This weekend I am attending a retreat that concludes my year of participating in a SoTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) research fellowship. Of course I have yet to finish my final report for the project (whew…I don’t have to present until Monday afternoon) and therefore I should have carpooled here so I could have worked. But noooo…the retreat is in Prescott (about 2 hours northwest of Phoenix) and of course I decided that it was a better “(re)treat” to drive up here in the convertible with the top down, radio blaring Rush’s “Red Barchetta,” Sheryl Crow’s “Steve McQueen,” and Inxs’ “Pretty Vegas” among other things on the driving mix. But I think what was the best sign that I had made the right decision, when I started the car to pull out of the driveway, AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” was playing…how poetic, *snort*!
And sometimes that relaxed thinking time, running functions this way for me too, is extremely useful. I was able to prepare for my truth, truth, whopper introduction:
I have personally seen the following individuals:
- President Clinton—he attended the graduation at West Point the year I was in attendance as a plebe.
- Greg Louganis—my father did collegiate diving and Louganis shows harlequin great danes and attends dog shows.
- President Bush, Jr.—he came to where I work to talk about how two-year colleges are preparing the future generation work force.
You have to guess which is the whopper…I’ll update you in a future posting!
I also spent some time thinking about the important of fellowship. Now that I have participated in two scholarly groups—my writing group of over five years and now this one-year SoTL research grant project—I recognize how important it is to have different people and perspectives, ideas and ideologies, experiences and enthusiasms (I know you are impressed with my alliteration) to push and prod your own thinking in a way that actually helps you develop a stronger project, process, and product. Even when you tend to regularly disagree with someone, as I did with my research grant group, it helps you to better understand and articulate your own perspective. And although she did not necessarily change my mind, I am now better able to make my point!
Writing Group has always been a safe space to bring ideas, work in process, and products that need polishing. Although we have different perspectives, we do generally align in our thinking. With this year’s research group I have learned to develop a thicker skin. I don’t think it is productive to bring the super polished stuff so I am safer from criticism (what is the point of having a helping fellowship if you don’t take advantage of them); instead, I’ve learned to disassociate my personal feelings from the criticism and take it all in to better strengthen the project. It is one thing to get a scathing comment from an unknown peer reviewer, something different to have someone looking you in the eye and saying they disagree for a variety of reasons. Although there were moments of wanting to take it personally, it never was—we just have different philosophies on what constitutes valid research questions, methods, and modes of publication.
So is this really a retreat this weekend? It definitely is a retreat physically…getting away to a slightly cooler, and definitely greener, environment is a REfreshing TREAT. However, there is a part of me that has slightly dreaded it, I have to present the “final product” and I know others disagree with basic premises of my work, let alone the process and product. But I also know that the questions and comments I get Monday afternoon will both better facilitate the next phase of this project (this ended up being very pilot-ish) and more strongly develop any writing I try to submit for publication.
PS–this posting has been cross-posted in my personal blog…this is the first time of done that…
