Today was equally fun as it was irritating. Today was fun because I became closer and closer to printing the final draft. Today was irritating because I became closer and closer to printing the final draft, with still a few more hours of work to complete.
I spent most of the morning and early afternoon finalizing the formatting and adding pictures to the book. Once this was all done, I printed a full color draft of the book so that I can review it for formatting. I am not planning on reviewing the narrative texts anymore, since I spent so much time working on them and reviewing them in their writing process.
With proofreading almost done, my work tomorrow is to finalize and review the pre-final draft one more time. After that, the only thing left to do is print several final draft copies, take the completed versions to be bound, and prepare for my independent study intensive fair presentation.
I am glad that I did this independent study. Overall, it felt very rewarding for me, having worked so hard on all of the aspects that led to its success in the final form (interviews, research, formatting, drafting, editing, polishing), and now holding a thick pre-final draft in my hands (64 pages!).
I am very appreciative for the help of all individuals involved in the process of my independent study, including Larry Anning, Independent Study Sponsor, and Brian Oliver, Independent Study Advisor; these individuals are acknowledged at the end of my book. My hope is that someone else, whether a student or other Maumee Valley community member, continues working to document the school’s history, and the project information page has a paragraph explaining this, as well as a few ideas for future projects.
The end is so close for me, and I am looking forward to presenting my work at tomorrow's intensive fair!
Monday, June 5, 2017
Friday, June 2, 2017
6-2-2017: Almost Done
Today was just more of yesterday: editing narratives and formatting the final project. If not already stated in one of my previous posts, my final project is in form of a book. I use a program called Microsoft Publisher to format everything. With all of my narratives now in final draft, I am copying and pasting them into Publisher, adding pictures, writing captions, and adding charts.
The work that I’m doing right now is quite repetitive. There’s not really much else to say, other than the fact that I’m working hard. The end is near.
The work that I’m doing right now is quite repetitive. There’s not really much else to say, other than the fact that I’m working hard. The end is near.
Thursday, June 1, 2017
6-1-2017: Editing and Revising
Today was spent checking my narrative pieces. I began the revision process today, rereading over most of my work and marking it up, reviewing each part for clarity. However, because I had worked so hard writing my rough drafts, I am more or less pleased with my work, and few major changes need to be made. Final drafts of my narrative pieces should be completed by tomorrow.
I also spent time today reviewing outside information used in my project. While not a difficult task, it was tedious, and I had to write footnote citations for all of these outside resources. Additionally, I began compiling lists of additional resources to be placed at the end of each piece so that readers know where to look if they would like to learn more.
I took a break from all of this at the end of the day and designed the cover of my project. Of course, although my main focus is the writing itself and making it the best it can be, I will be spending some efforts to make its presentation decent and perhaps a little eye-catching.
Here is the cover:
Tomorrow will be more of the same: a little bit of everything, and working quickly to get the project done on time.
I also spent time today reviewing outside information used in my project. While not a difficult task, it was tedious, and I had to write footnote citations for all of these outside resources. Additionally, I began compiling lists of additional resources to be placed at the end of each piece so that readers know where to look if they would like to learn more.
I took a break from all of this at the end of the day and designed the cover of my project. Of course, although my main focus is the writing itself and making it the best it can be, I will be spending some efforts to make its presentation decent and perhaps a little eye-catching.
Here is the cover:
Tomorrow will be more of the same: a little bit of everything, and working quickly to get the project done on time.
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
5-31-2017: Wrapping Up Rough Drafts
I came to the realization that I had to forgo writing a narrative piece on Maumee Valley’s strategic plan in order to finish the project strong. Even though the plan as outlined yesterday gave me time to do this, it wouldn’t allow me to truly feel comfortable with my narratives, given the fact I still need some time to revise and edit my pieces.
Given that I have not been slacking off, I think that it isn’t unreasonable to drop this section from my project plan. This will really allow me to invest more time toward making my finished product look visually attractive. Changing the plan does not indicate failure in my plan; all it means is that I overestimated in some of the exact details of my original ideas for the project.
