I can no longer pretend that school hasn't started. The people in charge around these parts seem to think that three weeks is sufficient for a Winter Holiday, and despite my best protests I could not change the official university calendar. So, back I went on Wednesday.
What's in store for this semester?
Class. I'm taking ACES (Academic Coaching for Educational Success), which involves meeting with a client (middle school student) in our clinic once weekly to work on cognitive skills. Or something like that. I'm still getting the hang of it... But I am happy to report that Jonathan has taught me enough about WoW for me to be able to discuss it with my client (albeit at a rudimentary level) in order to establish rapport. I'm also taking Psychological Interventions II, in which I'll learn more about CBT with the child and adolescent population. Next is Multiple Regression. An entire course over something that I can just barely conceptualize in my math-impaired mind. *Sigh* Other than that, my schedule is surprisingly flexible. The rest of my hours come from dissertation research and clinic assessment cases (testing kids in the clinic). Oh, and some reading fluency interventions and research just for extra kicks.
Teaching. I have 38 bright-eyed students this semester and we're taking the journey into the world of Abnormal Psych. I'm completely, totally, amazingly excited about teaching this course. I scour the interwebs for cool and relevant news stories and video clips. I read the textbook. I pause for at least one minute after asking questions during class (to allow them time to think... it seems like a really long time when you're in front of the class)... I love it. Love it. Love it. But it could eat my life.
I did drop a class that I was supposed to take this semester. I will later look back and thank my wise self for having such foresight. Dropping said class basically means that I will not be pursuing an APPIC internship, which basically means that I will have an unpaid internship when the time comes. But the costs of me living out-of-state (hello, additional car and apartment) pretty much makes the pay of an APPIC internship a wash... I'm pretty sure my future self will appreciate my current self for these decisions. I know my husband will.
I'm multitasking while I print out a semesters' worth of readings, so I'll share my favorite Olive story with you. Last night Olive and I were snuggling on the couch, with Olive passed out in my lap the way she likes to be. And along comes Sydney, who jumps up ont he couch and proceeds to sit down on top of Olive and look up at me all innocent-eyed, begging me to pet him. Jonathan and I both watched Syd do this and we couldn't stop laughing. Jonathan took Syd and gave him some love while I made sure that Olive was okay. Sheesh. We are quite happy to report that Sydney has started biting back when he and Olive play, which means that Olive is deveolping a healthy amount of respect for the cat. It took him a while, but he's finding his assertive energy.
Olive is, of course, brilliant. She does have some accidents inside still (one or fewer most days - and only pee), but she's been really good about going to the door and sitting when she needs to go out. We make her work for everything, meaning that she has to sit and be quiet (calm submissive - thanks, Cesar!) before she goes outside, goes inside, gets food, gets past a gate inside, gets out of her crate, etc. So she's getting the hang of "sit" without us even using treats to teach her. We start a month-long round of Puppy Kindergarten on January 24th. Oh yeah, we also met two other Beagles over the weekend, both living in our neighborhood. One is a handsome young male, and the other is a little female puppy! She's only one week older than Olive, but almost twice Olive's size! Jonathan met the puppy today, and her owner said that she'd heard about Olive. Word gets around fast when you have such an adorable pup. ;)
Finally, in the interests of making this the longest post ever (and because I'm still printing...), I can tell you the latest on my pearly whites. I've had two dentist appointments in the past two weeks and I have another one on Wednesday. I would consider myself well-versed in the ins and outs of various types of fillings (this week I got a resin-modified glass ionomer filling. I am also sporting the boring old amalgams and some composite resins). I am also familiar with what the dentist and I call "Dental Rock" which is the "soothing" but somehow entirely annoying light rock piped in nonstop while I'm in the chair. Well, the fun is coming to an end this week when I have one lonely cavity filled in the lower left quadrant. I will have to find another way to fill the void of such regular dental appointments until I go back for my checkup in April.
Thanks for reading! I'll try for concision next time.
What's in store for this semester?
Class. I'm taking ACES (Academic Coaching for Educational Success), which involves meeting with a client (middle school student) in our clinic once weekly to work on cognitive skills. Or something like that. I'm still getting the hang of it... But I am happy to report that Jonathan has taught me enough about WoW for me to be able to discuss it with my client (albeit at a rudimentary level) in order to establish rapport. I'm also taking Psychological Interventions II, in which I'll learn more about CBT with the child and adolescent population. Next is Multiple Regression. An entire course over something that I can just barely conceptualize in my math-impaired mind. *Sigh* Other than that, my schedule is surprisingly flexible. The rest of my hours come from dissertation research and clinic assessment cases (testing kids in the clinic). Oh, and some reading fluency interventions and research just for extra kicks.
Teaching. I have 38 bright-eyed students this semester and we're taking the journey into the world of Abnormal Psych. I'm completely, totally, amazingly excited about teaching this course. I scour the interwebs for cool and relevant news stories and video clips. I read the textbook. I pause for at least one minute after asking questions during class (to allow them time to think... it seems like a really long time when you're in front of the class)... I love it. Love it. Love it. But it could eat my life.
I did drop a class that I was supposed to take this semester. I will later look back and thank my wise self for having such foresight. Dropping said class basically means that I will not be pursuing an APPIC internship, which basically means that I will have an unpaid internship when the time comes. But the costs of me living out-of-state (hello, additional car and apartment) pretty much makes the pay of an APPIC internship a wash... I'm pretty sure my future self will appreciate my current self for these decisions. I know my husband will.
I'm multitasking while I print out a semesters' worth of readings, so I'll share my favorite Olive story with you. Last night Olive and I were snuggling on the couch, with Olive passed out in my lap the way she likes to be. And along comes Sydney, who jumps up ont he couch and proceeds to sit down on top of Olive and look up at me all innocent-eyed, begging me to pet him. Jonathan and I both watched Syd do this and we couldn't stop laughing. Jonathan took Syd and gave him some love while I made sure that Olive was okay. Sheesh. We are quite happy to report that Sydney has started biting back when he and Olive play, which means that Olive is deveolping a healthy amount of respect for the cat. It took him a while, but he's finding his assertive energy.
Olive is, of course, brilliant. She does have some accidents inside still (one or fewer most days - and only pee), but she's been really good about going to the door and sitting when she needs to go out. We make her work for everything, meaning that she has to sit and be quiet (calm submissive - thanks, Cesar!) before she goes outside, goes inside, gets food, gets past a gate inside, gets out of her crate, etc. So she's getting the hang of "sit" without us even using treats to teach her. We start a month-long round of Puppy Kindergarten on January 24th. Oh yeah, we also met two other Beagles over the weekend, both living in our neighborhood. One is a handsome young male, and the other is a little female puppy! She's only one week older than Olive, but almost twice Olive's size! Jonathan met the puppy today, and her owner said that she'd heard about Olive. Word gets around fast when you have such an adorable pup. ;)
Finally, in the interests of making this the longest post ever (and because I'm still printing...), I can tell you the latest on my pearly whites. I've had two dentist appointments in the past two weeks and I have another one on Wednesday. I would consider myself well-versed in the ins and outs of various types of fillings (this week I got a resin-modified glass ionomer filling. I am also sporting the boring old amalgams and some composite resins). I am also familiar with what the dentist and I call "Dental Rock" which is the "soothing" but somehow entirely annoying light rock piped in nonstop while I'm in the chair. Well, the fun is coming to an end this week when I have one lonely cavity filled in the lower left quadrant. I will have to find another way to fill the void of such regular dental appointments until I go back for my checkup in April.
Thanks for reading! I'll try for concision next time.
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