10 Lessons of Summer 2012

photocredit: tiffersniffer.blogspot.com

So, summer is nearly at an end, and for whatever reason, this particular summer seems to have gone faster than any other of record in my lifetime. Whew! What a whirlwind! It's been a wonderful few months, though. I've really learned a lot. I taught an online Composition course that was just 4 1/2 weeks because it was a summer class. I also taught a 3-week academic reading course for incoming students. I worked on my dissertation, though I still haven't hammered out what I want to say. I started to try translating French to prep for my language exam. I prepared a syllabus for a Composition course that reorganized my class for a non-wireless classroom and managed to incorporate an additional project. I even put together a syllabus for another class I've never taught before, Writing in the Disciplines, which I can't wait to teach! And if you're wondering about my personal life, I managed to have my very first summer fling, see Central America for the first time, and finish The Hunger Games trilogy. Yes, it's been an eventful summer.

To take me into the fall, I wanted to recap some of the big lessons I learned this summer, inside and outside the classroom:

1. Don't settle for less than you deserve-- in work, in relationships, in life, whatever it may be.
2. Deadlines are important, even if they are self-set. Don't break them.
3. Confusion and conflict can be productive.
4. Honesty is the best policy, even when the truth hurts.
5. Reach out to others. Communication is a two- (three, four, five, etc.) way street.
6. Underachiever is actually more like under-motivated or lacking confidence most of the time.
7. Hope is a powerful thing, and as with any source of power, it can be good or bad.
8. Sometimes, it's nice to not be at the top of the totem pole.
9. When the lifeguards say no swimming, you shouldn't swim out further than you can stand.
10. Read in connected, interdisciplinary ways. Things don't happen in a bubble.

What are the big lessons you learned this summer?