This week was one of a kind (in a good and bad way). I’ve done much more thinking since last week’s class and I have to say… I’m getting the feeling this could be something (good).
I’ll start with the good. At the beginning of the week, I was still walking, still thinking and writing (a little less than last week but I’ll hold out grace… it was a busy week).
Working at College Steps this semester (which, for those who don’t know, is a program that supports students with disabilities as they aim to become matriculated here at Kean), has been pretty fulfilling. Inspiring even.
This past week, one of the lead mentors suggested to one of the program coordinators that I should hold a writing workshop during one of the free periods of the day. I, of course, was happy to accept because in the weeks leading up to that moment, I already had an inkling I would be exploring that space as a possible route for my thesis project.
That idea was supported even further by my liking of bell hooks the past week.
But all my thinking was put to a halt as I awoke Friday morning with a sore throat and a flood warning. I was sleepy and sick all weekend, praying I wouldn’t have to get up to help carry all the things from my basement upstairs (We’re victims of Hurricane Sandy and Ida).
I’m looking forward to how tonight’s class may help with the unraveling of my mind. Till then
Before I give an update, I want to be totally transparent. Was this the most productive week I could have had? No. Did I use my time wisely at every opportunity? No. Does that mean this week was a total waste No. Can we do better going forward? YES. With that out of the way lets get the wheels turning. This is accountability class so I wanted to just be honest.
This week had some ups and downs. Early in the week,I didn’t put enough focus on this project as I should have. Its still too early to really know what true progress is but I know I could have done more. Later in the week I was able to really kick things in gear and get to a point that I feel like I made up for wasted time. I guess I needed to get back in the swing of things before I could really lock in. Its pretty ironic considering that one of the things I wanted to key in on with this project was my time management skills. Procrastination been a bad habit that I just haven’t been able to full get out of but it is what it is. I feel like the back half of my week was much better I and think I made a little bit of a break through. I see the issues with my workflow and I have to address them in order to make this project the best it can be. Bumps in the road can’t stop this journey just yet
As I went over my past research proposal I looked over a lot of the research I did last semester. While i liked the topic of my proposal, i felt that I wanted to take a bigger look at academic support and what it requires to help student succeed overall. As I looked over my work, one major concept kept popping up: Barriers. Much of the literature that I read either mentioned it intentionally or indirectly. The barriers to support for students is major piece to the puzzle I’m trying to figure out. Before academic support can be transformative, certain things need to align in regards to the student and tutor/advisor/professor. Technological, psychological, and academic barriers have to be addressed along the way before we can get students on track. Within the context of a University writing centers this topic really piques my interest. I don’t have it all figured out just yet, but I feel like I’m getting closer to where i want to take this project.
Looking towards next week I want to begin collecting things for the lit review. With the barriers surrounding support for students being my starting point. I want to really explore some of the literature to see where I can fit into the overall narrative. With this I want to continue to work on a mind-map centered on the Technological, psychological, and academic barriers students face. Walking those concepts out will be very fruitful for me in the long run. Another goal for this week is also outlining my experiences with the writing center. Since I want to put an autoethnograpic element into this project, its time to really to start clearly organizing my thoughts and seeing where “barriers” might fit into my own personal story. Lastly, my presentation is on the horizon and I’m gonna need something to show all of you guys. While I obviously won’t have much to show since we are so early in the game, I do want to really want to talk about our creative processes in terms of this project.
There is a lot on my plate right now but I know we all do. Not really sure how it all will balance out, but I do know one thing. Next weeks coming either way so I gotta keep chipping away at it. Rome was not built in a day, but I sure wish it was. See ya’ll in class.
Disclaimer: For all intents and purposes, especially for the purposes of a legal matter, all of the following is a joke. Again, any references to any hypothetical theft, piracy, or crimes (punishable by law within the fifty states of the United States of America) are purely hypothetical scenarios made in jest in order to entertain an audience. The persons and events in this blog are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons or events is unintentional. Please don’t sue or arrest me. I’m broke and too pretty for jail.
Anywhoseits, on a completely unrelated note, I refuse to pay the NYT, or any other major news corporation for that matter, any amount of money in order to read a document. (And before you say anything, the writers have already been paid! Any money I hypothetically did not spend on the subscription would have gone to the the shareholders and upper management.) It’s also just so much fun. If you wonder where I get this sentiment from, please watch the video below.
In order to circumvent this, I may have, possibly, allegedly, hypothetically, stolen a bunch of articles for my thesis. I currently, may, have about 45 articles hidden in a google drive folder. I definitely didn’t do this by clicking on the article then hitting command+A before the paywall arose. And I would never open up a blank google doc and paste everything into that. And I most certainly didn’t go through each article to get rid of the ads and find more victims articles. I definitely wouldn’t recommend anyone do the same.
“Freedom is so much the essence of man that even its opponents implement it while combating its reality; they want to appropriate for, themselves as a most precious ornament what they have rejected as an ornament of human nature.” -Karl Marx
How’d that get there?
Now that I have finished my, entirely hypothetical, warning of what not to do when finding sources, let me get to what I have actually done.
So, for those who don’t know, my plan is to write a speculative horror fiction anthology focusing on the impact LLMs are having within writing centric spaces. I am drawing inspiration from works like Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone, and The News (Dun Dun duhhhh). By “The News” I mean that I only want to use events that have already happened or have a foundation in things already happening, similar to the approach Atwood took to Handmaid’s Tale.
““Somebody asked me on Twitter recently, ‘How do you come up with this shit?’ My answer was, ‘It’s not me who has come up with it, it’s the human race over the past 4,000 years.’” – Margaret Atwood
The section I am working on right now hits particularly close to home. The chapter follows a teacher who, over the course of a year, is replaced by the very AI she trained. There are a few precedents I am drawing on as inspiration for this story.
There is a large push in the education field to integrate AI into both our professional practices and the classroom. We are being told to use programs like Chat and Magic school to create resources, lesson plans, and activities for our classroom. At the same time, they are telling us to have students use AI chat rooms for activities and project creation.
Earlier this year, Melania Trump praised AI in the field of education and suggested that it could/should replace teachers in the classroom. (Which is ironic, coming from one of two first ladies who hasn’t completed a degree since 1897.)
While Linda McMahon disagrees that teachers should be replaced, she does cosign that it should be integrated into the curriculum and classroom environment. (Also ironic, considering the fact that she has never actually taught a class.)
My general virtial for the government aside, the move towards AI being a staple in the classroom is terrifying.
So the plan is to draw on that sense of dread that I experience that keeps me up every night, staring into the dark abyss, contemplating my existence. Write what you know and what not.
I want to give a special shout out to Dr. Sisler! Dr. Sisler has helped me a lot with establishing a basis for the research. She was nice enough to send me some links to articles (for legal purposes, these links are completely unrelated to any links mentioned in the prior, completely made up, story.) that really helped when it came down to a starting point for the research.
I’m having fun writing it, so far, and I’m excited for what the other stories have in store.
