<<I need to take a class this year in order to be certified to teach
next year.>>
Right now this is a very sore point for me....
I started taking an online class late last summer to renew my teaching
license. It took forever to get answers from the dept of education in
my state, and ultimately they said that my "supervisor" would be in the
best position to determine if the class would satisfy the requirements
for it being considered "content area." It's a humanities class (not
specifically art or art ed), but we mutually decided it would be okay.
It's a 3-credit undergrad class.
First, I was totally overwhelmed by the amount of reading involved, and
I've NOT been happy with the absolute pickiness of most of the quizzes
and tests. There are also multiple papers involved.
I took the mid-term just before Thanksgiving, and I have an "A" in it
thus far, but having been a student for many, many years, I usually know
what I have to do (in terms of work and effort) to ensure high A's in
classes. I graduated from college magna cum laude (and worked for it),
but this class is just totally over the top.
The month of December was a nightmare on the homefront. My mom was
seriously ill and hospitalized, and then our best friend and support
person (her brother/my uncle) died unexpectedly--which was just
devastating. I've managed to keep up with my responsibilities at school
and help care for my mom, but all coursework has fallen by the
wayside--there's just not time to do everything. (Lack of time is also
the reason why I don't post here often!)
Between now and March I'll be totally up to my ears with the school's
yearbook, so I won't even have a chance to get back to the class until
after that's wrapped up. And I'm dreading it.
I've often said I could be a "professional student" but at this point
I've got a really bad attitude about this class, and that makes it
really hard to even THINK about trying to slog my way back into it.
If I had it to do over again, I'd consider taking a computer class or
something at my community college during the summer.... I'm just hoping
that I can get through the rest of it before the deadline (in July), but
given all the downtime, I may have to see if they offer extensions.
Sorry to vent, but I certainly can't say that this online class has been
a good experience. If you want more info you can email me off-list.
