Things I used to do regularly while gradstudenting but lately have a hard time with:
1. Blocking out regular times for focused reading
2. Taking detailed notes about what I read
3. Figuring out the significance of a given journal article/book chapter as it relates to my interests
4. Remembering what I read
5. Understanding what I read
6. Remembering why I highlighted certain sections
I don't think these difficulties are so much a matter of me regressing (though that is always a possibility). I think it is more a matter of me no longer having a semester structured with coursework. I spent the last few semesters thinking I couldn't wait to be done with my doctoral coursework--What a great milestone to reach! What great freedom I will have to get to my own work!
But actually, now that my class requirements are gone, I can honestly say I miss them.
The thing I have had the hardest time with since being done with classes is something I have been doing since about first grade: reading.
I'll start reading and then halfway down the page realize I have been thinking about the laundry I have to do when I get home or the birthday card I have to pick up on the way. I'll wait two weeks for an interlibrary loan article to arrive, one I have been convinced is key to my research, only to get it and tire of its content a few words into the introduction.
The time issue is most surprising to me. Now, if I choose, I have all the time I want to dedicate to reading. (Well, kind of...) I do not have to sandwich my reading between classes, meetings, and writing midterm exam answers. But now the more time I have open in any given day to read, the harder it seems to read and read well. It seems the realization of reading time as a limited resource is actually conducive to increased productivity and focus.
Plus, it's obvious to me now that when professors give students a reading list, they have already done the hard part of reading for us. They have already sifted through the vast universe of potential readings. They've evaluated readings for comprehension level and for relevance to the class topics and to other readings. It sounds wonderful to think that now I can read what I want and really need, bypassing articles and chapters and books that have been chosen by someone else. But it's hard work to know what I want to read and even harder to know what I need to read. It seems that there is always one better, more relevant, more groundbreaking article just beyond my current keyword search.
The other thing I miss about class is the community that attending classes fosters. I used to enjoy the look of wistfullness other graduate students would get in their eyes when they asked "What are you taking this semester" and I'd say "Oh, nothing: I'm through with my coursework." But now I'm the one with the wistful eyes as they talk to each other about the hilarious joke professor so-and-so told during this class or the heated exchange between two students during that one. And in regard to reading, I remember what a great reality check my fellow graduate students could be, like when I thought I was the only one who didn't understand a certain passage or when, through explaining my understanding of a passage to a classmate who read the same one, I would gain a deeper level of what I understood. And the accountabilty factor! You do not want to be revealed in the eyes of your discussion mates as someone who never has anything to contribute because she never reads the required assignments. Better to stay up long past bedtime slogging through thick academese than to have to think of a new excuse the next morning for not having read.
So, now I'm thinking of taking a class next semester. Maybe something fun and unrelated to my dissertation--a language class, maybe, or creative writing. Or maybe something like a web design class that would boost my marketable skills. The choices are many! The opportunities for new exciting content in the midst of new exciting fellow graduate students led by a new exciting professor are virtually endless!
I'd better get started browsing the graduate course catalog now.