Stayin' alive

Last week one of my senior capstone students immersed in the demands of producing an annotated bibliography asked me, "Has anyone ever died from this process?" But in the middle of drafting week another student said, "I'm really excited about writing this paper." I've just read his draft and he has a right to be excited. It's neither complete nor perfect, but it's full of interesting insights and analysis--and well written, too.

You will survive this, I keep telling my capstone students, and so far they haven't disappointed me. The annotated bibliography was a big hurdle, but it didn't kill anyone. Now they can focus on synthesizing all those ideas into a major analytical essay and a public presentation. We looked at drafts yesterday and we'll practice presentations next week in preparation for public presentations the following week. Time seems to accelerate at this point in the semester, but after the public presentations we can all take a deep breath and exercise some thankfulness. 

At this point the students are doing all the hard work. I'm reading long drafts, yes, and offering detailed suggestions, and I've finally organized a presentation schedule that works for everyone, including the volleyball player who suddenly discovered that the team's unprecedented unbeaten season will earn an invitation to the NCAA tournament, which conflicts with the original capstone presentation schedule. 

First, though, I'll spend this weekend working my way through nine drafts, all but one comprising over 2000 words. Some will require a frustrating amount of detailed commentary and attention, but I'm already excited to see that we've reached this point in the project with something worthwhile to show for all our work. The senior capstone project may be daunting but it hasn't killed anyone yet, and I for one hope to maintain that record.