This semester was full of ups and downs. I went through a few jobs, a lot of emotions, and so many papers. I made my fair share of poor decisions like putting off important work but overall I am incredibly proud of myself for making it through another semester. I am a senior and next semester I will be completing my student teaching. I actually found out this week that my placement will be at Bensalem High which is two blocks from my house, a miracle. Although a part of me is somewhat fed up with school, considering I am 5 years in and most of my friends graduated, I have been considering grad school a lot lately. I am so grateful I live a life where I am able to get a higher education.

I spent this week completing my final paper. The only part I needed to finish was my argument which happened to be the most important part of my paper. I had four claims spread throughout my argument section and I spent more time than I would like calculating how many pages needed to go into each claim. When I finally ended up writing the paper the ideas and sources were flowing so naturally that I really did not need to keep track of silly things like word counts and page numbers. Finding the ideas I needed out of the books I used was finding a needle in a haystack but fortunately I did not put off this part. So 90% of my ideas were backed up by facts and my synthesis of the facts made sense in my notes. All I had to do was put my ideas into the paper in a conventional and consistent manner. Oh the dread I had for this looming paper that knocked at my door every evening. Oh the shame I felt when I would put off the work or call an early night when I had the time to work on the paper. I was afraid of finishing it because I was afraid it would not be enough. I was afraid I would fail myself.

Now I am proud of the work I accomplish. While it certainly would be nice to pass the class (why else would I be up this late doing blogs), in my eyes I already succeeded. I buckled down and completed ALL of the work that needed to be done. Not just for this class but for all my classes. I am proud of the paper I submitted today, even if it was not reviewed as much as I would have like. Yeah maybe it is missing a few commas and maybe I used a bit of passive voice here in there. I am still satisfied with my ideas and how they come together. I am satisfied with what I was able to present to my peers and I will be satisfied getting whatever grade I deserve. Thanks for reading through these blogs professor and thank you classmates for enduring this semester together.