Teacher Comments

Being as commited to school and good grades as I am it at times is extremely hard to focus on what you are working for at the end of an extremely long the road. 
There are times you may want to jump through the computer and strangle someone, or scream and yell at them.  You're stress and anxiaty levels go through the roof because you are being forced to rely on others to get a project done.
There are times that you want to call your teacher and say, "Hey, look.  I am doing my best here to get an amazing grade, turn in quality work, and learn the materials the best I can but I'm just drained or other do not want to do their part." but you still have to keep moving forward.

At the end of the day you may get the grade you wanted  and just a quick little note from your teacher saying, "I really enjoyed blah blah blah!"  and then other times you will get comments like this from your teacher:

I fully understand the rocky start you faced with the team project, but it really came together in the end. This entire presentation examining the history of multicultural education is complete, original, insightful, focused and compelling. In fact, your team presentation is one of the most comprehensive I have seen in a long time! Each section was carefully thought out, well designed and examined in appropriate depth. You personally were a valuable team leader and a strong contributor to the project. Thanks for your extra efforts.

You are truly to be commended for your excellence on this project. Really fabulous work!

These comments are what keep you going at the end of the day and make you want to continue to strive to work hard!

When we keep working hard and chipping away at the raw material eventually we are going to hold something beautiful and precious when we chip that final peice away to reveal what we have been working so hard for all this time. 

Essay's

Online college is based hugely on writing so if you are not a strong writer then maybe you should think of an alternative route for your education or continue on because it can only help your writing skills get better and 99% of American Jobs require that you have strong written and verbal communication skills.

I have found that if you struggle to create your essays in a way that you think the teacher is looking for to have someone review what you have written along with what the assignment is and go from there.

Another good way to know that you are on track is to view the rubric (if there is one) make sure that you have everything in your essay that the teacher is going to be looking for.  After all they grade your essay off of the rubric.  If you are not sure that the essay you have completed is going in the direction that it needs to be.  Give yourself some time, come back, re-read the assignment and start again.  If you find yourself going in the same direction again no matter how hard you try to go a different direction you are more than likely right on with what you are supposed to be doing.  Although if you are confused it never hurts to talk to your instructor and find out exactly what they will be looking for.

College in general can be difficult and confusing, it is up to you to get the information that you need to be successful.  The harder you work the better your grades will be, the better your grades are the better you rank in your class, the better/higher you rank in your class the better your chances of getting the job that you want.

My personal belief is that if your grades are good and you graduate with honors just shows any employer that you apply with that you are dedicated and you are going to do what it takes to get the job done and you are going to do it correctly the 1st time around.

Keep pushing for your dreams and goals you never know how hard or easy it will be but I can guarantee that it will all totally be worth it in the end.

Group Projects

There is nothing more irritating and frustrating challenging, than trying to get a group of people you have never met and probably will never meet to work together on one assignment.

Some people do not care what the outcome is they just want and grade and are a warm body behind a computer hoping that everyone else will to the work for them so that they do not have to.  Then there are those that will do a little bit of work so that they get their name on the project and hope that they get the same grade as everyone else.  And finally there are the one like myself that like to toot their own horns now and then and tell people how awesome they are because they focus that work their little tails off so that they can get the A that they know they can get and deserve out of the class.  I will not sit back and let someone else take the credit for something that I do. 
I am willing to put out the time and the effort that it takes to email your lazy butt and push you to get off the couch and doing something in this class, especially on the group assignment you until you are tired of me so that you have a chance to help.  I feel that the more informed you are about the project and the more times I give you a chance to help with the project you can't later tell the teacher that we didn't communicate with you what was going on.  I am that pushy helpful person in your class that wants to not only get the grade but help you succeed at the same time.  If that annoys you then maybe you shouldn't be a teacher.

Well, now that I feel a little better.  Yes I am struggling to get my group to work out this assignment that is due next week so that we can get it done early and handed in before I go on vacation the end of next week.  There is nothing more irritating than someone not doing their part to help but still wanting the grade that everyone else gets.
Sorry but this mom/classmate is not going to let you just ride the coat tails.  I guess that's part of why I like to take charge that way I know what's going on, I know that everyone is well informed, and I know that the assignment is being done to my standard of quality and not just slapped together at the last minute.  I will do your part and not put your name on the assignment if that is whats needed.  I have at the last minute written up a 500 word essay that was supposed to come from the whole team and only put two names of the five that should have been on it.  I will be honest in my report to the teacher and let them know exactly why there are names left off.

I guess you could say that I have turned into the student that annoyed me in high school.  The one that was always doing homework and working really really hard to get straight A's and was always talking about how they needed to do this or that for school and seemed to never have any fun.  So yup that's me the annoying nerd in the front of the class that always knows the answer even though they didn't read the book, and always has their homework done at least 3 days before it's due.  I am the one that everyone will be mad at if they ever start grading on a curve because I will throw it so out of whack that you will want to kill me for getting 100% on every assignment.

