And They're OFF!

My "Aha" moment today is, well, an "Oh Boy!" one. Put another way, I feel like I'm either digging a new Grand Canyon, or maybe I'm trying to fill one in. So, how do I feel? Well, I just read Andy's entry and had to laugh -- he feels like he's being told to go into a tomato field and leave with tomato sauce. I feel sorta with ya there, Andy, my brother! This is going to be an arduous year of work. That said, I sure hope it will be a rewarding one, and I absolutely hope it will advance my understanding of and teaching of writing skills to my students. I began with looking over our Syllabus carefully -- I see "Amy's Army" will be marching far in short time with a minefield of due dates in between. (Amy's advice to keep pace, I think, is to be adhered to.) Then, I read the first two chapters of our textbook and realized that a number of things we learned in IDD came back to me. Finally, I arrived at writing my Topic Paper. My concern at the outset is that I may be trying to paint too big a picture. Writing is always a difficult skill to teach and to have students develop. That said, it is still an essential one to develop. As I begin my Capstone, I am eager to experiment with some strategies and techniques I have already developed and to evaluate these with my new students in a controlled manner. Additionally, I have several "outside-the-box" ideas I'd like to develop and implement -- even some ideas using synectics -- that I want to develop and implement. My problem is how to fit all of it INSIDE the box. And it's a problem...even as I just clicked the "Submit" button to hand in my Topic Paper. I guess even horses stumble out of the gates at times. Why can't this Capstone be as easy as our Syllabus quiz? Just saying.