So this past week I have been teaching one class period, Monday through Friday.  Today was my last day and I really do feel like I’ve learned much from this experience.  You can learn all you want about something but it’s not until you actually do it that it starts to hit home.  That was what this week was for me.  Not that it was some life-altering experience or anything like that but I was able to see what it is like directing a class and getting through a lot of content, and helping students grasp certain concepts.

Of course, it was not all wonderful.  There were times of discouragement when students were disrespectful or simple don’t care about what is being discussed.  But I believe that I will learn from those experiences and the next time it will only be better.  I was very fortunate because I was teaching and “advanced” class.  The kids were all very bright and if they weren’t that interested in the topic they at least weren’t acting off (except for a few cases of talking).

I’d have to say though, the part that I most enjoyed was preparing lessons.  Not the actual writing out which state standards a lesson will meet but in getting information together and coming up with ways to present it and to make it interesting.  I’m not sure if I accomplished that or not but it seemed that it was at least interesting to some of the students.

I wanted to use this week as a chance to determine if I truly wanted to go through a career change of this type.  While it definitely has shown a positive light on the decision, I don’t know if I feel 100% confident in it yet.  I am guessing that I probably never will…

So today was my first day teaching during this practicum.  It was my first time teaching a lesson to teenagers, ever.  This was quite a nerve racking experience but I was able to make it through and I have to say, I think it went pretty well.  The only thing was that the time flew by really fast and I was not able to completely finish the lesson.  So, we will start tomorrow right off where we ended today.

For me, the main thing I wanted to find out, was my reaction and feelings afterward.  It felt good.  While I was working through a discussion on the importance of Natural Rights, I could see some of the students actually thinking about the subject and appearing to internalize some of it.  That was really nice to see.

More to come…

Well, today is Monday which means that in one week I will begin my week of teaching at a local high school.  I’m excited but nervous.  So, I’ll have to make sure and do what everyone says to do; turn my nervousness in to extra excitement.

The week long unit will be on the Enlightenment.  A great topic for my first unit, one that I can get excited about and feel comfortable delivering.  We’ll be covering political philosophers like John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Montesquieu, as well as development on Economics (Adam Smith), Law, Art and Music.

So it’s been a refresher and new learning for me in regards to Art and Music.  Basically, the aim is to convey the difference in Baroque and Classical music.  Somehow, Baroque exemplifies pre-Enlightenment Absolutism while Classical conveys the ideas of Enlightenment.  I’m still trying to determine what the best way is to explain that.

I will also need to develop five lessons, one for each day.  I’ve got the first one for Monday figured out but I will need to take the “lesson” I have that is on a PowerPoint and write it down in the KTIP format for my adviser.  Then, come up with four more…

Well, more about all of this later…

First Order of Business:  No one, and I mean NO ONE, reads my blog. hahaha!  It reminds me of a t-shirt I saw one time and I thought it was the funniest thing ever.  All it said on it was “no one reads your blog” true, true…  Of course, it could be that I have a million fans that read my blog with the help of a subscriber service and I just have no idea…  In fact, that just gave me an idea.  I checked in my google reader, did a search for this blog and saw that I have 2 subscribers.  Ok, so one of those is me… who is the mystery subscriber????  That means, I have an audience.  Will it change anything?

Really, the point of all of this, and I hate to state the point because that seems to be all I ever do sometimes.  But the point of all of this is for my own memory’s sake.  Something I can read 20 years from now and remember minute details.  Obviously, if I don’t post (like I have not been lately) then it does no good.

Second Order of Business:  In just over a week, I will be teaching for a week straight at a local high school in Kentucky.  Oh man… this is going to be crazy.  The topic will be “the Enlightenment” which I am really excited about.  What I am worried about, however, is “owning” the class.  Being able to step up and grab the students attention and work with them.  I believe that some are born with this, others need to work on it.  I fall in to the latter category.

Well, wish me luck mystery subscriber!

My professor just emailed me to let me know that I have the opportunity to switch to another school.  One that is closer, so less driving every day.  And, I believe it will be much more comfortable for me to go somewhere else.  I really was dreading going back to my old place…

I just found out that my teacher observation practicum will be at my alma mater… ahh, this should be very interesting, to say the least.  When I was speaking with a fellow classmate and attempting to describe my thoughts on it, all I could think about was that there will be numerous teachers there that will be very surprised to see me.  My classmate asked why that would be.  Because, I was a different person back then.

Mentally, I’m not sure how different I am, it’s hard to gauge one’s thoughts and compare them to your thoughts from ten years ago.  The thought patterns of the mind are continually and gradually changing at a rate that how you think now is indistinguishable from how you thought a month ago.  Physically, I am older and I know that I have “filled” in a little.  No, I’m not fat but I am not quite the flag pole that I used to be.  But the biggest change I believe is in my behavior.  I guess this comes with maturity.  Back then, when I thought of doing something with not the noblest intentions, I did it.  I skipped school, I smoked at school, I did other things at school, I got in fights, I disrespected my teachers all the time.  Basically, I was a big trouble maker.  Not so much in the classroom, that was when it was time to sleep, but at school in general was where I would always find “fun” things to do.  Since then, I got an associate’s degree and started working.  I’ve dealt with some major hardships, heartbreak, and found love.  These experiences have shaped me in to who I am today.  I have a high level of anxiety when I think about returning to my high school but I know that when I do, it is someone new stepping in.  I can only hope that this experience will be a good one.

