Wow. It doesn't seem like it's already been ten days since my last blog post. I usually post on Tuesdays, and I can't think of what kept me from posting this past Tuesday... Oh well. Whatever it was, I hope it was more worthwhile than creating another fine post for this nifty tool we call Blogger. Yeah, nifty.
Anyway, I'm thinking proteach is fabulous. It takes up close to all of my time, but that's cool. It kind of demands that we students be pretty darn dedicated, which is actually very refreshing after a fun and informative but not exactly intense four years getting a bachelor's degree. And I don't know about the other students, but I really like the way the way we're being taught. I don't WANT teaching prescriptions - do this, do that, do the other thing and you'll be set. I don't WISH to agree with every single thing every instructor says or gives us to read or whatever. I LIKE having the chance to refine my ideas by being confronted with information including research AND what might be opinion pieces. I ENJOY trying to find connections myself (it's not too hard, the way it's all been structured.) I am GLAD Proteach is not FLUFFY! because that's what rumor said it was gonna be, and I wasn't too happy about that. Fluff is not going to help me reach my academic goals, and more important, it is not going to help me be a good teacher. Fluff is good for pillows and that's about it.
Now, I'm not saying there are people in our group who are looking for teaching prescriptions etc. But I know there are people out there who are. And I gotta say, I'm not sure how they think that kind of preparation would work out. The whole thing about teaching is that you never know what's gonna happen. You have to have the knowledge and willingness to make each situation work as well as it can. But nobody can say what the situation will be. It's kinda like taking a wilderness survival course. The instructor can't begin to guess in what conditions you will have to survive, so he or she teaches you broad-reaching concepts and a few basic and flexible rules, reminds you that attitude is the most important thing, and out you go. It would be pretty dumb to learn every speck of information about surviving in the desert - only to end up in the middle of the woods. A waste of money, a waste of time, a waste of effort, and a big waste of brain space. Come on now.
Okay, that's it for the latest edition of Regine Gets On Her Soapbox. Up next week: Why the Gators Special Teams should really be called the Gators "Special" Teams...