Learning to Teach

I'm about halfway finished with my Masters in Education. I'm taking some teaching courses this summer on curriculum and classroom management. These are important things to know, but I confess, I just don't understand what the big deal is. Maybe I will when I become a teacher and I realize that I've been harboring false confidence this whole time. I have no doubt that teaching is a challenging and frustrating profession. I get that, and I'm rightfully scared. I also understand why it's important to be as prepared as possible. But, I find myself sitting in these classrooms, listening to people preach from their soap boxes on the joy and hardship of teaching, all the while thinking, "ok, when am I going to start learning something useful."

It's not that I don't appreciate the classes. Every now and then, I pick up something that I think will be helpful to me when I start teaching. For the most part, however, I'm sitting there trying not to look bored and disrespectful.

There is a lot of reading and discussion involved in these classes. I don't mind the reading so much. Some of it is pretty useful, most of it's a waste of time, but I try not to pay attention to that aspect. But it seems to me that I could simply read the material and forego class and still finish well. Besides the fact that the teacher has experience, I see little need for him. I haven't taken a course yet that hasn't covered verbatim the chapters in the book. There's not a whole lot of ingenuity. Maybe that's just how teaching courses go. I miss my physics classes.

Maybe that's why I'm having a hard time adapting to teaching courses. I spent five years living, eating, and breathing physics. Physics is hard and has a higher level of critical thinking required. I'm still in that mindset. Teaching courses don't require that you figure out how to solve a problem or run an experiment on your own. In fact, it's designed in such a way that there is very little guesswork. There are decades of documented theories, practices, lesson plans, and ideas on teaching that have been accumulated for the next generation. I guess teachers are better at documenting than scientists. Not much of a surprise there. I suppose I have to wait until I start teaching before I understand completely.

Yay!

Not that we're counting, but we're moving in 10 days! Jeremy and I are so excited. We're packed up for the most part, we've gotten rid of half of our furniture (so we can buy new!), and we've started to deep clean.

Jeremy still hasn't left a blog post yet. I'm working on him. I am the document-er of the family. I still have birthday cards from 16 years ago. So, Jeremy - get your gears moving and leave something for the preservation of...stuff.

General Happiness

We had a great weekend! We saw a few movies, packed a little, visited friends, ate a lot of ice cream, and unloaded a ton of unwanted furniture on said friends :-). I just found out that I got a 4.0 for the past semester. I'm totally siked about that! It's the first time for me and I worked really hard for it. I also got published for the third time. Yay!

We finally saw "The Pursuit of Happyness" which is an incredible film. We loved it. We also saw "Stranger than Fiction" which surprised us; it was actually good.

We did see Spiderman 3, which sucked, so don't waste your money. It was 'the movie that would never end any of it's spliced plot lines.' We spent most of the movie completely bored. It was cheesy, which was the only thing going for it.

I got to see my nephew-by-love, too. Gosh! He's getting big. He turns 3 next month. He's talking well and I love it when he calls me "Aunt Cake."

The Langley Air Show was loads of fun! We saw some really neat things, we got to hang out with friends, and Jeremy bought me a funnel cake! Yum! The B-2 Stealth Bomber was our favorite!

An Update on Us

Well, I'm just about finished with my first semester of grad school. Honestly, I didn't think I'd make it through this week without a breakdown. Kudos! to Jeremy for washing the dishes and not complaining that I hadn't for my last three turns. I just have a little bit of tidying up to do, and then I'll be enjoying my nice, week-long break until Summer classes start. Can you feel my enthusiasm?

My advisor at school is hiring me as 'General Factotum' (is that redundant?) at CNU this summer. NASA is also trying to keep me on part-time, so I'll be a busy bumblebee yet again with two jobs and three courses. I am still anticipating an easier semester than the hellish one I just went through.

Jeremy and I are waiting for the Navy to realize how great he is and take him on as an officer. He's got his Fitness test this Saturday. He's anxious about it, but I know he'll do fine. In the meantime, he's still programming away at work. He's such a geek sometimes, but I love him.

We just joined a gym. It's lots of fun! While Jeremy is off half-killing himself to prepare for the Navy, I've been taking Tai Chi classes. I'm really enjoying them, and I'd like to stick with it. What a great way to start the day!

We're getting ready to move into our new townhouse next month. I'm very excited! We've outgrown the tiny apartment we're wedged into now. This new place will be much more like a home. We'll have an address that doesn't have an apartment letter (like 2B) in it. I also love to move. One of my favorite things to do is to re-decorate!

Toby, one of our beloved ferrets, is sick. He's got insulinoma, and he's not really responding to the medicine we have to cram down his throat twice a day. Poor little guy...I don't think he knows that it helps him. He just sees it as a punishment. We've noticed some improvement in his play, but his blood glucose levels are still pretty low. Basil, our other cute ferret, is fine.

Jeremy and I are going to the Langley Air Show tomorrow. Jeremy's never been to one, but I went last year. It should be a super fun day! I'll post some photos if I remember to bring the camera.

Hi back, Stranger

Jeremy's full of prunes!

Hi!!!

Hi Kate... I'm not sure if you know who I am, I'm the guy who's been married to you for over a year now, living with you for over 6 and giving you my money for even longer. Just thought I'd say hi!