Being a mom and already having my own personal blog that I struggle to keep up with (mostly because I forget about it) who was I kidding thinking that I would be able to keep up with one about being a mom and student as well.

Well, maybe it was mostly because I have a friend that her blog is always amazing, whittey, funny and just so stinking darn cute and even though people tell me I'm great at all that I'll still think that I am far from cute and cleaver when it comes to my writing.

Writing........now there is a subject!  Ha!  Over the last few months I have had quite a few classes are are very writing intense, with 2 sometimes 3 essays due a week.  It totally can be a huge struggle to get all that and family things done at the same time.

However great the struggles, the set backs and the frustrations, schooling continues to be great, learning a million new things that are going to be very useful in the classroom is wonderful.  Even with the frustrations of people not wanting to do their work or thinking that they can ride on your coat tails and get the same grade it is totally worth all the hard work to get those A's that are not easy to find even in the easy classes.

Good news is always great to find even when you are not expecting it and especially when you are not looking for it.  As of the start of a new class on May 21st I learned, while conversing with one counselors that I am indeed a junior and that my time at GCU is slowly starting to dwindle and die out, that before I know it all this hard work and dedication will have paid off and I will indeed have a Bachelor's degree in Elementary and Special Education and starting on my Masters degree, which I am super excited about.

Deciding on a master is a totally different monster all itself and a big inner struggle that I am going to have to fight.

Well, I am going to try and do better about my blog postings however it may be a big struggle with all of the up coming craziness that is going to be my summer.  At least all of it is super fun stuff like camping and family reunions.

Until then!

sickies

Being a mom and getting sick is pretty bad but when you are student on top of that, OH MY GOSH!!!!

This past week I have been so grateful that I am an overachieving student and got all of my course work done and turned in last week so that I did not have to worry about it this week.  I knew that it was going to be a long hard week without school work as we were out of town over the weekend and i would need to catch up from being gone and we are leaving again today for a wedding.  All of the get it done and get it packed can be stressful enough in four days that I did not want to have to worry about school work on top of it.
It was a blessing in disguise that I did get it all done though.  On the way home from my in-laws I developed a pretty nasty cold with a horrible cough that doesn't seem to want to go away.  I seriously thought for a few days there that I was going to die or cough up a lung.  Either way it was not a fun place to be in.  It was enough to keep myself awake to take care of the two kids that are still at home let alone do school work.

Side note:  I can't wait until the new classroom system is online for undergrad students so that I do not have the problems I'm been having with posting my assignments.  I'll post them and I will see that they are there on my end but on the teachers end it shows that I turned in the assignment but that I did not submit any work.  This wouldn't be so bad if my teacher wasn't 2 weeks behind on her grading and feedback but since she is I do not know that it did not submit right until she tells me almost 2 weeks after the assignment was due.  This may cost me my A in that class and I may get my 1st B which will really not only make me made but ruin my perfect A's

Frustration and Hunger

There are times during classes that I find it really difficult to not get upset or offended by other students and what they say in the comments to what I have posted to the teachers question.  Some days I would totally E-Stab some of these people if that were a real thing, legal, and in my nature.  However, there is no such thing, it would be legal if it were a real thing and it is totally outside of my nature.

Flip side, I am learning things about myself and how to be a great teacher.  I'm also learning that I am really going to learn being a teacher.  I already knew that I want to be a teacher but this is just making it harder to wait until I get my BA and get hired as a teacher.  I am sure that next year when I do my observation and the farther and farther I get into my core classes, the harder it is going to be to wait until I have my own classroom.  Not to mention how hungry, student teaching is going to make me.

Math

Well, now that, that class is out of the way we can start on some of the fun core classes.  I am so grateful to have all of my general classes out of the way and now I can focus on the ones that matter, the ones that I will need to be a successful teacher.

I would have to say thought that taking a math class on line is one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.  It was so stressful and I thought that it was never going to end and that I was totally going to bomb the entire thing.  As it turns out I did great and I ended up with an A in the class.  I think I just barely hit a % that will give me a 4.0 for the class but I am not 100% on that as I have not looked at the GPA for that class yet.

It has also, come to my attention that I post way more things on facebook that should be in this blog rather than posting them to the blog.  I really need to be better about that.  After all this is out there for those that are taking on line classes to be encouraged and see that they are not the only one out there that is struggling with returning to school.  It is not an easy task to return to school after many years of not attending any kind of school and it is even harder to do so when you have children at home or are working or both.

There is an advantage to taking an online math class though.  You can use your notes.  A traditional class you would not be able to use your notes for the exam/test or as my teacher would rather quiz.  In my book Test and Exam are bad 4 letter words that should never be used.  They cause people to freak out and worry about things they need not worry about as well as cause you to freeze up and forget the things that you do know.  So praise the Lord in Heaven that notes are allowed in online schooling.

However, it is extremely possible that if you want it bad enough you too can achieve greatness in your schooling whether it be on line or in a classroom no matter what the subject matter is.