QS PRN

This is it. Sort of. This is the last week, the last few days, of my first concurrent eight-week classes in the doctoral program. Yes, it is only the close of one set of classes in a very long series...of a three-year program. But, I feel like I have learned a lot about the mindset of a scholar-researcher. These two classes have pushed me harder than I had anticipated. 

The closing assignments of these two classes, Scholarly Writing: Identity & The Ethical Educator, require reflective essays (with reference to the required readings!). As I looked back on the organization work I did, all of the analyzing, the synthesizing, and the crystallizing of thoughts, I realized that my pocket notebook carried me through this process. 

Sure, having a Google Drive and other digital tools helped keep my classwork organized. I have color-coded folders in Drive, and I have a series of tags on Diigo for marking up required online readings and PDFs. Digital tools are fun, and they're handy! But, as much as I enjoy the ability to work in a digital arena at the graduate level, I still love analog. 

As I was reviewing my handwritten notes, outlines, to-do lists, and scribbles, I received an email from Field Notes about a new series, a collaboration with Graduate Hotels. A pack of notebooks with a collegiate feel? Perfect. The timing was spot-on. And, I'm hoping to fill one with my next series of classes...that start Monday. 

In many of the this week's required readings (for my doctoral program), I saw the word typology printed often. Several texts contained the word, and the use of typology irked me.  

The word typology sounds like typography to me. Typography is a passion of mine, and the similarities between the words leads me to think of the archaic Times New Roman 12pt, double-spaced standard for all college level work. It is a boring, default font and clearly demonstrates a lack of aesthetics.  

And, then there is the bothersome requirement of two spaces after a punctuation mark. Jennifer Gonzalez, author of Cult of Pedagogy, does a beautiful job of explaining why the two spaces are no longer necessary. She sums up my feelings about this issue far more eloquently and politely than I might be able to do.  

ty·pol·o·gy [/tīˈpäləjē/], noun : a classification according to general type, especially in archaeology, psychology, or the social sciences. 

This diagram sums up my week. But according to Strike, I possess a "special character." At least I have that going for me, which is nice. 

The ignorance of the person just beginning the study of a subject has a special character. It is not just that the novice is ignorant of the facts and theories of the subject matter; the student is also ignorant of the principles that govern thought about the subject matter. He does not know what the problems of the field are, he does not know what approaches to take to solve a field's problems, and he does not know how to identify a reasonable solution to the problem.

⁠—from Chap 3 of Liberty and Learning by Kenneth Strike