This may be my last blog...I'm not sure? Sad face.

Hello all. I am officially, at this moment done with my master's degree. I turned in my last two assignments this evening...I passed my thesis...i do have a bill to pay but other than that I am in the clear. Wowza! How quickly this year has gone by. I have learned so so much and I am smarter and wiser. I am also much more focused regarding my personal and research interests (I didn't think it got anymore focused than me ya know) but I am really very sure of what I am interested in studying and researching in the future. That is really and truly the benefit of a master's degree. To add to that I think my writing and my whole writing process has just improved ten fold. My grammar (just commas and apostrophes mostly) is still off but I know more theory and I know the language that I should use to get my points across...this will all be very valuable when I get ready to start doctoral studies.

I wouldn't trade my experiences at Penn GSE either. It's been good, ya know? It's been a challenge for me and I have grown. I have decided not to participate in the graduation ceremonies. I am really anxious to get home and those kinds of things become very stressful for me...I have a wacky family (kinda like My Big Fat Greek Wedding except we're Black and I'm not getting married anytime soon).

Onward- I've applied for a summer intern-fellowship for Math and Science teachers at Georgia Tech. I really hope I get it. The stipend is great and I will be able to get out of the old summer camp director routine. I am still looking for some way to stay close to the academic classroom next year...haven't quite figured out how I am going to do that. I'd love to do like a Saturday class or professional development that was ongoing...I dunno. Of course, I am returning to my old school to teach. I think I shared this already but just in case I'll still be teaching Math and Science but I've been reassigned to 3rd grade. The plan is to teach or stay in the school for at least 3 years and then begin applying for doctorate progra ims. I am still not sure where I want to go. I am sure that I want to stay in the south but I don't know if southern schools would best match my interests. We'll see.

I am going to Ghana for two weeks at the end of the summer with my mom. That'll be fun I'm sure...or not so fun because my mom is a little wacky :) Happy Mother's Day to everyone btw. I had a birthday on Monday, May 4. Im 24 and I don't like it!!

Anyway, I wish all of the readers and prospective students reading this blog the best of luck. Penn GSE is a great place to be and it's been a great place for me this year. Onward!!

Finals!

Hello all. Two classes down and three to go!! I handed in my master's thesis about a week and a half ago!! It's all done and I absolutely love it. By the way, my master's thesis is titled Teachers and their Racial Identities: Theories and New Perspectives on Teacher Development. It's about 50 pages long. I am now waiting to hear back from my readers (who are anonymous) to see if I passed or failed. If I failed (which I really feel is unlikely, but I dunno) I think I have like 10 days to edit and resubmit it if I want to graduate in May. So I am crossing my fingers!! I would be surprised if I failed ya know, but we will see. I submitted my final paper for Psychology of the African American. It was eight pages and I did it at the last minute...I was up until six this morning and up at eight to finish it. I am so glad that its done but I am not happy that the course is over. I really really really enjoyed Professor Stevenson and the course. It's def. in my top three favorite courses. My final paper for my Gender and Education course and my independent study are joint papers-my friend (Melissa) and I are completing the papers together and we are hoping to be finished with them both my Wednesday and next Wednesday, respectively. They will be about 15-20 pages but since the work is split up there isn't really too too much that I have to do by myself. Collaboration is great, by the way! I would encourage everyone to work on papers and final projects collaboratively when the opportunity presents itself. My collaborative papers have been better thought out and its a great time saver! My Critical Race Theory paper is due next Monday. I negotiated with the professor to submit a condensed version of my master's thesis for the final project so the work for that paper is already done I just need to synthesize and shorten my sections a bit.

So, that's it. I'll be done with everything by next Wednesday. I have decided not to participate in the graduation ceremonies only because I am anxious to get home and celebrate the completion of my degree with all my family and friends. Oh...my birthday is Monday, MAY 4!! Yay for 24!

