Well good morning from me to you! I am (finally!) enjoying some brisk fall weather the past few mornings (yes, mornings only as the heat burns back up by midday). Many of y’all know that October is my favorite month of the year; now, that’s not entirely selfish, even though it will be my birthday in a few weeks. I love the change in weather, the colors of the leaves, the crisp coolness of the air, and of course my favorite holiday is Halloween! October is also my favorite because of how it feels in the school year… It’s that perfect storm of knowing your students well, feeling comfortable with the routines and content, and getting to dig into the more fun and more challenging stuff with confidence. I think about my teacher friends and my former students every day. I knew I’d miss them, but WOW do I really miss them 💜

How about we shift to my reflections about my PhD studies so far, before I get too sappy and nostalgic?! Since my last post with the overview of my program / courses, there has been one big-ish change. I swapped out that Contemporary Curriculum course for an Independent Study with my faculty advisor; this has been an incredible learning opportunity, and I am glad I spoke up about needing something different to fit my needs as a learner. The Independent Study’s official title is Youths’ Affective Engagement with Literacies, which is a broad way of saying I got to curate all of the course’s readings to focus on topics I am interested in! Some weekly topical reading groupings are: affect theory, teacher reading pedagogy, reading motivation, reader identities, technology impacts on reading, aliteracy, reading attitude, book access, and so many more! I am quite enjoying digging into these topics that have always been of interest, but where I previously haven’t had the time set aside for studying them.

My other courses, Fundamentals of Curriculum and Qualitative Research, keep my plenty busy as well. It’s been refreshing to zoom out and look at curriculum studies over the last century- many of the tensions we experience in contemporary education are ones that have long existed. We keep coming back to them and trying different “fixes” with each generation. The professor for this course has also been exceptionally helpful when it comes to thinking about PhD studies as a place where students are also emerging researchers and collaborators. It is a welcome feeling to have both my experiences as a teacher and my professional learning valued. The Qualitative Research course is a *very* humbling reminder of what it feels like to study a brand new topic for the first time! It has been many years since I have taken a class that didn’t build on knowledge I had already cultivated; I am starting precisely from scratch when it comes to research, so this course has been challenging in a good way.

Outside of my actual courses and classwork, I am working in various ways for my Graduate Assistantship throughout the week. While this hasn’t been a particularly enlightening experience so far, I am looking forward to learning and building capacity with some skills I know will come in handy down the line (transcribing interviews, etc.). It has been a relief to be able to set and adjust my weekly schedule to fit my needs- I often work from home and get to spend time with cutie Violet! Other days I might go to campus to work for a few hours or to attend meetings of various types. Last week, for example, I met with a current faculty member, a 4th year PhD student, and a fellow 1st year PhD student to work on a conference proposal for the Association of Teacher Educators. Fingers crossed that will be accepted and we can present next spring!

Overall, I am truly enjoying being a student again, for many reasons. Of course it has been hard to uproot my life and try and settle down in a brand new place, but those challenges are ones I see as opportunities for my own growth and also for my reflection and appreciation. Sending each of you a hug from Texas!