School.

     Today I am going back to school.  I'm not literally going anywhere, as I'm sitting here in my jammies in front of the computer, but today I am starting a new online Additional Qualification  course for teachers in the area of Special Education.  Anyone who's been following might remember a few weeks ago I was debating what I wanted to be when I grow up (see Jan 17th's post titled Jobs.).  I continue to meet with employment counsellors to see if teaching is maybe not the only thing I'm good at, but I do know I love teaching so want to maintain and upgrade those skills in my time away from the profession.  I also really love school, so the chance to go back, even online, is really exciting for me.

My $150 investment...

     

     So last week, because I'm a keener, I went out to buy the textbook.  A bit shocked to see the $150 price tag, but a justifiable expense, nonetheless. I suppose. I tried not to let it daunt me, or make a loud gasping noise when I saw the price at any rate.  Then today I woke up early (who doesn't, on the first day of school?), did NOT have to think about what I would wear (they should list this in the benefits of online education), and sat down at the computer.  I got logged in, but the command I was instructed to look for did not appear on my screen.  A quick call to the IT department determined that I was a special case. (SIDE NOTE: I have noticed that I frequently AM a special case in matters like these.  One time, at my first teaching job, the marks program kept refusing to accept my name as a login.  It even baffled the IT director and office manager.  Turns out my last name, which I choose not to share with you at this point, even though most of my readers know who I am and are related to me, is a computer-related word and was not an acceptable login due to its implications.  I had to go with 'Smith' instead.) The 'specialness' in today's case was due to the fact that I was RE-enrolling at Trent (after graduating in 1996!) and that made me 'complicated'.  Now, I've been called 'complicated' before, but not for this reason.  In 1993, when I first enrolled at Trent, there was barely intenet let alone online course delivery, so I'm not sure what the difficulty was, but regardless, they told me to try again in an hour and an hour later it worked.  I was logged in and ready to begin!

     If you haven't taken an online course before (this is my second), they are generally set up in weekly modules - a certain amount of work to be done over the course of the week to allow for flexibility.  Module 1 for my new course consists of an introduction, commenting on someone else's introduction, and completing a web-based search for information.  I've finished the first two parts, and am excited to work on the third, but I need to pace myself - don't want to be seen as "the keener" because even adults don't appreciate that trait in classmates - at least, I don't.  So the web search will happen tomorrow.

This is me in Grade 9, baby!

     All of this has me hearkening back to my earlier school days.  Recently I was looking at old yearbooks with Havoc and Maman, our next-door friends, who are about 15 years younger than I am.  They were laughing at the 1985ness of it all, but it reminded me of who I am as a student, after thinking of myself as a teacher for so long.  (I think teachers make the WORST students.  We're used to being listened to, rather than listening.  This is what makes most PD so painful.)  And interestingly, I got a Linkedin message just this morning from the girl who was my best friend in the universe from grades 9-11, and who I have not heard from in literally 20 years.  I'm glad to know she's not a heroin-addicted prostitute, which is what I worried she'd become after our last visit in 1991.  Instead she's a bookkeeper.  People can sure surprise you!

     ANYWAY, I'm pretty excited about this new course.  I'm going to continue to pursue teaching as an area of employment, along with surveying the rest of my options with my employment counsellor, to 'keep my options open', but in the meantime, I'm hittin' the books - or, errr, the web?  Hope we get to use the textbook enough to validate its $150 price tag!  Now leave me alone.  I'm doing homework.