Final Portfolio Revisions: BDS 7-26-13

Becoming mindful of the body. Find the breath. Anchor my feet to the ground. Separate my jaw. Move my tongue to the bottom of my mouth. Focus eyes on something distant, then close. Stretch fingers and wrists.

Begin.

Planning Writing: I have the final-ish draft of my portfolio done and I shall use this time to revise/edit for submission. I wanted to do it last night, but I realized I had been near-binging and wanted to practice stopping before I was ready. Today I will pick it up in the state it was in and continue the progress towards completion.

Work.

As I finished up the revision/editing of my final, I created a page on the Wiki so people could easily upload their final portfolios. I wrote out instructions to hopefully avoid similar confusion from the first submission. I re-posted the one final portfolio that had already been submitted to the original portfolios page.

Comfort Check: Refocused eyes. Moved feet and legs out from underneath my desk. Stretched back fingers and hands. Sipped coffee.

Return to work.

More of the same: tidying up my portfolio. Checking links on the wiki. Making cutsey comments to my classmates thanking them for a great class. Placing a bow on the work I've done thus far in the semester.

Comprehensive Exams: BDS 7-24-13

Planning Writing: Today I will do some work at re-gathering sources that will be important for the first push of my next phase of the comps. I am going to stick with the 'TNS' portion of my list, so I'm going to immerse myself in those conversations so as to have a strong grasp about how my work will contribute to the TN conversation as well as the RC conversation.

Comfort Check: Stretched. Flexed muscles. straightened legs and feet. Separated teeth. Lowered tongue. Re-focused on the task at hand after terrible paper-ripping distraction.

Comfort Check 2: Paused, checked for comfort. Stretched. Un curled legs. Focused eyes out the window at a near and distant focal point.

I worked during this time to begin to make connections between Latour's ANT and the methods that TN scholars employ (particularly Dingo's network methodology as she traces TN concepts across times.

Online Curriculum Development: BDS 7-15-13

Mindfulness Practices: Being aware of the body. Feeling myself sitting. Taking stock of the sensations in my writing body parts. Brief focusing on my breathing. 

Short Planning: Begin working on Unit 3. Begin writing overviews. Be as descriptive and helpful as possible. Anticipate the obstacles/problems/confusions/dis-clarities that could arise in my students in this unit. 

15 mins:

Comfort Check: HUGE back crack. Where did that tension come from (after all the chair yoga at the beginning)? Rolled wrists. Un-focused eyes. Straightened back. Separated teeth. Tongue to lower-dental palate. 

10 mins:

Not much progress, but I think I got some good pre-writing-type stuff done. Made some connections between the different weeks that I probably wouldn't have been able to before. 

Online Curriculum Development: BDS, 7-5-13

For today's BDS, I plan to continue working through the 'overview' portions of online curriculum I'm developing. I think this is a good task for my BDSs, because it takes a lot of critical thinking. However, it's not reinventing the wheel or anything like that. I've already put a lot of thought and planning into these weeks, so I definitely have a guide to go by. I'm finding myself having more fun with this type of writing, something I'll have to keep in mind in the future: if I started previously, it's easier to stay positive about the work I'm doing.

15 minutes in, I took a comfort check. I reminded myself to keep my tounge down to relive the pressure in my face. I also had to move my legs (which were propped up on the table) because one was starting to go to sleep. My laptop is warm, and my lap is warm because of it. I'm going to stand up and do some comfort walking to make the most of this break while I think about what comes next.

Got some good writing done. I wrote for about an hour. Took the one comfort check. And made mental notes of any times I felt discomfort (some in my fingers, my leg./foot started hurting again because of how I had them on the coffee table, eyes strained a bit but not bad, thirsty, ready for music, bed will be nice).

I was especially mindful of my breathing during this BDS (thanks to the UCLA breathing meditation I did earlier). It was interesting being so focused on my breathing, while still trying to use my brain to compose. It was a tricky tug of war, but I kind of like the idea of being open to a variety of senses while still having an anchor point to the here and now.

More tomorrow.