Reflection on 2008 spring semester

Well, this is it: my final posting on my blog for my Education 429 class. It has been a hectic semester, to say the least. Besides taking this wonderfully relevant class, I am also finishing up another Education class (relating to standards) and an American poetry class. On top of that, I am teaching high school full time at Lathrop High School, raising my daughters, taking care of my wife and father, and running my small but spirited sled-dog team. Being so close to the finish line (less than 13 days until my last final exam), I am feeling elation and exhaustion. I'm elated because I'll be finishing 20 years of college and I feel I now have the tools to help me devote my time to becoming an effective educator; I'm exhausted because I can sense my heart isn't into some of the theoretical work I still need to complete in order to finish my class work, which brings me to my final project for this class.

For our final project in Ed 429 we are being asked to design an instructional unit which incorporates some of the technological tools we learned in class into our unit's lesson plans. As usual with most projects I create that have a heavy technological component, I have a hard time deciding on what it is I will focus on. Once I am exposed to a certain technological program, my infatuation with it becomes obsessive and I'll start five or six different, yet valuable, projects at the same time. I am always foiled by the lack of time that my lifestyle allows me to really commit to such endeavours. I hate to give up on an idea, but often they die on the vine for lack of attention, or, which happens most of the time, are placed on my que of projects to complete. This assignment will not fall to such a fate, but it will have to be delayed gratification because our school year is coming to an end and there is no time to implement it.

For the sake of brevity, I will not get into details regarding this project, unless I am required to post another blog entry, but what I have planned will be very useful and I am certain the students' interest will be engaged and their final project will fill them with a pride that some of them do not usually experience when completing typical class projects.

Before I sign off, I want to thank our professor Skip Via, a true educator who imbues his students with confidence, competency, and curiosity, which is all a student needs to have success. If all educators possessed his drive and desire our schools would be what they should be: a place where inquisitive minds can be nurtured and nudged to find the path on which they will excel.