Light Myself On Fire
So things are coming down to the wire for me in terms of student teaching this semester. I have to jump thru so many useless hoops that i feel like a trained poodle. One of the last obstacles to getting this all set up is completing an incomplete i received in my Methods class.
If anyone wants to know if there is a crisis in American secondary education, i'm here to answer that question with a resounding "Yes!" There has not been a single education class that i have taken that has not made me want to pound my forehead into a brick wall until i bled. I took a curriculum class a couple of semesters back where the entire semester was utilized by the professor to teach us that there is no objective definition for the word "curriculum." That class made me want to light myself on fire, although i managed not to get an incomplete in that one.
My methods class was very hard to handle because it was sooooo frustrating. It was tied in with a pre-practicum where i had to teach five lessons and be in a classroom at least one day a week. Everything i was learning from my practical experience mocked everything that i had to do for my Methods class -- and so did the teachers at the High School. To a man/woman, every one of them pulled me aside and told me that if they would have had to go thru the bullshit i was going thru they never would have become teachers. I ran out of motivation to do this work for my Methods class very quickly.
So here i am, behind the 8 ball again because i did not grit my teeth and discipline myself to do all this busy work that will in no way pan out into anything of practical value or use. I probably won't be blogging very much this week as a result, but i will try to read the blogs produced from my neighborhood. I have to produce a unit of ten lesson plans covering the American Civil War, write out all the assessment materials, do a calendar, write five reflection papers from five of the lessons i taught last year, and to finish off the last three lessons from the reflection paper assignment.
To put this all in context, my TV just died (it was a great TV for the ten years we had it, thanks Mike), i'm behind in almost every bill by at least two months, my GSL defaulted and i have to come up with the money to "rehabilitate" it, i will be working part time so 1/2 of my paycheck will be gone while at the same time, because of the default, there will be no new student aid for yours truly, and The Wife has a habit of picking up parking tickets at the meters in NoHo and on Campus. Oh, and to top it off i'm a passive/aggressive lazy ass. Fuck me gentley with a chain saw, right?
Glory, glory, glory.
Comments
My guess is there's some kind of divine purpose behind that TV's expiration...
Teaching is gold-panning: lots of work for a few flecks of gold. I failed at it and gave up, but then I'm skinny and look like a boy. At 6'5, you should be able to garner respect just by walking into the room and glaring.
...no objective definition for the word "curriculum."
Ay ay ay!
Don't worry anything about your bills. If the Lord wanted you to teach, the Lord will provide the funds to help you pay off your bills and get back on your feet. I'm in a similar boat and can testify on this.
Also, though the hoops you need to jump through all seem pointless, we do what we have to to get to where the Lord needs us. Just hang in there, brother, and stay true to your call...the Lord won't let you fail.
Your brother in Christ Jesus,
---Marturo