five days til classes, two days til dear hubby returns. (I hate that formulation. I think I'll try something else.. how about MLM for Mein Lieber Mann? Maybe that's how they blog in Germany.) Anyway, today I've already managed to get something done--started in on re-arranging my office/art studio/exercise room/guest room. Not a big room, either, so you can imagine it's a bit crowded. I decided to get rid of one of the exercise machines (the one that makes MLM seasick--I don't have that excuse; I just hate it because it's an instrument of torture) and move the recumbent bike back to where I had it before so I can do computer stuff (namely jigzone puzzles) while I exercise. I need to get a lazy susan so I can easily move the laptop around. Of course, I'm not exercising while I write this--tried, but the keyboard slipped off the little book platform I've rigged up on the bike. Yes, trying to figure out how to do something useful while exercising is sort of an obsession with me. It's kind of like the Holy Grail. Recently I found out about something called the Geek-a-Cycle, which combines a bike with a computer desk. Maybe I'll buy one when I start raking in those big bucks as a teacher! ha ha
Ordered some of my books yesterday--they are supposed to be delivered to the satellite campus where I'll be taking classes. I hope this is fun, or at least moderately interesting. A relative who teaches high school English (which I thought about doing before I decided to go the elementary school route) has expressed nothing but contempt for his education classes. But I think that, with teaching younger kids, there is more to learn that is actually useful--like how the heck to start out teaching kids to read (although I'm hoping to work with older kids anyway). What I mean is, what I don't know about teaching teenagers is more likely to be learned by experience (I have taught freshman college students before) rather than coursework, but I can believe there would be more to learn about teaching younger kids. Especially since you have to teach everything, not just one subject.
Anyway, I'd be interested to know what experienced teachers think about the education courses they had to take. Were they useful? Did they prepare you at all for the reality of the classroom? Or were they just another set of hoops to jump through?