Mmmm, the Sweet Feeling of Learning

Doing good research, teaching six classes, sponsoring one club, and coaching one sport is not easy at the same time. However, I am managing to write my papers, and do my reading, or most of it. There are very few feelings as awesome as finishing a paper you have been working on. You spend all that time reading on it, making outlines, marking arguments, reading some more, forming a thesis, and then finally writing it. At the end you have a creation of your own mind, your ideas in the form of a coherent (hopefully) argument.

I have been doing the majority of my research and writing after school between 3:00 and 6:00 sometimes later. At night I try and do the reading I need to do which is anywhere between 50 and 100 pages. Anywho, I am writing this because I have just finished the second out of five papers I have to write for my current class, American Economic History.

Now I know I am going a little overboard on what is required for these. But I don't have gears lower than full tilt. To be honest I really, really like doing the research and writing papers. When I got done with my paper tonight I felt accomplished, I looked at the finished product and knew that through my work I had increased my own abilities as an academic. I am better than I was two weeks before because I wrote it. Even if it doesn't turn out to be as good as my last one which was pretty damn good I will learn something from it.

I have missed the feeling of being in class. That feeling of working towards something, something I am afraid to say I have not been feeling at my job lately. I love being in the classroom and I love teaching but I just don't get that same feeling that I am working towards a goal. Instead, I am just apart of a factory churning out products. These feelings have led to a lot of thoughts that could be very life changing, and we will see where they end up.