But other than that, my work day went very well. At this point, five out of the six narrative rough drafts are completed, with only perhaps an hour of work on the remaining piece. My day was mostly spent working on my piece about the international student program. This probably was the most difficult narrative to write, given the fact it was more difficult get a grasp of the program’s feel. Not only that, but I also knew little about the program compared to the other areas I’ve written about.
I really do think that I have been working hard: writing six final draft narrative essays over twelve or thirteen days (tomorrow is the twelfth day of the intensive), which has included research, interviews, drafting, editing, and revising.
So the work that’s left is a final push to the end: polishing my narrative pieces.
Given that I have not been slacking off, I think that it isn’t unreasonable to drop this section from my project plan. This will really allow me to invest more time toward making my finished product look visually attractive. Changing the plan does not indicate failure in my plan; all it means is that I overestimated in some of the exact details of my original ideas for the project.
But other than that, my work day went very well. At this point, five out of the six narrative rough drafts are completed, with only perhaps an hour of work on the remaining piece. My day was mostly spent working on my piece about the international student program. This probably was the most difficult narrative to write, given the fact it was more difficult get a grasp of the program’s feel. Not only that, but I also knew little about the program compared to the other areas I’ve written about.
I really do think that I have been working hard: writing six final draft narrative essays over twelve or thirteen days (tomorrow is the twelfth day of the intensive), which has included research, interviews, drafting, editing, and revising.
So the work that’s left is a final push to the end: polishing my narrative pieces.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
5-30-2017: Power Writing
Today was my most productive day yet. I finished a rough draft on my Under One Roof narrative, and I made significant progress with my piece on Upper School athletics, in addition to spending time editing my story on Middle School technology. Otherwise, I really don’t know what else to say about today; it’s just that I sat down, figured out what I need to write, began writing, and didn’t stop. Looking back through what I had completed, I wrote over 1200 words today.
My plans for the rest of the intensive are tight. Tomorrow, I need to finish a draft of a narrative piece on the international student program, in addition to making significant progress on my shorter piece on MV2020. If I have time, I can also begin editing and revising some of my other completed narratives. By Thursday, my goal is to have final drafts of at least five of the seven narratives. Friday will be spent organizing and representing the data I have and presenting them in form of charts, in addition to formatting everything in magazine style. The project itself should be finished by Monday, and Tuesday morning will be spent preparing for the afternoon intensive fair.
Although these plans are ambitious, I don’t think they are impossible.
The only complaint that I had was sitting in front of a screen for so long. Even though I split up the work into two smaller chunks of time, I almost had a headache by the end of the day.
Otherwise, my hope is that tomorrow is an even better day—and with time creeping up on me, I can’t afford it to not be!
My plans for the rest of the intensive are tight. Tomorrow, I need to finish a draft of a narrative piece on the international student program, in addition to making significant progress on my shorter piece on MV2020. If I have time, I can also begin editing and revising some of my other completed narratives. By Thursday, my goal is to have final drafts of at least five of the seven narratives. Friday will be spent organizing and representing the data I have and presenting them in form of charts, in addition to formatting everything in magazine style. The project itself should be finished by Monday, and Tuesday morning will be spent preparing for the afternoon intensive fair.
Although these plans are ambitious, I don’t think they are impossible.
The only complaint that I had was sitting in front of a screen for so long. Even though I split up the work into two smaller chunks of time, I almost had a headache by the end of the day.
Otherwise, my hope is that tomorrow is an even better day—and with time creeping up on me, I can’t afford it to not be!
Friday, May 26, 2017
5-26-2017: Final Interviews
My interviews today went very well. As I have said before, it will be difficult for me to sift through the audio recordings and take what I need, but I have some time next week during which I will be able to do this. However, I have noticed improvement in how I take notes during my interviews: including timestamps throughout my notes allows me to more easily find and jump to different parts of the recording, in other words, getting stuff faster.
Also, reevaluating my progress, I am thinking that I might need to cut a section of my project. Originally, I was going to write a comprehensive section on the Maumee Valley strategic plan written between 2005 and 2008 and compare it the new strategic plan as outlined in MV2020; at this point, because I do not have a good grasp of the previous strategic plan despite my interviews and efforts to learn about it, I will now only be doing a shorter piece on MV2020. Although it may slightly reduce how comprehensive my project is, it will not affect its overall quality, as it already touches on so many other important parts of the school’s recent history.
