Reflections
So I am giving a talk on tuesday about the semester I spent here at CMU. I am debating the format and content (should it be more informative, reflective, pedagogical.. or something else.. I dont know)
So here are my current reflections that I wrote this afternoon while sitting in the sun (oh it was gorgeous out)
Preconcieved notions:
* I would love being in an environment where I could walk down the hall and talk CS Ed with whomever was around.
* Somehow the people here seemed to have all of the answers
* I would miss the individual personal connections I made with my high school students
* I would be in over my head
* The coursework would be the most interesting part of my learning experience while the teaching was just about paying the bills
*I would leave having taken as much advantage as I possibly could of the situation
* I would narrow my focus of “interesting things to study”
* I would meet people who could help me understand ( what I’m not sure.. just life and cs and ed in general I guess)
Reality..
* I love the conversations they have been invaluable to me
* The people here are searching for answers to the difficult questions just as I am
* I still made personal connections with students
* I am an intellegent woman and the possibilities are without bound 
* The dual perspective of being a teacher and student at the same time offered insights, however most learning that will carry me forward occured while I was teaching or talking about the teaching.
* I recognize there are only so many hours in the day and therefore more days are required
* Narrow? focus? I simply found more interesting problems … now if only I could organize them into some sort of priority queue..
* What am I trying to understand? That question and answering it are going to be huge. I guess its kind of silly but it does parallel with a certain authors take on 42 - the answer doesnt really mean much unless you know what it is you are searching for.
Above all I know that this semester has been one of the happiest prolonged times of my life. Oh dont get me wrong, there have definately been happy moments in my life - times when the joy was undescribable, but this semester and being here has been the most continuously happy time for 5 months that I can remember in a long time. Granted I have been in kind of a bubble, but still - thats a positive reaction and not something to be ignored or taken lightly.
I think this is a good start of things for me to think about for my talk.. I just need to come up with an outline…
Sunday, May 13th, 2007