Musings on Life and Living

I have been working as a second grade teacher for about two weeks now. For the past week, it has been at the same school in the same class. My second graders are pretty awesome, even though I occasionally want to tranq a couple of them if they don't learn how to sit in their seats and do their work! (Don't worry - I would never actually do this!) *** I think the United States needs to implement mandatory voting, much like they have in Australia. Before I have someone blow up at me and claim that this is a terrible idea, I think it is important to note the most fascinating feature of the Australian mandatory voting law. If you are not satisfied with any of the candidates, you have the right to cast an empty ballot, and that gets counted. I think this would stop the foolish notion of a "winning" candidate to think he/she has been given a "mandate" by the voting public. Imagine what would have happened in 2004 if several thousands, or even millions, of American...

So, I've finally started working as a substitute teacher in the Champaign schools. This actually came as a surprise to me, as I had been told that I would be given a call to let me know I was on the sub list, presumably before getting a call to sub. Instead, I got a call on Monday morning at 8 am asking me if I could sub for a teacher at Carrie Busey Elementary School. Of course I could and I wanted to, so I quickly got cleaned up and dressed as Gretch made lunch for me. I spent the day as a 2nd grade teacher. It was fun, although I was reminded of why I have a preference for the upper primary grades (i.e. 4th and 5th). Most of the kids were great. Just the little girl who was always bossing everyone around, and the two boys who kept chasing each other until I got frustrated and sent them off to the Assistant Principal. All in all, though, a great feeling to be back in the saddle, so to speak. Today, however, was a totally different experience. My teaching certificate is a Type 03 ...

Before I get into the gist of this particular post, I think I'd just like to point out that, as we in the States are in the midst of a very close, very intense political campaign for the White House, this entire topic is very relevant to me. I wish that Gretch would find it as relevant, as well, but I am coming to terms with that fact that certain individuals in her life have made her, already, cynical and apathetic toward to the system of government in our nation, and even more so to the method of selecting representatives. I am tempted to go off on a tangent here, but I think I will reign myself in and leave this thought before going on: Edmund Burke is credited with saying that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. I have thought about it a lot and realised that the statement would be most accurate if he had said that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do something else. We are always doing something, but what we...

A couple of years ago, I began my professional courses at the University of Illinois. This meant that my schedule was filled with classes that all started with C&I, also known as Curriculum and Instruction. These were intended to be the courses that prepared me to enter the education profession with more than just a bunch of random knowledge. Teaching practices, theories of education, Illinois Learning Standards, No Child Left Behind, Harry Wong, memoirs and research... these are the heart and soul of the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Of all the many, many books I was assigned to read during these two short years, very few of them were ever actually read by me. Of the articles, even fewer. I admit that I am, in many ways, a terrible student. The reality of the situation was that I often simply could not afford to buy the books that were required, and it took me almost a year to figure out that they were all available in the Education and So...