After my long days of meetings and interviews, I sat down to write, and I was surprisingly productive. Was it because the material was fresh in my mind, or was it because the impending deadline is adding pressure on me? Not sure.
So, to writing!
Also, reevaluating my progress, I am thinking that I might need to cut a section of my project. Originally, I was going to write a comprehensive section on the Maumee Valley strategic plan written between 2005 and 2008 and compare it the new strategic plan as outlined in MV2020; at this point, because I do not have a good grasp of the previous strategic plan despite my interviews and efforts to learn about it, I will now only be doing a shorter piece on MV2020. Although it may slightly reduce how comprehensive my project is, it will not affect its overall quality, as it already touches on so many other important parts of the school’s recent history.
After my long days of meetings and interviews, I sat down to write, and I was surprisingly productive. Was it because the material was fresh in my mind, or was it because the impending deadline is adding pressure on me? Not sure.
So, to writing!
Thursday, May 25, 2017
5-25-2017: A State of Productive Unfulfillment
Yesterday was very productive, and I thought that this would carry over into today. It doesn’t feel as much today.
But looking back on what I accomplished, I spent time preparing for the last of my interviews tomorrow, and more importantly added about 700-800 words to two different narratives. Thinking back to other writing days, this was a reasonable amount of work completed. So why did I feel this way? Because I spent a lot of time scrutinizing how I wrote. In other words, my work today was in quality, not quantity.
Today was a little more tiring and difficult to focus, considering all I was doing today was working in small chucks. Was it less interesting? No. Was it less exciting? Not at all. But sitting at home all day on my laptop, just writing and synthesizing information for specific type of paragraph I need to transition between two others? Not easy.
Instead of just sitting down and narrating a story from start to finish in form of a rough draft, I spent a lot of time working on transitions within the stories. These needed to be logical and functional, yet not cause my reader to lose interest.
At any rate, after I finished the first draft of my narrative on the Lower School music program, I went back and began editing and revising, I am pleased with its current status. After much more extensive work on it, the Upper School Winterim/Intensive narrative is closer to being finished. I also began working on the piece about Upper School athletics. I am exciting to get a break from writing tomorrow with my upcoming interviews!
But looking back on what I accomplished, I spent time preparing for the last of my interviews tomorrow, and more importantly added about 700-800 words to two different narratives. Thinking back to other writing days, this was a reasonable amount of work completed. So why did I feel this way? Because I spent a lot of time scrutinizing how I wrote. In other words, my work today was in quality, not quantity.
Today was a little more tiring and difficult to focus, considering all I was doing today was working in small chucks. Was it less interesting? No. Was it less exciting? Not at all. But sitting at home all day on my laptop, just writing and synthesizing information for specific type of paragraph I need to transition between two others? Not easy.
Instead of just sitting down and narrating a story from start to finish in form of a rough draft, I spent a lot of time working on transitions within the stories. These needed to be logical and functional, yet not cause my reader to lose interest.
At any rate, after I finished the first draft of my narrative on the Lower School music program, I went back and began editing and revising, I am pleased with its current status. After much more extensive work on it, the Upper School Winterim/Intensive narrative is closer to being finished. I also began working on the piece about Upper School athletics. I am exciting to get a break from writing tomorrow with my upcoming interviews!
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
5-24-2017: Narrative Writing 102
I am very happy with the progress on my project, and I feel like I am becoming more productive the more I write. Pretty much all of today was spent as a writing day, and I worked mainly on my pieces about Winterim’s transition to intensives and the Lower School Music Program. Everything is coming along nicely, and today was otherwise very similar to my writing day last Thursday. One thing that I have said before and I will say again: writing in narrative form is a very special craft, and takes time.
Here is some of what I got done today on my narrative on Winterim and intensive classes (please note that this is still just a draft):
Thomas Cambisios knows this [Winterims and intensives] well. English teacher at Maumee Valley beginning 1990, with a three year break between 2000 and 2003 when he served as Head of Upper School, he taught countless creative Winterims up to 2015, and since the beginning of the 2016 school year, he has taught two intensive classes, both in the humanities.