Morgan's Busy Life

Hello all. I am quite tired right now but I thought I should blog and give you all an update on the busy and complex life of a grad student. My bishop passed away last Sunday and I really really wanted to go home for the funeral on Saturday. I was broke however. My beloved mom (who I actually just had a fight with) paid for my ticket. I flew to Atlanta late Friday evening and attended the service. It was magnificent if not very strange (but I think the strangeness was my beloved mother's aura/spirit throughout the service...lol). Anyways, I had a really important assignment to get to and actually was having a meeting Sunday night with some of my classmates for a Group Debate scheduled to take on Monday morning for my Psychology of the African American class. I didnt get back to Philly until almost 10:30 last night! I had a paper to right and a presentation to prepare! And I was exhausted physically and emotionally. I ended up going to bed pretty late and then waking back up really early to work on the paper and prepare for the presentation. When I got to class, Professor Stevenson laid out the time format for the debates and my group ended up not even debating this week!! I was pretty upset. I rushed home to get some lunch and get caught up on my reading for Critical Race Theory. I just barely skimmed the book before class at 7 p.m. Class was good but I am still tired. To top the day off, my mom called and carried on about how worried she is about me and my processing through the death of my bishop and she started crying and just really carrying on. So, I am totally distracted at this point. The moral of the story is...try not to build bridges between your home life and your school life if they are not in any way similar or connected. It is very easy to get distracted trying to negotiate between issues with family and life back home and then to stay focused on school. Wish me luck on re-focusing!

Blogging World

Sorry for the blog delays. Graduate school is quite busy but I will update you on my life as best as I can. My big and most current project--my thesis--is on and popping. Funny, I still haven't solidified a title. I actually emailed a title to my faculty advisor (I'm sure that's a no no) but I don't think I really liked it at all. Anyway, I am at 31 pages total (not including references) which means that I have about 9 more pages of space. I am a little worried that I will run out of room because I still have lots more that I want to add. This past Tuesday I got my comments back from my faculty advisor. I was very surprised by his thoroughness...don't ask why. I mean, he read that paper so closely and he really got down and dirty with the comments, which I greatly appreciate. I was a little thrown about some of the things that he was saying and let's just say, I have a lot of work to do. But I am very pleased with my thesis and am quite pleased with how it's taking shape. My mom and I went through it line by line on Tuesday and so I know what things I really need to edit (mostly structural). The biggest comment was that there needs to be more of my own voice, my position on the argument in the paper. I can do that!!

My second big project is complete! Diversity Weekend 2009--it was a blast! I am still catching up (on the school work that I neglected) but I think the event was terribly succesfull. We had 19 total participants: 4 from Cal-State Dominguez, 3 from National Hispanic University, 4 from Prairie View University, 4 from Morehouse, and 4 from Spelman. They were terrific and smart and fun and I think that many of them are really considering applying to Penn GSE. My favorite part of the weekend was Friday night. After the students came in and had dinner with me and the faculty and staff we all went out to the bowling alley and had a great time! I felt like a college student again! It was short lived, but it was nice to be young and carefree again. We had a great tour of Philly on Saturday and had dinner at Maggiano's. Delish! I slept all day on Sunday.

On to personal news, my Bishop (Bishop Earl Paulk) died on Sunday. His life is quite controversial but hey, I was a child when I was a member of that church. Anyhoo, Bishop was like a father to me and I am very saddened by his death. I found out as the Diversity Weekend participants were leaving and so I had to explain to them why I was tearing up all of a sudden. I was really embarrased. My plane ticket home was over $500 but I'll be flying out Friday evening for his Saturday homegoing. Words cannot express my feelings about this man that introduced me to Jesus. I have had a tough week but hopefully attending his funeral will give me some closure.

