Well, here it is, the week before break and I am so ready! But before I get too excited, I must remember that I have a lot of work to do this weekend. Here’s what happened or more appropriately did NOT happen this week…

I aimed to do most of my homework for this class later on in the week. Why, one may ask? Because I had to in order to get other things done for my other classes! I knew we didn’t have much to do for this week, so I decided to put this class’s work off until, well, now. Also, I planned to start wrapping up my project. I wanted to decide how I wanted people to move from one genre to the next and what I wanted my front page of my weblog to look like. This is part of the assignments for this week, but I would have probably done it anyway. Also, I wanted to go back and start cleaning up my project a bit by editing small things such as punctuation errors and things of that nature. I wanted to do this so I won’t have to deal with it later.

The content of this week has been very empty. Like I said before, I haven’t started on my homework for this class (I know it’s awful), but I plan to do it all either today or over the weekend. We didn’t meet on the MOO Wednesday, which was kind of good because I had some work that I needed to do for other classes. This week we were or are supposed to design our weblog so that one can move from one page to the next. I have a general idea of how I want to do this (I’ll mention more about it in the process part of my entry). Also, we are supposed to e-mail the class list to report on our peer review responses and those that we have given to members of our group. So far, I have only written a few things down on paper, but by Sunday, I’ll have everything posted. Also, I am completing the online journal right now!

One process that I used in completing my work this week was going back and reviewing the summer class’s weblogs to get ideas on how I want my readers to navigate through my blog. I now have a general idea of how I want to do this, and by Sunday, it will be done. Also, I began writing down specific pieces of advice that I received from my group members during peer reviews. I wanted to include particularly helpful hints from each member of my group (don’t want to leave anyone out!) as well as from Mrs. McComas.

Perhaps I arrived at a place in my thinking this week that I haven’t visited in quite a while. That place is called “Down-to-the-wire Stressed”. I have so much to do for this class as well as for my other classes and I’m not sure where to begin. I have lots to do over the weekend and over break (OH BOY!!!). All I have to keep saying is “2 more weeks! 2 more weeks! 2 MORE WEEKS!!!!” I can’t wait until it’s all over, said and done! All to do now is clean up, polish up, and revise, revise, revise (a.k.a.—edit, edit, edit!). That shouldn’t be too bad, so I’m looking forward to it.

I have no questions at this time. I guess I know what needs to be done so all I have to do now is the hardest part…JUST DO IT!! Until next time...

Heather P.

Ok, it looks like it has come down to the core of the semester. Only a few more weeks to go and time is definitely running out. Here’s what happened in week #12…

I set out to get all of my work for this class completed before the weekend. If you are keeping up with my entries, you know that this is an objective that I have had for several weeks. Well, this week, I think that I have come closest to doing this. I have finished all but one tiny little assignment, the preface to my MRP. I love knowing that my weekend is fairly freed up!! I set out to do most of my work before the weekend because I want a weekend where I can just relax and spend some time away from the project. I feel that at this point in time, I need some clarity and I need to regroup and find the focus and the desire to work on my research that I have lost somewhere along the way. I also set out to keep going back to my work and seeing if there are any sources that I have left out. I wish now that I had kept track all along! I basically did this because if I don’t, then I would be plagiarizing.

The content of this week was very small, but I’m definitely not complaining. We met Wednesday on the MOO and I received some answers to some of the questions that I have wanted to ask. It was also nice to see where everyone else is in their MRP’s and to listen to everyone else’s angst about the project. Sometimes I like to hear other people complain just so I don’t seem like such a whiner to myself! Thus far, I have completed my reviews of my group members’ final genres as well as their reference lists. I have also drafted the acknowledgements and the about the author sections of my MRP and I am going to draft the preface later on (maybe tonight, tomorrow, whenever). And lest we forget, the wonderful “Online Journal”, which of course, I am completing right now.

I don’t think I used any significant processes in my thinking, but Mrs. McComas would probably rebuke me for saying that. She would probably say something like: “All processes in thinking are significant processes” (or something like that, anyway). I made sure to get a copy of the APA manual (5th ed.) so that I could accurately review the reference lists of my group. Even though I had a copy in front of me, I still don’t know what I’m talking about! APA to me is just weird. Anyway, I drafted my “About the Author” and “Acknowledgements” sections this week too. I went back and looked at some of the summer classes’ MRP’s to see how they did. I was able to get ideas about how I wanted mine to look and what I wanted to say. I wanted to include everyone in my acknowledgements, so I was careful not to leave anyone out. In completing my preface, I am going to look over some of the students’ work from the summer to get some ideas sometime this weekend.

