The dream is over. I am withdrawing from school. After staying home with my own three children for 10 years, I realized that I don't really want to be around someone else's kids. Plus, I had a difficult time reconciling that I was spending so much energy helping other children learn to read and improve their grades while my youngest was struggling.
So, it's back to the drawing board for me, but in the meantime, please check out the other blog I started:
www.chicksgonewild.blogspot.com
Can't wait to see you there!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Day 5
Discussion boards. No longer can you waste time handing in papers to the professor, but now you must post them on Discussion Boards. Where everyone else can see what you've written.
Back in the day, when I was a 17-year-old freshman in college, I'll admit it. I was not always the best student in the class. And I enjoyed the anonymity of being able to hand in my paper, hiding it among the other attempts.
Now, I have to post it on a board. And while I am not ashamed of my poor work, I am very self-conscious that I am trying too hard to get an "A."
We only had to write three paragraphs in response to a seminar we attended. I posted five. There should be an introductory and closing paragraph, right? And after posting said response, we had to post on three other people's prose. That means that we were forced to read what the other students had written. Anonymity be damned.
Fast forward to the next morning when we met again for class. The college accidentally locked us out of our room, so we students were congregating in the hall and chatting. I was feeling pretty cool and hip until one young student asked me, "Are you the one who wrote so much?"
As my visions of being the new it girl faded, I realized that I paid for school this time around. No scholarships, student aid or parents to the rescue. So if I want to write five paragraphs and look like the teacher's pet - Oh well. I just hope I get a good grade!
Back in the day, when I was a 17-year-old freshman in college, I'll admit it. I was not always the best student in the class. And I enjoyed the anonymity of being able to hand in my paper, hiding it among the other attempts.
Now, I have to post it on a board. And while I am not ashamed of my poor work, I am very self-conscious that I am trying too hard to get an "A."
We only had to write three paragraphs in response to a seminar we attended. I posted five. There should be an introductory and closing paragraph, right? And after posting said response, we had to post on three other people's prose. That means that we were forced to read what the other students had written. Anonymity be damned.
Fast forward to the next morning when we met again for class. The college accidentally locked us out of our room, so we students were congregating in the hall and chatting. I was feeling pretty cool and hip until one young student asked me, "Are you the one who wrote so much?"
As my visions of being the new it girl faded, I realized that I paid for school this time around. No scholarships, student aid or parents to the rescue. So if I want to write five paragraphs and look like the teacher's pet - Oh well. I just hope I get a good grade!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Day Three
I am really behind in the times. Who would have thought that so much would change in 14 years? Apparently, teachers are even teaching differently. So, I am not current on anything. This does not bode well for someone who is a self-acknowledging control freak.
It's confession time: I am officially corrupting children. Not the ones I'm in class with, but rather my own and any who are lucky enough to visit.
The assignment was to learn how to give a reading assessment to kids. No one was interested: not my own children, my nephews - no one! So...I went into my stocking stash. For each "test" they took they got to pick out a piece of chocolate. They were lining up to help me!
I have no morals and hate failure. Oh well, what's a few cavities when my grades and my pride are at stake. (Please don't call the authorities.)
It's confession time: I am officially corrupting children. Not the ones I'm in class with, but rather my own and any who are lucky enough to visit.
The assignment was to learn how to give a reading assessment to kids. No one was interested: not my own children, my nephews - no one! So...I went into my stocking stash. For each "test" they took they got to pick out a piece of chocolate. They were lining up to help me!
I have no morals and hate failure. Oh well, what's a few cavities when my grades and my pride are at stake. (Please don't call the authorities.)
Friday, January 15, 2010
Day Two, Continued...
Hurray! The assignment is actually on the computer and I completed it. Sadly, I cannot figure out how to submit my completed work to the professor. If I do not give it to her electronically, then my score will be lowered. Are there any groups out there for the discrimination against technologically-challenged people? Hmmmmm
Day Two
On the first day of school, we were told by the professor to check Blackboard (which I now know is capitalized) for our first homework assignment at 8:00 a.m. today.
I checked. I got into Blackboard since I now have a username AND password.
I can't find the homework. I know it's a quiz. It says it right there on the assignment page. I clicked what I think I should to see the quiz. It's blank, just like my mind is at the moment.
I have e-mailed the professor in the hopes that it was a mistake on her part, but I am not holding my breath. I have until midnight to complete the assignment that doesn't exist.
This could be a difficult semester since my Blackboard has been erased!
I checked. I got into Blackboard since I now have a username AND password.
I can't find the homework. I know it's a quiz. It says it right there on the assignment page. I clicked what I think I should to see the quiz. It's blank, just like my mind is at the moment.
I have e-mailed the professor in the hopes that it was a mistake on her part, but I am not holding my breath. I have until midnight to complete the assignment that doesn't exist.
This could be a difficult semester since my Blackboard has been erased!
My First Day
I have finally taken the plunge and decided to go back to school again (just like the song in Grease 2.) The decision has been based on both financial reasons and that at my age I still have a bit of Don Quixote in me and like the challenge of tilting at windmills. So, I'm beginning my journey to ultimately become a reading specialist in schools!
DAY ONE
I entered the classroom that was filled with 19 year olds who were going to change children's lives. Almost each one looked like they were going on a special date following class. I showed up in a sweatshirt, jeans and tennis shoes. I had just left my 7 year old throwing up in the toilet with a babysitter.
As the other students pulled out their syllabi and began speaking about various professors, I sat by only the other non-traditional student.
"Where did you get your syllabus?" I asked.
"On blackboard," she responded.
"Where is the blackboard? Is it in the hall?" I inquired as I pictured a huge blackboard with folders all over it to hold the entire Education College's class papers.
"It's on-line. Aren't you registered?"
With her look of incredulity, I realized that I just jumped into the deep end. I had shown up on my first day with a new Mead notebook and a mechanical pencil filled with lead. What more would I need?
Apparently a password.
Now I am trying to orient myself with papers filled in electronically and nothing being accepted in person. I feel like I am in the middle of a science fiction movie I watched when I was a child. I've gone from Grease 2 to War Games. Oh no, I'm dating myself again!
DAY ONE
I entered the classroom that was filled with 19 year olds who were going to change children's lives. Almost each one looked like they were going on a special date following class. I showed up in a sweatshirt, jeans and tennis shoes. I had just left my 7 year old throwing up in the toilet with a babysitter.
As the other students pulled out their syllabi and began speaking about various professors, I sat by only the other non-traditional student.
"Where did you get your syllabus?" I asked.
"On blackboard," she responded.
"Where is the blackboard? Is it in the hall?" I inquired as I pictured a huge blackboard with folders all over it to hold the entire Education College's class papers.
"It's on-line. Aren't you registered?"
With her look of incredulity, I realized that I just jumped into the deep end. I had shown up on my first day with a new Mead notebook and a mechanical pencil filled with lead. What more would I need?
Apparently a password.
Now I am trying to orient myself with papers filled in electronically and nothing being accepted in person. I feel like I am in the middle of a science fiction movie I watched when I was a child. I've gone from Grease 2 to War Games. Oh no, I'm dating myself again!
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