Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Does easy mean useless?

I talked earlier about a teacher who kept saying how easy his/her master's program is. He/she was at it again in a meeting. I am drowning between the school I teach in and the one I learn in.

Why would I say it was easy?

Wouldn't it imply that it was useless?

His/her program is online and isn't giving me a warm fuzzy feeling about the value of an online degree.

(My current program feels useless a lot of the time, but it isn't easy. Mrs. Chili, writing does not come easy to me and I know that procrastination limits the feedback I could get to make the writings better - but it doesn't come easy. I suspect that it is the same thing I tell my students: practice and it gets easier.)

Did a review today. A difficult student balks every time I do a review because 1) I am not teaching and 2) I am going too fast and 3) she doesn't understand ANYTHING.

1) it is a review not a lesson and 2) if you can't tell me where I lost you, how far am I supposed to go back to reteach the material we have been going over for two weeks? That you have refused to do?

2 comments:

Kim Hughey said...

I'm having a tough time with all the writing I have to do for my master's program too. I have three papers due this week and I am currently cruising the blog world because I have no inspiration!

I'm so glad I chose a face-to-face program. I love the interaction that I'm getting and the discussion that occurs in these classes is stimulating. As much as I hate the papers, they do force you to reflect on your learning and somehow put it into words. I don't think I'll ever be good at it, I just hope to get through it.

Theresa Milstein said...

My class certainly isn't easy and doesn't feel useless. I guess it depends on the school and program. I know people at my school who mix in-person classes and on-line courses. They seem busy in both. I wish my program offered a few on-line courses. I would save me $.