He walked across from his desk over to open the doors of the right cabinets, revealing a shelf filled with binders from past Winterim classes he had taught over several decades. One of Mr. Cambisios’s favorite Winterims was Forensic Science, which he taught with Ken Meinecke, former Upper School science teacher. “He and I worked together; he would handle the science part, and I would handle the literature, so we would bring in some stories related to forensic science, murder mysteries, and handle it from different points of view.”
Not only was this class outside the norm of a typical class inside the Maumee Valley classroom, but it was an interdisciplinary class in a time before this was common. The two main academic components of science and literature were supplemented with engaging labs, guest speakers, and many hands-on activities throughout the three weeks.
“Students always liked it,” he said.
Given that it is now the end of the seventh day of the intensive, which is the halfway point, it seems appropriate to do a quick reflection on my progress. Thinking through the work I have completed so far, a large chuck of my time has been dedicated to conducting interviews, with leftover time used for observation and writing. I have almost five hours of interview audio, some of which has been reviewed; my intention is only to review the parts I need for my narrative, which are mainly the direct quotes (my notes will help me with this). Time was also spent observing the Lower School Concert and its rehearsal, as well as some the intensive activities that took place on-campus. The rest of my time was spent writing, and as of now, rough drafts for four of my pieces (three longer narratives plus the introduction) are almost complete, and I have five more pieces to write (four narratives on the themes in addition to a brief conclusion), none of which I have yet begun.
With four or five more days during which I will just have time to write, I think I am currently in a good position to finish in time, with extra time to spend working with statistics, formatting my final project, and compiling a list of resources for readers interested in learning more beyond my narrative.
Here is some of what I got done today on my narrative on Winterim and intensive classes (please note that this is still just a draft):
Thomas Cambisios knows this [Winterims and intensives] well. English teacher at Maumee Valley beginning 1990, with a three year break between 2000 and 2003 when he served as Head of Upper School, he taught countless creative Winterims up to 2015, and since the beginning of the 2016 school year, he has taught two intensive classes, both in the humanities.
He walked across from his desk over to open the doors of the right cabinets, revealing a shelf filled with binders from past Winterim classes he had taught over several decades. One of Mr. Cambisios’s favorite Winterims was Forensic Science, which he taught with Ken Meinecke, former Upper School science teacher. “He and I worked together; he would handle the science part, and I would handle the literature, so we would bring in some stories related to forensic science, murder mysteries, and handle it from different points of view.”
Not only was this class outside the norm of a typical class inside the Maumee Valley classroom, but it was an interdisciplinary class in a time before this was common. The two main academic components of science and literature were supplemented with engaging labs, guest speakers, and many hands-on activities throughout the three weeks.
“Students always liked it,” he said.
Given that it is now the end of the seventh day of the intensive, which is the halfway point, it seems appropriate to do a quick reflection on my progress. Thinking through the work I have completed so far, a large chuck of my time has been dedicated to conducting interviews, with leftover time used for observation and writing. I have almost five hours of interview audio, some of which has been reviewed; my intention is only to review the parts I need for my narrative, which are mainly the direct quotes (my notes will help me with this). Time was also spent observing the Lower School Concert and its rehearsal, as well as some the intensive activities that took place on-campus. The rest of my time was spent writing, and as of now, rough drafts for four of my pieces (three longer narratives plus the introduction) are almost complete, and I have five more pieces to write (four narratives on the themes in addition to a brief conclusion), none of which I have yet begun.
With four or five more days during which I will just have time to write, I think I am currently in a good position to finish in time, with extra time to spend working with statistics, formatting my final project, and compiling a list of resources for readers interested in learning more beyond my narrative.
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
5-23-2017: One Person, Many Views and Perspectives
Today, I had an interview with Mrs. Spurgeon, covering a whole variety of subject areas, including the international student program, the different versions of the strategic plans, Upper School athletics, and Under One Roof.
Mrs. Spurgeon was a unique interview subject because she has been involved in so many different capacities at Maumee Valley: administrator, varsity athletics coach, MV parent of two alumni, parent of two alumni who had participated in two different sports, past president of the Maumee Valley Parent Association, and host parent for international students almost every year for the past nine years. Because of Mrs. Spurgeon’s extensive involvement at Maumee Valley, she was able to provide me with multiple perspectives and detailed explanations.
