I won’t be doing any more of these posts. Not for a while anyway. And by “these posts” – I mean discussing my study – here. What I *will* be posting here, I don’t know. I’ll ponder further in a moment.
Yesterday I submitted assignment number five for the year. The dreaded ‘reflective student progress’ essay. Thank fuck it was only needing to be up to 800 words long. I think I managed to write something objective and positive, with an optimistic outlook – but it really didn’t come easy.
These past few weeks – Covid, recovering from it, working on assignment number four, feeling like I had a real breakthrough with it, being really happy with what I submitted and then the result I got and the HUGE knock that gave me…it was tough!
Then to top that all off and follow it with having to objectively review my own academic progress? It wasn’t easy. My tutor was incredibly encouraging. She commended me on my diligence and told me the fact that I am even still committed to the module and actively studying is more than what most do at this point in this module. That the module has a high dropout rate and the fact that I am still studying speaks volumes (words not verbatim, but general gist).
I don’t want to be another dropout statistic!
The assignment is worth the lowest of all the percentage marks of the module at only 10% – it was important to do in a self-analysis sense, but I am not at all concerned with what kind of mark I got for it. Genuinely.
There is one assignment left, and its submission on September 6th wraps up this module. My study might continue from October, depending on the next module I take and whether I am eligible for student funding again.
In the meantime, I am three weeks behind with study! When I left for the gig at Blenheim Palace, I was a week ahead – just to highlight how far I have fallen behind. From this weekend (30 July), it should be summer break – one week off – but NOT for me! I will have only two weekends off until the final assignment is submitted. The weekend of the SM Edinburgh gigs, and the weekend of Strathaven Balloon Festival (26-28 August). That’s it!
Today begins the “knuckle down” and the final slog! I have a LOT to cram in within the next six weeks – but I am up for the challenge! There’ll be plenty of crises of confidence (can someone with NO confidence HAVE crises of confidence?) but I will spare you any of that talk here.
As a result of how much study I do need to catch up with, I can’t promise much content here on the blog, but I will try and keep things going to some degree.
Anyway, best crack on! Time waits for no man.
Images shared are of my ‘learning journal’. Something it was recommended we keep but I had as yet been keeping. I have started now and can truly see its benefits.
See you around September 7th!
How do you find doing the references at the end ? For me that was the worst part of essay writing, I just found it so tedious.I’m actually looking to study something else but the thought of referencing is putting me right off lol. That is pathetic isn’t it?
I know you said this is your last post on the matter in a while so I’ll just say I think you’re doing great. We all have crisis of confidence but you are submitting the work. That’s the important part. Keep at it, keep chipping away and don’t think too far ahead.
Yeah, the referencing sucks. I?m okay with the bibliographical listing of them at the end of the essay, but knowing where I should be using in-text referencing quotes I find harder to work out, as I tend to paraphrase and not refer to text verbatim. Also, my grammar isn?t great so grammatically I am never sure if I am doing in-text referencing right. I was pulled up several times in my last essay for not adding in-text references where they were required.
I always feel so much better when I am back to regular study of the course materials, rather than working on assignments. I feel much more positive again now?but it will soon wane as the end of the module gets closer and I am working on the final MEGA assignment. :-/