Drawing To A Close

I can't believe that the semester is drawing to an end. Where did the time go? Seriously...? I think it's good that the time has gone so quickly, if it were slow going there might be a problem reflective of my motivation or enthusiasm for the class. Despite what I might say below, both are still very much in tact, and I am excited to kick off next semester and start to build on my development tools.

So much has happened in my personal life this fall that the past 6 weeks in particular feel like a blur. I'm happy to report that I'm still standing at the end of all of the chaos, but I'm left feeling a bit stunned and somewhat numb from so much happening in such a short period of time. It's been said, but it bears repeating, that that's life. Always unexpected. Nothing we can do about it but hang on and go along for the ride.

Now onto school stuff. One observation I can't help but make is the distinction I'm noticing in recent discussion boards between the classmates who are certified educators and people like myself who are not. Not to paint our class in such broad strokes, but it seems as though recent assignments have been less challenging to experienced teachers. To me, this distinction is apparent in this Unit more than in any previous. For example, I feel like I have had a difficult time with the act of stating my learning objectives. I read in the discussion boards where other (certified) classmates said that it was easy to define their objectives since they have to do it all the time in their classrooms. It's frustrating to feel that I can't clearly state what my students are supposed to come away with following my EdWeb. Perhaps it's because I don't entirely have my EdWeb defined yet. Perhaps it's because I don't think in terms of instructional strategies. Perhaps my program isn't educational enough? Perhaps, well, perhaps I'm just clueless. Haha. But really, when I feel unable to state something so fundamental to my project, I start to feel like I'm not going in the right direction, or even that I'm not cut out for this program. I'm sure that I'll feel better about my place in the MA program once my Analysis and Design document is at a place where our instructors feel it should be. It's not there yet. I appreciate Jackie and Patrick giving the additional insights into writing instructional objectives in Unit 11. The latest website definitely was more helpful in terms of making the connection to our own projects. Maybe that's part of my problem with Horton - that it isn't always easy for me to come away from his writings with a clear understanding to how his concepts relate to my own program. I should stop harping on Horton...but I must confess I'm hoping he hasn't written any of the required readings for next semester...

ok, enough "talk"...time to get cracking!