The only new place that I have arrived in my thinking is a place called “BURNT OUT”. I know it’s sad and I probably shouldn’t say it, but I am getting tired of not having a weekend and working about 13-14 hours a day, almost everyday. I know waiting ‘til the last minute to do everything is no one’s fault except for my own, but it seems as though there are just days where I don’t want to do anything, and then I say, “Well, I’ll have time on Sunday” (such a bad habit!). I have also realized that maybe what I need is some time away from the project and I think this week has given me a good opportunity to do just that; however, I have become somewhat obsessed with the project and I find myself going back to something I’ve done and tweeking it over and over again. It gets to be pretty annoying! I feel that time away from the project will give me the clarity I need to revise my project with a clear head and will give me a chance to refresh my brain so that I may come up with new and improved ideas for my work.

I don’t have any questions at this time, nor did I have any last week that need answered now. Most of my questions came up in the MOO discussion this week and they were answered. So, I guess I don’t have much else to say….for now.

Heather P.

Well, here it is, the end of week 11. Last week went by fast and this week even faster. I can’t believe it’s almost over, but then again, I’m glad. Here’s what went on in week #11…

This week I had aimed to pull all of my genres together in my unifying genre because it is part of this week’s assignments. I did what I planned to do, which was do this before the weekend. I aimed to do this because I don’t have Powerpoint on my computer and I didn’t want to be at the library this weekend. I aimed to start gathering all of the resources that I have used so that I may draft my resource list and post it on my blog. I am still in the process of doing this. I also aimed to really make a point with all of my research. I think I did this at the end of my unifying genre. I also wanted to make sure that all of my foundation questions were answered in my genres. I aimed to do this because I think it was required.

The content of this week was (and still is) ample. I’ve been so used to having just a couple of assignments to do per week, and I guess I was expecting the same for this week; however, I had to go back and pull all of my resources together so that I could draft my resource list for the MRP. I’m still doing this and it will be posted on my blog this evening. Another thing was to peer review my group’s 6th genres. This I have yet to do completely, as I have only been able to do one thus far. I suppose the reason I have not done all that I should by now is because I put a lot of time and effort into developing my Powerpoint presentation as my unifying genre. This took me two days (Thurs. and Fri.) to do. I am so glad that it is finished (until I have to go back and revise it!). I think I included (in some way) all of my previous genres and I think I drove my point home. I made the point that perhaps the most effective way to manage the aggressive behaviors of autistic clients is to COMMUNICATE and to REINFORCE them for good behaviors and good efforts in all they do. I will mention how I came to this conclusion in the process portion of this writing. Also this week, we e-mailed Mrs. McComas with two genres that we would like for her to review. I think this was a great idea, as I’m sure I’ll need all the help that I can get with revising mine.

I utilized several processes in completing my work this week. For starters, I wanted to get the 7th genre out of the way, and so I finished it before the weekend. I basically went back and took my interview script (6th genre) and pasted it into a Powerpoint slide show; however, I did have to change a few things and add a few things to the interview for them to make sense. I definitely had to add things when it came to bringing all of my genres together. I added links to my work, mentioned things such as the newsletter and the poem in my interview. I also had to add the point I was trying to make at the end of the interview. I came up with the essential point through mostly my own experiences with my client from Autism Services and a little through my research. In completing the peer reviews, which by the way, aren’t completed yet, I did as I have in the weeks before; I just went to my group members’ pages, located their work, and reviewed them (well, one of them). Also, I’m still trying to bring all of my resources together so that I may draft my resource list. It’s hard to go back and figure out what I used and what I didn’t. I also got a lot of information just from my experiences, so I guess I really didn’t use but a few books and a couple of Internet articles. I put this off because I hate citing things and making resource lists. I don’t like doing this because I don’t like APA. It takes me more time to compile a list of resources and to cite things than to do almost anything else. I know that it’s necessary, but sometimes I wish it were not. I also chose for Mrs. McComas to review my interview script and the newsletter. These were the genres that I was the least confident about and I wanted her opinion on them. That’s why I chose the two that I did.

I can’t really profess that I have come to any new places in my thinking this week. I can honestly say, however, that I am glad it is almost over. After drafting my final genre this week, I breathed a sigh of relief. Now, all we have to do is go back and revise, revise, revise! It shouldn’t be that bad though. I feel pretty confident in my work up to this point. It seems as though the work might be beginning to pick up again. This means that in the next few weeks, I’ll be tying up loose ends and making sure everything is “perfect” (LOL). I’m really looking forward to reading what Mrs. McComas said about my two genres. I know she has posted her review because I see her comment posted on the side of my blog. I guess I need to read it so I’m going to do that now.

I have no questions at this time, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t have any soon. I also didn’t have any from last week to answer this week. So, with that said, I guess I’m going to se what Mrs. McComas had to say about my interview script and my newsletter. More next time…

Heather P.