Although I gained a lot from my interview, it was still somewhat difficult for me to wrap my head around some of what Mrs. Spurgeon talked to me about. The bulk of my time today was spent talking about the strategic plan and Under One Roof. I was not at Maumee Valley during the beginnings of Under One Roof, and neither topic is frequently discussed, so I really didn’t know much about these topics prior to my interview today. Add on the fact that I am not familiar with business, and a lot of what we spoke about today had to do with this. The good thing is that I have other individuals who will be talking about Under One Roof and the strategic plan, and learning about these important events in Maumee Valley’s history through different lenses will hopefully allow me to better understand them.
I can already predict that this section of my project will be more difficult for me in the sense of figuring out how to structure it, but one thing for sure: My interview with Mrs. Spurgeon today was absolutely wonderful, and I will be able to use many of her direct quotes in my narrative.
Mrs. Spurgeon was a unique interview subject because she has been involved in so many different capacities at Maumee Valley: administrator, varsity athletics coach, MV parent of two alumni, parent of two alumni who had participated in two different sports, past president of the Maumee Valley Parent Association, and host parent for international students almost every year for the past nine years. Because of Mrs. Spurgeon’s extensive involvement at Maumee Valley, she was able to provide me with multiple perspectives and detailed explanations.
Although I gained a lot from my interview, it was still somewhat difficult for me to wrap my head around some of what Mrs. Spurgeon talked to me about. The bulk of my time today was spent talking about the strategic plan and Under One Roof. I was not at Maumee Valley during the beginnings of Under One Roof, and neither topic is frequently discussed, so I really didn’t know much about these topics prior to my interview today. Add on the fact that I am not familiar with business, and a lot of what we spoke about today had to do with this. The good thing is that I have other individuals who will be talking about Under One Roof and the strategic plan, and learning about these important events in Maumee Valley’s history through different lenses will hopefully allow me to better understand them.
I can already predict that this section of my project will be more difficult for me in the sense of figuring out how to structure it, but one thing for sure: My interview with Mrs. Spurgeon today was absolutely wonderful, and I will be able to use many of her direct quotes in my narrative.
Monday, May 22, 2017
5-22-2017: Interview Subjects
Today was a fun day for me. I drove out to meet Vicki Koelsch, former admissions director, associate admissions director, and Upper School librarian at Maumee Valley. I interviewed her at her house, where we spent over an hour talking about her work at Maumee Valley as it related to one of my seven themes: Maumee Valley’s International Student Program. Talking for her was very natural, and it will be a daunting task when I begin reviewing the audio recording for direct quotes.
These were some of the questions I asked her:
What were the motivations behind the school’s wanting to expand the international student program?
What was your job in this long term project?
What mistakes did the school make in attempting to expand the international student program?
I also asked Mrs. Koelsch to talk about her views of the Lower School music program, to help me with my narrative piece on Mrs. Sieberg and the music program she had worked so hard to build.
After my morning interview with Mrs. Koelsch, I had an afternoon interview with Mr. Fish. Mr. Fish was a different type of interview subject. His responses to my questions, although not of lower quality, tended to be shorter, and it sometimes took a little longer for me to get the types of responses I wanted. This was partly because some of the questions I wrote could have been phrased differently that would have made it more clear what type of response I wanted to elicit, but also because I was interviewing two different types of people.
For example, this is one of the questions I asked: What is the role of Boosters in Upper School athletics?
His answer talked about what the Boosters does, but I had to follow up a few times until I got the answer what I really wanted, which was an understanding of how the role of Boosters played a success in Upper School athletics at Maumee Valley.
I will be reviewing my questions for other upcoming interviews to make sure that they are clear.
Thankfully, all of the interview subjects I have had so far have done a good job of speaking candidly and at length, and not only does this allow me to better understand and feel the stories that they talk about, but this will also make it easier for me to take direct quotes when I begin writing the narrative.
