I have gotten a few pm's asking what is going on - seems some of us actually watch this site daily, looking for posts from the members. Here is what is going on with me....
The V.A. has decided I have a degenerative nerve issue, and won't be able to do much if any work of the types I am used to so they are sending me back to college... Full time.
For those of you that don't know, full time college means 12 hours of classes a week... doesn't sound to bad.... until you add 4 hours of study time for each class hour. Still not to bad if you are used to a 40 hour week... Now add the little fact that you have not been to school in 40+ years and are expected to know and remember all those pesky rules we was taught about nouns, verbs, adjectives, orders of operations, simplifying, divisors, prime numbers, etc... etc...
So our study time becomes closer to 8 hours per classroom hour...
I am on here as much as I can be without killing my classes.... Although there are a couple of Prof's who's charactertures may grace my targets before the end of the semester!
Make sure to take plenty of apples to give the profs. Hope your condition will remain manageable. thmbsup
I wish you the best Jim and offer any kind of support that I can.
William
thmbsup You keep at it Jim. We're holding the fort down......... but skirmishers have reported hostiles about.... watch yer top knot and keep yur powder dry while out there scouting unfamiliar territory.... Whew i need a vacation.
My hat is off to you. Anyone that can handle classroom time is a tougher man than I am. Especially at your advanced 'shok' age. (Oops, did I say that? Sorry. rdfce )
Best of luck to you brother!
As a retired college prof, I always liked getting the non-traditional students (aka old people) in my classes. They almost always worked harder, showed up for class (sober I might add), and didn't whine about exams, quizzes, etc. Their work ethic was almost always outstanding in contrast to some students who were there for only one semester to party as hard as possible until mom & dad cut off the funds due to failing marks in nearly everything. Good luck to you. Contrary to popular belief, there are a lot of college instructors who love having their students succeed in class. Of course, there are always the jerks as well.
Good luck in school old man bunkr
I'm praying you do well. it's hard to go back after all those years. I done did it too!!!!!! You can tell I'm college trained by the way i use my words.LOL. seriously ,Bon Chance (Good luck) to you in your endeavors. P.S. No chasing them young co-eds. ( They're faster than you.) thmbsup :applause:
I hate to break the news to you Hanshi, but teachers no longer take apples as bribes, they have evolved to Apple PRODUCTS!
iPads, iPhones, and such.
That can get expensive..
Good luck,
Illegitimi non carborundum..
(Not true Latin, but you get the idea behind it)
Quote from: 45 Bravo on January 30, 2014
I hate to break the news to you Hanshi, but teachers no longer take apples as bribes, they have evolved to Apple PRODUCTS!
iPads, iPhones, and such.
That can get expensive..
Good luck,
[/color]
[hmm] I guess I'm just too old myself to keep up with such things. Them "electric apples" are beyond me; I still prefer the round ones.
personally, I won't own ANY Apple product.
Quote from: Dogshirt on January 30, 2014
personally, I won't own ANY Apple product.
Why, did they start making flintlocks? blah ROFL ROFL
For much the same reasons I won't use ANYTHING Google or Amazon.
Red Badger, One thing that you cant do in College, if the Professor insults you 'shok' or gives you a lower grade than you think you deserve, pnic You cannot challenge him to a DUEL. fncg hdslp ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL chrrs
Quote from: pilgrim on January 31, 2014
Red Badger, One thing that you cant do in College, if the Professor insults you 'shok' or gives you a lower grade than you think you deserve, pnic You cannot challenge him to a DUEL. fncg hdslp ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL chrrs
I can't... oops... too late...
My comp 1 teacher and I have already had words... and he has accepted.... unfortunalty he got to choose the weapon (tricky the way he manovered me)... he chose the pen! I am doomed.....
But the up side is I think my american history 1400-1867 teacher is going to give me extra credit for a presentation after the Woolaroc Rendezvous this april.... :)
To all thanks for the well wishes and comments - all made me smile.... Will update you as I find out how I am doing - The VA wants me to do well enough to get a CPA out of all this schooling
Quote from: Red Badger on February 06, 2014
- The VA wants me to do well enough to get a CPA out of all this schooling
I think getting a CPA out of the school might get you in trouble with the wife, specially if she is half your age. bunkr
Good luck in the shooling. I went back and got a degree after 30 years from skool. As yoo cn see I lurned good. Hoo , saied olld fellers kant lurn. skrt
As a former non-trad I can certainly relate to some of your issues. Being an English Ed. major meant the comp. and lit. stuff wasn't all that intimidating. My wife also went back later in life and finished her BA in accounting. She didn't do the CPA thing because she was already a cost analyst for an insurance company.
Overall, I think we old farts have a distinct advantage in college. We know lots of stuff that kids only read about in books. They are smart but lazy, so non-trads tend to outdo them in class...I did, lol!
Good luck, make sure you have some fun with it too.