So, on to lighter subjects.  I never knew this but Alma Mater means “nourishing mother” and was used to describe the greek mother goddess and then later, to describe the catholic mother mary.  Pretty interesting…

At this point in my life, I am sitting in the Student Union waiting for my next class to start.  We got out of our last one early and the next doesn’t start until 11:00.  So I’ve got about and hour and a half left.  I guess I will be getting some reading done shortly.

Also, I am a little disappointed to have my practicum at my old high school.  It means a lot of driving for me.  In the mornings I will have to drive a half an hour northeast of my house to get there at 7:15.  To account for traffic and things like that, it means that I will probably have to leave my house no later than 6:30!  Ahh that is early…  The Practicum will be done at around 10:00 and then I will have to drive due south to get to class at 11:00.  That’s an hour of allotted time so I should be ok as far as that goes, but man it’s a lot of driving…

Or queues, as our British friends refer to them.  This morning my class didn’t start until 9:30.  Since I am usually working at 7:30, this is a nice late morning.  So I got to school a little early, around 8:45 and decided to try and get my parking pass.  Every year it seems that the price of the pass goes up, and the line you have to wait in gets longer.  This morning, I waited about 45 minutes to pay $187 for the privilege of parking my car at NKU for the next year.  I have seriously considered trying to park somewhere else, but all of the residential areas around there have no street parking.  The closest place looks like it could be up to a mile away.  So I have to suffer the cost.

On the upside, my classes both got out very early, and since they are both taught by the same teacher we were able to get out really early.  I was able to utilize that time and stand in line for another 30 minutes to buy books.  When you walk in to the bookstore, they have a spot where you can drop off your backpack/man bag/ or whatever.  You’re not allowed to carry it around in the store.  Usually I don’t mind this but it can get a little nerve-wracking as there are so many people coming in and out of the place and it’s not possible for the nice little old lady making sure you drop your bag off is able to keep track of whose bag is whose.  So the whole time I am looking for my books I’m scared to death someone is going to go walking off with my brand new mediocre laptop.  Ahhh…  Well, no one did, so I still have it.  Next time, I am going to leave my bag in the car.

So, it’s still the first week of classes, so we’re not officially “in full swing” but we’re getting there.  Tomorrow, I have a class at 8:00 that goes until 9:00 and then my next one doesn’t start until 11:00.  This isn’t normal for me to have that kind of down time.  Really, we’re supposed to head over to the Student Union after class for some “informal” time.  I’m not sure if I am going to participate in that or not… we’ll see.  I know I should be involved in things like that but…

Oh yeah, I think I am going to stick with all of my classes.  Which means that I will be taking 16 credit hours and be very busy.  But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.  I need to take as many classes as I can to assure that I will be able to graduate as planned.  The only thing disappointing about it is that after these two history classes, I will only have to take a History Methods class and then I am done with all my History requirements.  While these classes will be fine, I’m just not that all excited about them.  It would have been nice to take another Renaissance or Constitutional Class…  Oh well.

So today was my first day back to school.  Normally on Mondays and Wednesdays I will be located at some local high school but since this is the first week, we’ll be meeting at NKU.  So that was this morning, overall just basic orientation type stuff.  Also, I had my “Intellectual History of America to 1875″ class.  That seems like it will be an interesting class.  I was debating between that one or a Monday night class.  I’ll still be going to class tonight to make my decision but I am leaning toward the MWF, 11:00 – 11:50 one…

The weird thing though, is coming in to work in the midday, after lunch.  I know today is just the first day but I think it’s going to take some time to get readjusted to a new schedule.

Wow, I went to Mexico City  and completely forgot to write down my thoughts on it…  This serves as a reminder to myself get that done.

In less than a week, it’s back to school for me.  I’ve had a hard time this past month, wrestling with last minute decisions on my next steps in life.  I’m going to school to become a teacher but in the back of my mind are doubts about this decision.  My real job has been good lately and I think that I see some possible opportunities that may open up in the future.  Also, I was having some serious feelings of intimidation as I thought about what this next semester is going to be like.

I am planning to take only one history class, and the rest is filled up with Education classes and Practicum (attending at a high school, and being an active participant in the classrooms that I observe).  Whenever I began to think about this, and all of the running around, studying, and work that is necessary to stay on top of things, I started to get edgy.  Even to the point where I began to consider not going to school during the day and just finishing up a History degree at night (rather than a History and Education degree during the day).  I’m not entirely sure why this was happening but now that I have made my decision I know that that feeling has since died down.  Sure, there is still a little bit left lingering but for the most part I am at ease with the path that is before me.

And so it is back to the usual routine of finding out which books the professors have determined are necessary for the class, and how much they are at the campus bookstore, how much they are at the off-campus bookstore, and how much they are on Amazon.  I’ve been setting up my Google calendar to house all of my class schedules and it does a good job at that but I really wish they would expand the use of “notes” where I could also house assignments that are due.  Oh well, I will figure something out.

I’ve also been considering whether I should log my notes in this blog… haha, that would be funny but I don’t think I will.  Just a thought…

I bought a laptop for my birthday.  It’s not a top of the line by any measure but its nice for the price.  It’s a little smaller than my last one (which was really Kelli’s) and it’s a lot better.  So I’ll be setting that up and customizing it to my own preferences.  Maybe my next post will be from there…