On another note, I found out that two of the interviews I had scheduled needed to be cancelled, and no opportunity was available to reschedule either of them. Although this is frustrating, I understand that asking someone to be interviewed is not only a time commitment, but also an experience that requires getting out of one’s comfort zone, and I need to respect them for whatever reasons that they needed to cancel. On the flip side, I am currently working on finding other interview subjects who can help me give perspectives and stories in place of the individuals whom I had originally planned to interview.
These were some of the questions I asked her:
What were the motivations behind the school’s wanting to expand the international student program?
What was your job in this long term project?
What mistakes did the school make in attempting to expand the international student program?
I also asked Mrs. Koelsch to talk about her views of the Lower School music program, to help me with my narrative piece on Mrs. Sieberg and the music program she had worked so hard to build.
After my morning interview with Mrs. Koelsch, I had an afternoon interview with Mr. Fish. Mr. Fish was a different type of interview subject. His responses to my questions, although not of lower quality, tended to be shorter, and it sometimes took a little longer for me to get the types of responses I wanted. This was partly because some of the questions I wrote could have been phrased differently that would have made it more clear what type of response I wanted to elicit, but also because I was interviewing two different types of people.
For example, this is one of the questions I asked: What is the role of Boosters in Upper School athletics?
His answer talked about what the Boosters does, but I had to follow up a few times until I got the answer what I really wanted, which was an understanding of how the role of Boosters played a success in Upper School athletics at Maumee Valley.
I will be reviewing my questions for other upcoming interviews to make sure that they are clear.
Thankfully, all of the interview subjects I have had so far have done a good job of speaking candidly and at length, and not only does this allow me to better understand and feel the stories that they talk about, but this will also make it easier for me to take direct quotes when I begin writing the narrative.
On another note, I found out that two of the interviews I had scheduled needed to be cancelled, and no opportunity was available to reschedule either of them. Although this is frustrating, I understand that asking someone to be interviewed is not only a time commitment, but also an experience that requires getting out of one’s comfort zone, and I need to respect them for whatever reasons that they needed to cancel. On the flip side, I am currently working on finding other interview subjects who can help me give perspectives and stories in place of the individuals whom I had originally planned to interview.
Friday, May 19, 2017
5-19-2017: Observation: History in the Making
A few weeks ago, when Mrs. Sieberg found out that I was working on this intensive and would be available today, she asked me to help out with today’s Lower School Concert. I took this as an opportunity to use today as an observation day: attempting to experience the feeling of being present at a Lower School Concert, and taking notes on how the concert feels so that I can later write about this experience in narrative form.
Lower School music at Maumee Valley is one of the seven areas of focus in my project. Rather than doing an interview, I will be able to write this section of my project based on observation and my own personal experiences. My observation includes watching Lower School students perform in the morning dress rehearsal and the concert. On other hand, my personal experiences will be drawn upon my time in Mrs. Sieberg’s Lower School music class, as well as my many years working with her in Lower School String Ensemble and Upper School String Ensemble.
Today was a different challenge: I have to capture the energy of the concert in my notes. The feel of sitting in on the concert is intangible and difficult to describe. These notes will help me on my next writing day when I begin spinning this into a narrative. This will likewise be difficult: capturing and projecting the energy of the concert into the final draft of my narrative.
These were some of the notes I took:
-The entire concert is so full of energy from start to finish, enthusiasm
-Mrs. Sieberg works so tirelessly to make this possible
-Students are engaged, enjoying the concert as much as the audience is
-Smiling faces
-Two and three part choir, with melody, harmony, and descant
Overall, my day watching the concert and helping Mrs. Sieberg was a fun experience, and was a much needed break from a full day of just writing.
Lower School music at Maumee Valley is one of the seven areas of focus in my project. Rather than doing an interview, I will be able to write this section of my project based on observation and my own personal experiences. My observation includes watching Lower School students perform in the morning dress rehearsal and the concert. On other hand, my personal experiences will be drawn upon my time in Mrs. Sieberg’s Lower School music class, as well as my many years working with her in Lower School String Ensemble and Upper School String Ensemble.
Today was a different challenge: I have to capture the energy of the concert in my notes. The feel of sitting in on the concert is intangible and difficult to describe. These notes will help me on my next writing day when I begin spinning this into a narrative. This will likewise be difficult: capturing and projecting the energy of the concert into the final draft of my narrative.