AND, yer wife is now sleeping with a college boy! blah
Well here is an update,
As I said the comp 1 prof and I kinda had words and he choese the pen as the weapon of choice... The asignemnt 3 page essay using comparison or contrast, on a couple of subjects of your choice of which you have personal knowledge....
Hmmm what do I chose... "Light Bulb" English language - changes in such from 1700's until today... Brillient idea !
He bought off on it after I re- explained (for the third time) what historical re-enacting actually means and what we do!
bnow all I have to do is have the rough draft in by next Thursday (2/20)....
now 2/19 Get in gear and finish that paper....
Doug
Ps..when I went back, some of the kids complained I was ruining the curve....(sliding grade scale)
The essay is done and turned in but I can't post it here yet because if I do and the instructor runs the anti plagerism software it might pick up the text from here and call it plagerism even if I am the author -
So I will post the essay in a couple of days after he tells me I can. (I already told him I needed to post a copy here fro you guys)
[hmm] I expect to see a good report card young man.If not it'll be a trip to the woodshed fer ya. whipping
thmbsup THE WOODSHED (AHA)..... hdslp That's where youse bin hidin thet durn jug...Good luck Badger!! Went back in 94 to get my Matriculation and finish off a B.F.A I'd been working on for years..... truth is I really enjoyed it...Was a heck of a lot more focused than when I was younger. thmbsup
Glad your back in school Red Badger and expanding your education. While you are there learning don't be afraid to do a little teaching of your own. Lots of young-uns there may enjoy your words of flintlock wisdom..... chrrs
Dan,
I have already talked to some of these young'uns about black powder in general, but unfortunatly the campus is closed to firearms (although there is a bill in state legislature right now to open the campus's) so can't do a demonstration.... :mini-devil-28492: I'm hopeing to get a couple of the folks who seem interested out to the house on a Saturday and do a BP firearms class, and re enacting exhibition with them.
Hmmm looks like I was a little remiss and did not keep you all up to date... I do apologize for that. Well lets see here to bring you all up to speed I need to report the instructor for comp 1 gave me a B for the class so that went well.. but after some discussion it was decided by the V.A. and my school councilors that I was not suited to be a CPA ( they said my math skills, might be a little weak... I didn't say anything... I did not want to be a CPA anyway :)... They suggested with my natural bent for stretchin' the truth I should be a school teacher...) So I just finished a 2 year stretch at Tulsa Community College and have received an associates degree in early childhood education. pnic
Now I go on to Northeastern State University to receive my Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education starting in June of 2016 and hopefully finishing up in 2018. I hope to be able to teach science or electronics at the 7th or 8th grade level.... flwa
Jim
thmbsup Keep up the good marks there boss dude.....
"Now I go on to Northeastern State University to receive my Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education starting in June of 2016 and hopefully finishing up in 2018."
Ya reckon yer gonna live that long? :mini-devil-28492:
"I hope to be able to teach science or electronics at the 7th or 8th grade level.."
Teach 13 year olds??? skrt It's impossible to teach a 13 year old anything. They already know it all.
Badger, I tried the Accounting thing and was bored out of my gord. After a few years I went back to school and got my Masters in Special Education. I never regretted it except for the pay. Money is not everything. Just retired in November of 2014 due to health issues after 28 years. A word to the wise observe so in middle school before you get that certification . My first two years was in middle school and as someone else said you can't teach them anything they already know it. I finished out the last 26 years in an elementary k-5 setting and enjoyed every minute of it. I made a game out of everything and the kids never knew they were learning. The little ones are the way to go. Special Ed. is the most rewarding. I found my biggest job was making kids believe they could learn and achieve .`Special Ed. is controlled by federal funds so that means a whole lot of government red tape and paperwork. Good luck and if I can help pm me. Do some volunteering and observing and you'll see where you want to be.
Congratulations on moving as far as you have in school!
When you are teaching science, if you need a Powerpoint lecture set on Geology or Environmental Geology, just yell and I will send a whole semester's worth to you. My specialty is civil and environmental engineering, but the powers-that-be had me teach an Environmental Geology course.
Regards,
Ron
I have a passion for electronics and amateur radio besides the black powder and historical re-enacting, so that is why I want to specialize in science/electronics and most districts do not start electronics programs until 7th grade. I have been observing and co teaching as part of my degree program and in addition am a substitute teacher so have been in almost every grade and field of study in the Tulsa Public school system already.
I know that a substitute has a different take on the class than the regular teacher (sometimes better sometimes worse), but I have found if they are old enough to understand the basics of electronics they can be amazed at little things like Jacobs ladders and static electricity experiments... and with history a good variety of well chosen visual aids can be a wonderful thing to capture an imagination and start a young mind into actually thinking instead of just reading, or watching... and a young mind that thinks is a very rare but dangerous thing...
pnic
Nicely charged capacitors left sitting around or magnetos are great to let that age group find when they come to class and are not supposed to touch anything...
