonna get, and I am excited to get started and see how it goes!

I was thinking yesterday that I feel a little bit like I have lost sight of being a student this past week and just thought about being a teacher, but since our orientation was for teaching, that makes sense. I know that things will balance out, but since teaching is so new to me, I’ve wanted to/felt like I had to put in a lot of effort to feel prepared. Once I get through the first week and see how things go, I’ll have a better idea of how my time will distribute itself. Oh, I just can hardly wait to get started!

The Countdown Begins!

By Casey Tolfree

With only nine days left before the beginning of the program I'm finding my brain very scattered. My writing is scattered too. I know exactly what's happening in my current chapter and yet I keep typing the wrong male leads name or I just seem to not be able to concentrate and yet I'm still writing and it's still coming out okay.

For some reason my brain has turned to the idea of finally getting a good copy of a synopsis for this YA novel I wrote a few years back. (The starting paragraphs are on my blog if you want to check it out). I think I have a more solid idea than I've ever had before. I've had a tough time working on anything related to that novel, mainly because I wrote it with my best friend and as I'm attempting to plow on to the sequel, she's not. I started the synopsis and she won't even read it. It's a difficult situation. Yet it seems to be coming together finally and not at the expense of my working novel either.

I feel like the program is not really the issue though. I am so excited to start graduate school; it is everything I've waited for a year and a half (well, minus a boyfriend but I have that now too ;) ).
I guess the real issue is the entire work situation I'm going through. I'm pretty positive that I'm keeping my job because I am scheduled to cover an event on Saturday and if I got laid off but my last day would be Friday. Fingers crossed. Bottom line is I'm tired. I want one job. I don't want to get up at 5 a.m. and not get home until 11 p.m. Add school into the issue and wham, it's enough to drive a girl crazy.

How are the rest of you employing yourselves while going to school? Any advice for defeating the overwhelming feeling that is pressing in on me? I've never been so excited and so worried at the same time.

Nine days and counting...someone save me.

First week's over!

YEA! Unfortunately, it looks like this weekend is going to be too short. Labor day is on the horizon...just a few weeks away, but I think that weekend my house is going to be filled with visiting boys, so it may or may not be much of a break. But I won't talk about that now!

Anyway, I just posted a blog about some of my first week reflections. This is less "comparison/contrasty" compared to my last entry about assistantships/orientation. These are just some general reactions/ideas about what I'm doing!

Have a great weekend! Here's the linky

First Week Reflections

Another introduction

by Whitney Gray

Hi everyone!

I'm thrilled to find this blog. I think it will be a great resource for all of our future classmates. I spent a lot of time on the blogs and they were very helpful when it came to obsessing, meeting new people and finding answers.

I'm an incoming poetry student at UNCG, and I'm five days away from starting classes. I'm only a little freaked out that school is starting so soon, but I know in time I'll relax. I've had the chance to meet many students (old and new) and faculty members. I'll be doing some office work and some teaching, and really, I'm happy to do anything as long as my free ride is reserved!

I graduated in 2008 from Mercer University with a B.A. in Creative Writing, departmental honors and I ran the school literary journal. UNCG will be a great fit because they offer a lot of opportunities to get editing experience. I took a year off to work yet another writing internship, and eventually I ended up in retail yet again. The year off and steady paychecks were nice, but I'm more than ready to get into the classroom and to work out a steady writing routine.

I think that's enough from me! If you're the kind of person who likes excessively long blogs, feel free to stop over at my blog. I've set out to chronicle my years as an MFA student, mostly for my benefit, but also so my friends, family and professors can keep up with me. And hey, if I help an interested applicant along the way, that's great too.

Where does the time go?

By Casey Tolfree

Hey bloggers!
I wanted to give you a quick introduction before I start posting on the blog. I'll get to more in depth stuff later but I've been at work since 5:15 a.m. (I'm a Starbucks barista) and I really just feel like showering and maybe trying to get some writing in before I go back to work.

I'm starting the MFA program at Adelphi University in Garden City in two weeks. I'll be studying fiction though I'm taking a playwriting workshop this fall which should prove interesting.

I studied journalism as an undergrad and am currently a sports reporter at a local paper. I thought that journalism would provide a more stable workforce but if you check out my blog (justsurvivingmfa.blogspot) you'll see I was very wrong.

I'm a novelist. I've written one young adult fiction novel (unpublished of course) and I'm working on a general fiction novel right now. I've also written a novella and numerous short stories.

I'm really excited to start my program though after getting my books ordered, I am definitely a little concerned about the amount of reading and writing I'll have to do and work two jobs but I guess I'll figure it out.

Anyway, I'll be back later at some point to post something a little more interesting but in the mean time check out my blog: Just Surviving.

Casey

On Getting Oriented, Part 1 - The Numbers

by Emily May Anderson

So, after two days of orientation, I must say that I feel much more prepared to teach than I did last time I posted. I promise to come back and reflect more fully on the orientation process over the weekend (in other words, when the orientation process is complete), but for now, here is an overview of Penn State’s orientation for graduate instructors…

22 – MA/PhD track students in orientation
6 – MFA students in orientation
0 – difference in how we are treated

1 – section/course of freshman comp we will teach this first semester
24 – max number of students in the course we will be teaching

15 – hours spent in orientation over the first two days
22 – hours scheduled for orientation later this week
3 – books to be used in the class (a rhet comp text, a grammar manual, and a PSU-specific collection of student writing)
484 – pages in the instructor binder of helpful material
2 – types of syllabi provided to us (1 ready to give students, 1 fully annotated for instructors with suggestions for exercises, and references to the binder, etc.)

1 – full week of orientation
1 – credit hour class that will guide us through teaching this whole semester
4 – new students per “teaching mentor” (an upper level PhD student who’s been successful as a graduate instructor and will meet with us once every couple weeks and answer any questions we have)

Those are all the number I can come up with right now, but suffice it to say, that orientation is a LOT of information, but that the support/training we have as instructors is multi-layered and will be ongoing throughout the semester. It seems pretty comprehensive.

We got our keys, office assignments, and course schedules yesterday so I got to see where I’ll be teaching and where my office is. We grade our first sample papers tomorrow. Exciting stuff! Oh, and I'm teaching on MWF from 4:40-5:30pm, kind of an odd time frame, but we'll see how it goes, I guess.

Anyway, I’ll report back again after the week is over. My brain is a bit full right now. Hope everyone is having good luck with their preparations, moving, settling, orientations, classes, or wherever you are in the process!!!!

Re: Fielding the first round of feedback.

by Marita Siddal

I know that many of you traditional MFA students are all abuzz with settling in their new, campus-accessible abodes . . . As much as I wince to interrupt such merriment . . . You might be interested to know that meanwhile, your low-res cousin has already received the first full blast of feedback for the semester! And, honestly, it kinda blew me away. If you'd like to hear my humble account of how my dear VCFA adviserr tenderly laid bare -- or rather, stripped naked -- all the shortcomings in my first graduate school submission, check out today's post on my individual blog.