I’ve been in school for about 2 months now, and it continues to be a fantastic experience. Today I’ll give a quick summary of the classes I’m taking/have taken, with some of my impressions of them.

First the classes.

Tuesday nights for the first 5 weeks, I took a class called ITEC601 – Computer Fundamentals for Teachers. Originally I was supposed to be able to test out of a 3 unit class, ITEC712, by demonstrating some competency with computers. SFSU instead replaced that class with a 1 unit class that one could not test out of.

When I arrived the first day, I had an open mind: I figured that even though there would probably be some very basic computer stuff that I would already know, it would be supplemented with ways to use technology in the classroom. As it turns out, it was basically a course about how to use a computer, with a few warnings here and there about how the internet wasn’t a safe place for children. It was taught by a elementary school teacher who supposedly had her masters in Instructional Technology but was horribly uninformed when it came to her subject matter. Now I don’t mean to complain, but this course was rediculous. I have no doubt that many of the people in my classroom benefited a great deal from some of the projects, but SFSU really needs to allow people to test out of it. The material I learned in the class would have taken about 30 minutes of my time had I been able to just focus on that. Instead, I had to make posters with Microsoft Word, demonstrating my ability to make bold text and mess with fonts. Fortunately, the class was over after 5 weeks. The irony is that I recently discovered that I will have to still take the ITEC712, or its equivalent, in order to clear my credential anyway, and that course will cover everything that ITEC601 did. All in all, it turns out the course really was a waste of my time!

Ok, ranting aside, the rest of my courses are great. As I mentioned before, I did start to take Linear Algebra. The course was fine, the teacher was well spoken, if a bit dull, and I would have relearned some useful math. However, the times that I thought were convenient, Tues/Thurs from 9:30 to 11, turned out to interfere heavily with my classroom observation. And so, I dropped it. Oh well. Here’s some advice to anyone reading this: if you’re going to take an extra course with the teaching program, pick one that meets in the afternoon, when kids are NOT in school, so that it doesn’t conflict.

Now we get to the good stuff. My Literacy class on wednesday continues to be top-notch. The professor is very engaging, even when the material gets dry. While the topic of the course is simply literacy, the course covers a tremendous variety of topics in teaching. Its true that probably half the curriculum is focused on literacy and the discourse of different cultures, but it also covers assessment, classroom discussion, and even some classroom management. There is a healthy amount of required reading, and each week a different student presents the topics covered in that week’s reading. This gives you the benefit of seeing different teaching styles, as well as the opportunity to get a bit of experience in front of a classroom.

I’ll continue this tomorrow…

I think it will be particularly interesting to flush out my own feelings and perspectives on the process, to observe how my own views on teachers and teaching change, as I go through the year.

When I first began the process of applying for school, I was curious about the actual courseload and if it was truly a full time program. The education department at SFSU insisted that the credential program is is a full time, intensive program. But, I will be honest that I have had some doubts about that claim.

Sometimes I feel that with only minor preparation, I could begin teaching right now. But that confidence alone will not make me a good teacher. I have no doubt that the things I will learn in the next year will contribute to the quality of my teaching, but to be honest I have no idea how.

First off, my schedule: I signed up for the standard set of classes as required by the credential program.

• Supervised Observation/Participation in Public Schools
• Reading in the Secondary School
• Seminar in Secondary Education
• Curriculum and Instruction in Secondary Schools
• Computer Fundamentals for Teachers

In addition, I am brushing up on some of my math by re-taking Linear Algebra. I had 3 extra units available when I was signing up for classes, but I didn’t realize this until recently, and by then it was too late to sign up for other courses that I wanted, including Spanish, Drawing, or Ethics.

I had just one class today, Reading in the Secondary School with Dr. Jamal Cooks. I have to admit that I am a little surprised at just how impressed I am with the class. Dr. Cooks has an impressive background which covers everything from being a middle school teacher through starting supplemental literacy programs. He seems to “get it” at many levels – beyond just being a teacher in a classroom he understands the importance of education at a macro and micro level, and he knows it. I took particular note of his take on theory and practice, and how to tie them together. He discussed both applying theory to practice, but also using practical experience to develop theory.

From the syllabus, it looks like the class is going to cover a very broad range of topics. To be honest right now it seems to cover so much that I can’t imagine what my other courses will focus on.

In this first class we’ll be reading about 100+ pages a week of research about literacy, with topics ranging from oral communication (such as Ebonics) to theory, to standards, to evaluation of materials. Each week, one or two students will be presenting the reading material with both a lecture and an activity. In addition, we have one group project due in the first half of the semester, and an individual project due in the second half of the semester. Both projects cover the above topics in the context of planning a series of lessons within your own subject matter. Finally we’ll have some sort of online final which will cover the entire semester.

Overall, this first class appears to be fairly intense! The reading material is fairly weighty and the parallel preparation of presentations looks like a fair amount of work. It amazes and worries me a bit that I have so many classes tomorrow, but it will be interesting to see what I’ll be learning there!