Doug
Sparky knows best
Hopefully You will be able to maintain their interest and attention. Middle school students can turn on you like a hungry pack of wolves on a wounded deer. My spousal support unit has been a teacher for the last 25 years or so and is very happy & content sticking with the primary grades. After your first year teaching (if you survive, of course) I will nominate you for the "Possibly the toughest man in the entire world" contest.
Good job so far and good luck going forward. thmbsup
I had always intended on spending 20 years in law enforcement and then retiring to teach Criminal Justice at the high school level. However, after a second back injury and subsequent surgery ended my LE career I began substituting prior to getting my teaching certification and found that I really didn't like teaching above the 6th grade level. Then several elementary school teachers put me on their most preferred list and I shifted my certification classes on Pre-K through 6th. I never regretted that decision and unfortunately due to my last catastrophic illness, I may never be able to return to the classroom. It's still a decision that I stand by and can tell everyone through firsthand experience that it is the most rewarding job I've ever had. My fiancé has taught 1st grade for 17 of her 24 year experience so I do get to help and support, at least on the fringe. I even got to visit her school's annual rocket launch using 2 liter bottle half filled with water and pressurized with a bicycle pump. Her kids had heard all about me so I had to go through a Q&A session for about 20 minutes after arriving.
It's not that teachers aren't paid enough, although we should make more given all the after hours and weekend time we put in, but programs like NCLB and standardized testing prohibit us from actually teaching anything useful much of the time.
Well now here it is August and there have been a few decidedly interesting changes going on around here... I started my classes at NSU (NorthEastern State University, ) which was originally a Native seminary school back in the days before statehood. But while hanging out at the electronics lab at TCC, one of the instructors there asked me how my classes were going and in conversation he asked me what I knew about drafting and Cad-Cam programs... I asked him if he meant those T square and triangle things they used to make pretty lines and then the computer programs that made those things obsolete .... He smiled and said something to the effect of Yeah, can you still do it... So home I came with a textbook in my arms and dug out the drafting table, T square and assorted tools of the trade... (How come I never throw anything away?).. and if you log into Tulsa Community College and search Course DRFT 1324 Engineering Drawing with CAD you will see it is being taught by one J.A. Erb...
Aka Red Badger....
What this means is now I have to redesign my stepping stone approach to teaching goals...
because I was taught to make small goals which build on one another until you get to the main goal you want.. I had planned on getting my Associates, then my Bachelor's, then teaching Jr High, and studying for my Master's then applying at TCC as a professor as my Final goal.
Now what do I do... Not a Doctorate.... nope not me... :) welllllll......... maybe......
Boy a lot has happened since I wrote that last post.... I did teach at Tulsa Community College for a couple of months until they found a real draftsman that can teach the course... but the most important thing is that.... (drum roll please....)
On the 15th day of December in the year of our Lord, Two Thousand and eighteen (December 15, 2018 in case you cant figure all that fancy stuff out) I was awarded a Bachelors of Science degree in Elementary Education. And.....
On January 1, 2019 I was awarded a State of Oklahoma Certification as a school teacher....
Now I need to find a job.... cuch
Oh yes, I need to modify this post to say a BIG heartfelt THANK YOU to all the people here who have stepped up to run the site and everyone who has offered me encouragement when things got a bit tough! I appreciate each and every one of you more than I can ever express in words....
and remember I am a teacher now so definitely can't afford to pay you !
Congratulations fearless leader!!! It's been a long long road and there are a bunch of us here at the finish line cheering for you. thmbsup Well done.
thmbsup thmbsup
Yes, congratulations on your long and difficult journey to get to where you are. What you did is extraordinary and commendable. You're a better boss than we deserve. thmbsup
Classmates made fun of me when I went back for an advanced degree at age 50. One offered me a cane. However, it was enlightening and very rewarding intellectually if not monetarily. However, I'm glad I didn't try to teach any of the modern-day brats that exist today. I would have had to pull my Sig on some, I'm sure.
Good luck in the immediate future and I wish you the best (although I think you will probably see the worst). (susp)
thmbsup Good goin Jim....Bravo Zulu
thmbsup Well done sir! thmbsup chrrs
Super! If you can't find work, you can try Alaska; they're always looking for teachers, if you are willing to go to one of the villages. Getting the holy black might be a problem though, now that you can't get it through the mail....
~WH~
Quote from: Patocazador on January 07, 2019
Classmates made fun of me when I went back for an advanced degree at age 50. One offered me a cane. However, it was enlightening and very rewarding intellectually if not monetarily. However, I'm glad I didn't try to teach any of the modern-day brats that exist today. I would have had to pull my Sig on some, I'm sure.
Good luck in the immediate future and I wish you the best (although I think you will probably see the worst). (susp)
Most of my classmates like to ask me what it was like to teach reading and writing using stone tablets and other such age related jokes, but they were all in good fun and I didn't mind reminding them that I have lived through history and they have only read about it...