..Not to Glee

And this is why.

Sorry, Glee...you had your chance to redeem yourself.

To Glee or not to Glee? That is the question...

I would just like to start by saying I am not one of the people who thought the TV show Glee was amazing from the pilot alone.

It didn't feel right.

Some thing was missing or off about the whole thing and I just wasn't doing it for me.

Maybe it was the fact that I didn't have anything remotely resembling glee club in high school or just the story lines themselves.

What ever it was, I wasn't hooked on the show. I would watch it casually to keep up so I could make an informed judgment, but I wasn't loving it.

That is, until this week's episode.

This week, called Throwdown, was different for me.

Well, I'll admit I wasn't diggin' it too much until the end. That's what really brought it together.

In the last five or so minutes of the episode, I was finally able to see what others have been raving about this show.

If nothing else, the closing number nearly brought me to tears. It is amazing the power of music and the emotions it can invoke.

I won't be raving that "the show is absolutely amazing and everyone has to watch it!" But I will say, if anything else, watch it for the songs and the power that music has to move you and help you express and recognize what you are feeling.

That is one thing this show does have.

Oh dear...

So, I've completed Week 4 of my student teaching...thank the stars in the heavens!!!

The result so far: BYU-Idaho doesn't not prepare the Theatre/Speech Ed majors well enough for teaching...

This last week I took control of teaching both the Film Studies class and both Theatre I classes...let's just leave it at the fact that as a result, my cooperating teacher is taking back the Theatre I classes for a week...

I created lesson plans as I had been taught in my ONE practicum..and apparently lesson plans for reading comprehension don't prepare you in the least bit for teaching a beginning theatre class.

Hell is a good way to describe it. The students were bored, I was panicky because I had not planned for students getting bored so quickly and my cooperating teacher couldn't figure out why I was planning such inadequate lessons...

PLEASE don't get me wrong. I have a fantastic cooperating teacher and I love BYU-I. I just feel that the university doesn't require enough practicum experience for the Theatre Ed teachers. All of my other Ed classmates seemed to be in the classroom from pretty much their first year and, as a Theatre/Speech Ed major, we weren't required to even be in contact with the high school classroom until the semester before student teaching.

If I had had to take a teaching in the classroom practicum my second or third year at school, I would have changed my major in a heart beat. Some people simply cannot handle the classroom. I am one of those people.

Teaching is a calling. It takes a certain kind of person to do it so that it is beneficial to the student.

My cooperating teacher is one of these people. She is an amazing teacher who can create wonderful and meaningful lessons seemingly on the spot. I am grateful to have her as a cooperating teacher because she has been a major help to me in this student teaching process thus far.

I do feel bad though, as she is having to teach me how to teach as well as teach the students. I hope I am not too much of a burden on her. But the wonderful thing is that she is willing to do so. She is willing to help me.

I hope I don't let her down.

Two months left...eight weeks...62 days.

A Learning Experience...Literally.

I'm here.

For the last (nearly) two weeks, I have been a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada.

I do believe this is where the inhabitants of the Bad Place go to cool down...

Just kidding...kind of.

I have begun my student teaching at Basic High School in Henderson. Classes start at 7:10 a.m. I have to be there at 6:50...I didn't know there was a 5:30 in the morning...
Two days in class with students and so far, so good.

I don't really know how I feel about being here. I kind of feel like it's all just a dream...that might be from the waking up so early...

I am teaching Theatre as well as Journalism...I definitely have a better feel for the Journalism. I think it's a bit more of a linear subject which makes it easier to teach. Well, for me anyway.

Both of my cooperating teachers are fantastic. They are both pumped about the topic and their enthusiasm shows in their teaching.

I'm still terrified of teaching. But, with a little practice and preparation, I think I will survive the next 3 months... 12 and a half weeks...86 days...not that I'm counting down or anything...

What now?...

I haven't really written anything substantial lately merely because I've had to keep up about five other blogs for my classes this semester. But, with only four days left I have some ponderings I'd like to share.

I feel like I can't really get going on my life after university until I get back to Florida. I don't know why this is. I just feel this incredible need to get back to Orlando because there is something there that is part of my future.

It's the strangest thing.

I've been trying to think of alternate plans for a backup in case I don't get on the college program, but I'm at a loss.

I have a year I can work in the states after school and I don't know what to do with it. I suppose I could just apply for a job in the Orlando area even if I don't get the CP. I feel weird.

Everything about going back to Orlando feels right. The only problem is I won't know anything until recruiting opens back up this fall.

Where will I end up? I have no idea. But, I do know that the Lord has a plan for me and I will follow his promptings to direct me where ever I need to go. Even if it's not Orlando.

It's so close...

Less than three weeks til I'm done and out of here!!!!!

...

46 days...