These were some of the notes I took:
-The entire concert is so full of energy from start to finish, enthusiasm
-Mrs. Sieberg works so tirelessly to make this possible
-Students are engaged, enjoying the concert as much as the audience is
-Smiling faces
-Two and three part choir, with melody, harmony, and descant
Overall, my day watching the concert and helping Mrs. Sieberg was a fun experience, and was a much needed break from a full day of just writing.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
5-18-2017: Narrative Writing 101
To articulate a simple idea: easy. To call upon one’s mastery of language perfected over years of school in order to tell a story: a little more difficult. This is the bulk of my project: taking everything that I know about a subject area, synthesizing it with information obtained from interviews, and supplementing it with research where applicable. Today was just the first of several writing days of my intensive.
I continued working on my introductory story on Mr. Boehm and completed the better part of the first draft on the narrative of the integration of technology in the Middle School, using direct quotes from my interview with Ms. Grefe.
The writing process took longer than I had expected because of how I like to work. While some individuals like writing what they can and choose to incorporate missing facts, quotes, and other information in the editing stage, I prefer searching for information I need as I write. This meant that I stopped several times in an hour because I needed to double check the proper capitalization for a certain title, verify the exact years, or make sure that I used correct terminology.
Something that took a long time is deciding upon which quotes to use. Quotes needed to be seamlessly integrated within the narrative, and had to be transcribed exactly from the audio recording. Additionally, each quote took some time to find within the audio recording.
But one thing is for sure: I am definitely enjoying writing. Although it is a slow, painstaking process, it feels good to have accomplished what I had worked on today. I am working hard to make my narratives engaging and understanding to the reader, and I feel that I am doing a good job of this so far. I had originally felt that I should have gotten more done today, but I now realize that today was in fact very productive, and I am pleased that all of the time I have spent has only yielded high quality work.
I continued working on my introductory story on Mr. Boehm and completed the better part of the first draft on the narrative of the integration of technology in the Middle School, using direct quotes from my interview with Ms. Grefe.
The writing process took longer than I had expected because of how I like to work. While some individuals like writing what they can and choose to incorporate missing facts, quotes, and other information in the editing stage, I prefer searching for information I need as I write. This meant that I stopped several times in an hour because I needed to double check the proper capitalization for a certain title, verify the exact years, or make sure that I used correct terminology.
Something that took a long time is deciding upon which quotes to use. Quotes needed to be seamlessly integrated within the narrative, and had to be transcribed exactly from the audio recording. Additionally, each quote took some time to find within the audio recording.
But one thing is for sure: I am definitely enjoying writing. Although it is a slow, painstaking process, it feels good to have accomplished what I had worked on today. I am working hard to make my narratives engaging and understanding to the reader, and I feel that I am doing a good job of this so far. I had originally felt that I should have gotten more done today, but I now realize that today was in fact very productive, and I am pleased that all of the time I have spent has only yielded high quality work.
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
5-17-2017: Interview Plans
Today, I spent the morning preparing for several of my upcoming interviews, while the afternoon was spent doing my first two interviews: one with Mr. Thomas Cambisios, and one with Ms. Kelsy Grefe.
Because of time, both the limited time on my end as well as my wish to respect the time of my interview subject, it is best to go into the interview with an interview plan. I already have some experience with this: in my Cultural Anthropology class, we had a long-term ethnography project in which students interviewed an individual from a culture different than their own. A major part of this project involved preliminary research on the informant’s culture, as well as an interview plan that lists questions in different areas of culture. For this project on the history of Maumee Valley, those two components from my ethnography project are analogous to background research on the time period and an interview plan that outlines the questions I will ask about the subject’s own experiences and events.
The primary purposes of the interview plan are to ensure that the researcher’s goals are clearly outlined, and also to keep the interview on track. The latter is especially important; it is OK if subjects go off topic, but if the researcher doesn’t leave the interview meeting the goals, then the interview will have been for nothing. The interview plan is supposed to help with this. I also briefly consulted with Mr. Graham, who has experience with oral histories, who gave me the tip that I needed to ask open-ended questions in order to get my interview subjects to tell stories and talk at length about their experiences and memories. This, he said, would make the job of writing in narrative form easier for me.
