Just Checking In

As time passes very quickly during my first few courses of grad school, I felt the need to reflect on what I have accomplished and learned so far.

So far, I feel like I have done a good job staying on top of my work, with the exception of discussion posts (which I will get into). I have gone to almost all of the class meetings, met at least once a week with my collaboration group, turned all of my assignments in on time… it’s been somewhat manageable. Manageable enough considering that I still work full time and have an infant son. As a matter of fact, I am working on my literature review right now and plan on meeting with my group and professor tomorrow to work out the details and get some last minute feedback. Keeping open communication lines with my peers and professor has been integral to my “success” in my classes (success meaning I haven’t drowned JUST yet).

One area I definitely would like to improve upon in my next round of classes would be my discussion posts and replies. I am still getting them down, however, it takes me a while to get to them and I haven’t completed them all in a timely fashion. In fact, I still have most of mine to go for one of the classes and the deadline is fast approaching. I understand the value in these discussion posts, and I just need to get over the perfectionist procrastination that prevents me from completing them. It is better to start and edit later rather than to never start at all.

All in all, I feel good about the work I have done so far, though often it is hard to determine success this far out. I’ll just keep doing my best and communicating with my support system. We’ve got this!