1/4 of a Master's Degree - a podcast by Peter Zimmerman

Today marks the effective end of 1/4 of my Master's Program.
I say "effective" because tomorrow is technically when everything's due- projects, papers, modules, blood samples.
But I've got everything done and submitted to my satisfaction.

Here are some thoughts about his semester I've learned.

The first thing that pops into my head isn't deep or insightful at all. It's a matter of managing your time and resources and getting your time-rhythm all synced up. I found out that half-semester classes are just not doable for me.

I'm in the college of education and they like to have mini-semester classes where they are accelerated over 8 weeks instead of 16.

I was taking 2 regular graduate level classes that lasted the entire 16 weeks, and then hit the midpoint, Spring Break (where I didtonsof exciting things), and had to deal with a sped-up class. So after I'd gotten into the groove of bouncing happily back and forth between 2 classes (and full-timework), I get hit with another class.

This made it especially hard on me because one of my regular classes was a philosophy of education course that was fairly reading-intensive and we had to write "serious" academic papers several times.

The academic writing was already a shift of gears for me because it'd been so long since I'd had a writing course. I graduated a handful of years ago with my bachelor's and had some paper writing to do then, and after that I took some community college classes which were mostly science based like chemistry and physics and anatomy. Put that in addition to the 8 week short class at the end of the semester, and it was stressful to say the least.

Going along with why it was stressful, I think I've determined that I have an attention span problem. Maybe it's because I'm not used to being put in the school situation or maybe it's because my working environment at home (messy room) isn't the greatest. But I need to give myself less distractions when I work or hopefully find a good computer lab on campus to spend some time in.

Grad school is also about networking, I think. And as much as I hate that word and the jargon-y slimey business connotation that goes along with it, it is good to meet people and talk to the people in your classes about things. They'll have insights about the projects you're working on, your teachers, and hopefully a graduate assistantship or TA position.

Also, a friend introduced me tohefeweisen beerthis semester. I'm a casual drinker and I can't have more than one or two in one sitting. But unfiltered wheat beer is delicious. A Blue Moon with an orange slice is great. Highly reccommended. For those of you who don't like the bitter hoppy-type beers, you might try one of these.Leinenkugelmakes a good sunshine wheat beer that is really smooth and has a slight citrusy taste.

Also, even though I'mbroke, I realized that it is sometimes helpful to take time off of work to spend time working on projects due for school. You can concentrate better and not feel the complete pressure of the ever-ticking clock saying that you must-must-must finish before 9pm so that you can wake up and go to work on time.

I think it was a good finish to the semester. I'm taking 9 credits over the summer, so hopefully it will go as smoothly as this past semester.

Now I need to not get bored for the 2 weeks in between classes. I will probably spend some time bike riding and playingagameortwo.

Further episodes of I am a person and I am probably going to spontaneously combust.

Further podcasts by Peter Zimmerman

Website of Peter Zimmerman