Consequently, because I had done a good job with my interview plans, my interviews today went very well. The next step will be to write about the overall feel from the interviews, find direct quotes, and begin drafting some of the narrative portions of my project.
Because of time, both the limited time on my end as well as my wish to respect the time of my interview subject, it is best to go into the interview with an interview plan. I already have some experience with this: in my Cultural Anthropology class, we had a long-term ethnography project in which students interviewed an individual from a culture different than their own. A major part of this project involved preliminary research on the informant’s culture, as well as an interview plan that lists questions in different areas of culture. For this project on the history of Maumee Valley, those two components from my ethnography project are analogous to background research on the time period and an interview plan that outlines the questions I will ask about the subject’s own experiences and events.
The primary purposes of the interview plan are to ensure that the researcher’s goals are clearly outlined, and also to keep the interview on track. The latter is especially important; it is OK if subjects go off topic, but if the researcher doesn’t leave the interview meeting the goals, then the interview will have been for nothing. The interview plan is supposed to help with this. I also briefly consulted with Mr. Graham, who has experience with oral histories, who gave me the tip that I needed to ask open-ended questions in order to get my interview subjects to tell stories and talk at length about their experiences and memories. This, he said, would make the job of writing in narrative form easier for me.
Consequently, because I had done a good job with my interview plans, my interviews today went very well. The next step will be to write about the overall feel from the interviews, find direct quotes, and begin drafting some of the narrative portions of my project.
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
5-16-2017: Preliminary Research and Planning
Today was my first day working on my intensive independent study, and it primarily involved preliminary research and planning for the first steps of my project.
One of the most important ways in which I will be collecting information is to conduct interviews with individuals who have been involved with the school over the past decade or so. I have been in the process of identifying suitable interview subjects who can help me provide insight, stories, and their views on my project’s areas of focus. Today, I spent time contacting people to schedule these interviews, and I have had several responses so far.
I spent the better part of the day trying to find information on Mr. Boehm’s early years as Head of School, as well as some of the projects that took place during this time. Resources I have used so far include articles from the Toledo Blade, as well as a school magazine written by Ann Stranahan in celebration of the school’s 125th anniversary. I then began writing a sort of “prologue” or introduction for my project that sets the scene for the beginning of the Boehm years; I hope to get a draft of this done tomorrow.
Today’s work was supplemented by a meeting with my independent study sponsor, Larry Anning. During my meeting, we discussed more about my plans, as well as the work I have completed so far. We addressed specific concerns regarding the format of my final project, especially with respect to certain sensitive matters. Although I have only begun to scratch the tip of the iceberg, we both agree that I am on track for a good independent study.
I will admit: it was difficult at times today to stay focused. However, as my plans are becoming clearer with interviews, meeting times, events, and work days all scheduled out, I am certain that quality work and a sense of satisfaction will help propel me forward and add momentum over the course of the next three weeks.
One of the most important ways in which I will be collecting information is to conduct interviews with individuals who have been involved with the school over the past decade or so. I have been in the process of identifying suitable interview subjects who can help me provide insight, stories, and their views on my project’s areas of focus. Today, I spent time contacting people to schedule these interviews, and I have had several responses so far.
I spent the better part of the day trying to find information on Mr. Boehm’s early years as Head of School, as well as some of the projects that took place during this time. Resources I have used so far include articles from the Toledo Blade, as well as a school magazine written by Ann Stranahan in celebration of the school’s 125th anniversary. I then began writing a sort of “prologue” or introduction for my project that sets the scene for the beginning of the Boehm years; I hope to get a draft of this done tomorrow.
Today’s work was supplemented by a meeting with my independent study sponsor, Larry Anning. During my meeting, we discussed more about my plans, as well as the work I have completed so far. We addressed specific concerns regarding the format of my final project, especially with respect to certain sensitive matters. Although I have only begun to scratch the tip of the iceberg, we both agree that I am on track for a good independent study.
I will admit: it was difficult at times today to stay focused. However, as my plans are becoming clearer with interviews, meeting times, events, and work days all scheduled out, I am certain that quality work and a sense of satisfaction will help propel me forward and add momentum over the course of the next three weeks.
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