Applied to grad school

Over the last several months, I have been pondering if or when I should earn a master's degree. I finally decided that I should and recently I applied to a new program through the University of Illinois. It's called the "Global Campus" and is a distance learning program that offers an M.Ed with a concentration in e-learning. I'll be studying various types of educational technologies, developing technology-based curricula, learning styles, etc. It seems like a really cool program and if accepted I'll be part of the first cohort that starts in January. I'm pretty sure I'll be accepted. It will undoubtedly be a lot more work but my schedule is lightening up a little next semester so I think I'll be fine.

Some days you're the windshield, some days you're the bug

I have discovered that being a teacher is often the epitome of the proverbial roller coaster ride. There are some days when I question being a teacher in general and teaching in an urban public high school. Then there are the days when I am reminded why.

The past few days have been rough. We've had a number of fights in and around school and a teacher got hit yesterday. We have a high failure rate in our freshman class and 1/3 of my students are failing. I encountered a former student of mine begging for change recently. But just when things were as low as can be, my mood skyrocketed today.

Ermelinda, the captain of the debate team, called me this morngin to share the news that she has been awarded a full 4-year scholarship to Pomona College in California. It's the kind of news that brightens anyone's day and must be shared. I've already told several other teachers who know Ermelinda and it's one of those occasions that makes me smack my forehead and say, "that's why you do this you dummy".

You're going to MAKE us type?!?!

Today I officially become a monster to my students. Today I inform them that they will be required to type all papers for my classes and that said papers must follow a specific format. Come on everyone... you know it... 1" margins 12 pt font double-spaced first line indented. Its the way millions of college students type papers every day. Millions of other high school students as well as I'm sure 3rd graders at this point. Its amazing to be how much resistance I have been getting from my students when I encourage them to type.

I know, I know, not all of them have computers at home but that's a lame excuse. There's nothing that says they can't write their papers by hand at home and then type the papers when they get to school. Our library opens at 7:00 am most days when I get here. It stays open in the afternoon until at least 5:00 most days while I have debate practice. There's a network printer here too! I also reserve class time in the computer labs.

I think we've been too lenient on the typing issue for a long time. I think the number of students without a computer at home is actually very low. In an informal poll of my students, less than 10% are sans-PC. Several of my students already type their papers so I know it won't be too much trouble but there will be some resistance.

My fear is that next year some of these kids will be in a college history class and they'll hand in an hand-written paper with torn edges from where they ripped it out of a notebook and the professor will look at them and ask, "who was your history teacher in high school?"