Hello All

Happy belated Valentine's Day! My weekend was excellent, and I did have a Valentine...yay!. Classes are going well, I am very pleased with my Gender and Education course with Peter Kuriloff and Psychology of the African-American with Howard Stevenson. My thesis is going well also. I turned in my first draft last Tuesday (20 pgs) which means I have some more work to do on it, but I should be able to come up with 10 pages in three months!! I am enjoying the whole thesis process though. I love writing, especially when I have time to enjoy it. Oh...I have also been working on my independent study project as well. Melissa and I are planning a trip to Spelman to interview ADW (African Diaspora and the World) faculty and to interview students. I am secretly hoping that the project won't create unnecessary work for me as I was hoping that the work that I would be doing for my thesis could also be a major part of the indepedent study, but I see the project going in another direction. ):

I am feeling really good this semester. I was a little stressed out last semester because of the newness of the school, city, being away from home, etc. Going home made me realize that school is very temporary not my WHOLE life! I also realized that I don't have to pull my hair out to do well so I'm trying not to take myself or the whole school thing too seriously. I'm also taking more time for myself and by myself (which is really my raven) and taking better care of myself spiritually. I am looking forward to finishing up in May and going back home.

My grandma offered her home to me rent free, she is moving out. It's in a great location (Midtown Atlanta) and I am really looking forward to being close to my friends. I spoke with my school principal and he mentioned switching me from 1st grade to 3rd grade!! I am feeling very reluctant about this but I'm trying my best to stay positive about what I feel like will be a challenge. I am also considering going back to school in August for my Ed.S at Emory. I just love learning!! Such a nerd! I think it will keep me in the loop in terms of staying current with the research and allow me to build some more relationships/networks that I may not have been able to establish here as much. Plus, it would make my mom so proud, she got her doctorate there.

Today, I have been editing my group members' theses drafts. I really enjoy doing this and I hope that my feedback to them will be valuable. Later, bloggers.

Today

A couple of my cohort members and I are sponsoring an end-of-semester gathering. My friend Melissa fried chicken...and Danielle is making baked ziti. Others are bringing libations (lushes)! I'm not really sure what will come of this gathering. I'm not really a board gamer so I think I'll be disappointed if it turns into that kind of a gathering. What I would prefer is if we talked about some of our experiences and came up with some ideas to make our experiences in the program better. However, I'm not sure if everyone will be in the mood since this may serve as a break from finals work. I will update you all on what comes of this get together.

The End of Semester

I have a week and a half left and then I'm going home! Wow, where has the time gone? I'm thinking however that the next week and a half is going to be the hardest time I've spent in school since being here. I have only done one all-nighter (during midterms) but I'm sure I'll end up doing one more before next Friday. So this is what's on the horizon, in terms of finals. School and Society with Ingersoll: I have a take-home exam, no more than 10 pgs. which is decent. He has actually given us an extension on the exam but I pretended not to hear about it for fear of procrastinating just because I can. I have a final project that I'm already done with and is due today (Wed) for Counseling for Educators with Kuriloff...great class by the way. I strategically planned for my last three assignments to correspond. My final paper/study for Qual/Ethnographic Methods for Ravitch, critical book review for Anthro. and Ed. for Hall, and my final paper for Slaughter-Defoe are all virtually the same. The observations/data that I collected will go for my data/observational write-ups for Ravitch and Slaughter-Defore, and I'm using Hall's critical book review for my review of literature for my Ravitch paper. (Don't mean to offend by using proff's last names its just easier for me to keep them organized.) So, I'm planning for this to be easy but, you know, we will see. I have really gotten a chance to observe the patterns of my writing. I love to mull over words in sentences in paragraphs and it usually takes me a lot longer because of the way I like to play with words. It's not really even me playing, it's something that I feel like I have to do. I am not one of those kinds of writers that can just freewrite all of their thoughts. I don't like to see my thoughts on paper unless they are organized and make sense already so I spend a lot of time thinking about what to say instead of putting it down and arranging it later.

I'm sorry for that...i digress. Anyway, so I'm really excited about my classes for next semester. My schedule is solidified: Critical Race Theory (which is a graduate course I'm taking in the Africana Studies Dept.), Psychology of the African American with Howard Stevenson, Gender and Education with Peter Kuriloff, Masters Thesis Seminar, and an Independent Study with Marybeth Gasman in the Higher Ed. Program. I am really looking forward to next semester...really.

I am also looking forward to Atlanta!!! There's no place like home!