Graduate School Frustration

Today I finished my first six hours of grad school! Woohoo!!! Only thirty more hours left. I am exhausted mentally and cannot wait to walk around tomorrow. I feel like I've been tied down to my couch with my books and my laptop for the past four weeks. I want to go on a nice walk tomorrow.

I'd like to vent my frustration. Both of my classes were meant to help teachers have better instructional methods, however my instructor demonstrated the worst instructional strategies ever! He never returned email or voice mails. He never clarified what his expectations were on any assignment. Everything I did was a guess. Grades were never kept up to date, and I have no idea what my grade is. Even today when he could have shown me what my scores were, he wouldn't show me! What's up with that?!?!

At least the books were good. I want to know if I am the only person that does the required reading for classes??? Besides Humanities, I always have done the reading. I think I was the only person to do the reading for these classes. That bothers me. Why pay for an education that you are not really achieving?

Well, now I can begin my summer vacation, with only under two weeks left. What should I do with this time? I imagine I'll be bored a bit, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

Puzzle Update

The puzzle was put away before I left on my last teaching trip. As much as I really did want to conquer it, I have enough to conquer right now.

I started grad school two weeks ago. I am taking two classes in four weeks. For those of you have never done that, I really don't suggest it! All I do is read and read and write and read some more. I interviewed my principal this morning (that's odd if you have never interviewed your boss) to get advice on the four papers I get to write in the next week. She even told me what direction she wanted me to take on one of the papers and then she wants to review it for implementation into our program. Oy!!! I know I can make an A on the paper (usually), but this is a whole new challenge!

So, now it is time for more reading. . .

Would it be a waste?

Several weeks ago I decided that I wanted to put together a puzzle. To be honest, I've never spent serious time working on a large puzzle. I'm good at helping Zack and Mikey with their 24-48 piece puzzles, but I wanted to try a "real" puzzle. Personally what I had in mind was something with about 500 pieces. This, to me, was an attainable goal.

Over the past several weeks I've had this puzzle strewn out on the dining room table. "Most" of the edge is put together, but no one can figure out how to get it all to fit just exactly. Jana and I have had friends who are pretty much puzzle experts try to figure it out, and though they made some progress, even they couldn't figure it out.

This puzzle is 1,000 pieces and seems quite daunting to me. I've got a lot going on right now, and Jana seems anything but interested in a puzzle. Hours have been spent on the edge of this puzzle. But, I want to know, would it be a waste to just put it away? I can't see myself ever finishing it.