Something to do with Being Awesome

I am currently applying for a honor through Phi Delta Kappa called Emerging Leaders. I am trying to wrangle up some letters of recommendation, polish up my curriculum vitae, and write some snazzy things about myself. I’d really like the honor, not just because I work hard at my job, but because I LOVE my job, want to move forward with my career, and eventually publish something. If I receive the Emerging Leader Award, I’ll have the chance to publish my thesis in PDK! Fingers crossed. I am not the most qualified person for the award, but I am pretty awesome, and I think some of that will come across in my recommendation letters and personal statements.

Also, homework. Metric butt-tons of it. That’s 3.5 standard butt-tons.

Hiro Protagonist’s Smoking Cessation Program

You may or may not know that I have been trying to quit smoking for about a year now.  I’ll stop, then start, then stop – then sometimes I’ve stopped and started at the same time.  I’ll smoke three cigarettes in a day, and chew four pieces of nicotine gum – is that a victory?  I was smoke-free for a good three months when I had a semi-mental breakdown and the first and ONLY thing I could think of was CIGARETTE CIGARETTE CIGARETTE.  I went to the hospital – but only after I had a smoke.

I like to smoke.  It gives me something to do outside the bar when everyone is drunk and social.  It surrounds me with some sort of force-field protecting me from the slurry, stumbly madness that I am no longer a part of.  It gives me time to think.

I just finished reading Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash – I think I liked it.  There were parts of the book that were so exposition-heavy that it felt sloppy.  I loved the main characters, however, especially Hiro Protagonist.  Yes, that is his name, and yes, it’s totally awesome. The World’s Greatest Computer Hacker/Japanese Sword Fighter is appealing to me.  I’m sure he knows some sort of Sumerian incantation that will cure me of my addiction.  Or at least he could just cut my hands off.

Class-Action

For the last two quarters, I have been working on my Master’s degree in Education.  I started taking online courses, but found they didn’t suit me for two reasons:

A) I am a very literal person, and I often found assignment criteria to be vague/non-specific and

B) I like to ask a lot of questions, and I used to facilitate this process by following my professors around and bothering them until I got the answers I needed.

Though I’ve gotten 4.0′s in all three courses taken thus far, I miss the camaraderie that comes with collaborating with other learners face to face.  I also enjoy playing the Devil’s Advocate, and that is more difficult to do in an online message-board format compared to a physical class.

I will be taking my first non-matriculated class at CWU’s Des Moines campus today at 5:00 PM.  It is with a professor of with whom I am previously acquainted with from my undergraduate studies.  The class is entitled “Education and Futurism” – a title which does not jive well with my concrete, literal sensibilities.  Are we talking about floating desks?  Textbooks that plug directly into your frontal lobe using hyper-fast USB technology?  Who knows?  I guess I will after a snag a copy of the syllabus.

Transferring my credits over will be easy enough – unfortunately I will only get to transfer nine and not all 14 I’ve taken thus far.  I will need to work with an adviser to hammer out which of the credits will transfer, and what classes they will replace.  It’s a 45 credit program, and upon completion I will be well prepared to do proper research.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy teaching – I just want to do MORE than teach.  I want to improve teaching, and the American Educational System in general.

Some say teaching is the most noble profession; I would consider it the profession of martyrs.  Teachers have to deal with so much bureaucracy and red tape, are forced to run programs that are unproven or not supported by research, and are cloistered into secluded rooms with no support from administration or their peers.  I am lucky to work at a school that values data-driven programs, teacher collaboration, and open communication – rarities in the public school system.

My main concern with CWU’s program – one I share with my boss – is that CWU is notoriously based in the Constructivist teaching philosophy.  That is, increasing whole-learning, inquiry-based, collaborative opportunities for children.  That is fine and good when your students do not suffer from learning differences or behavioral problems and are on national grade level.  Though I received my undergraduate degree from CWU, I was always staunchly Instructivist – that is to say I believe students need to become fluent in the basics (reading, writing, math) before they should be expected to work through complex analytical projects with others.  It’s the equivalent of your dad teaching you to swim by throwing you into a pool.  For a few kids, it works.  For most kids, it scars them for life.  I am against child-scarification.