Oops, I Did It Again! by ucumari on Flickr

I thought I should probably acknowledge the fact that I just randomly didn’t post for something like two weeks.

The short answer is that everything’s fine. The slightly longer answer is that my job and my personal life were both particularly engrossing during that time and there wasn’t room to blog too.

I seriously considered whether to keep the blog at all. For now, my answer is yes. It’s my little space to write regularly and think out loud. I enjoy it and I think it’s good for me. So it stays.

However, I’m going to move to two posts per week: Mondays and Wednesdays. I hope to move back up to three at some point in the future.

That’s it for now. Enjoy the rest of the week!

I’m trying out a post on my relatively new mobile device.

I want to know how pretty it is, how the formatting translates, how easy it is to include photos, and if I can schedule the post (as opposed to posting it immediately).

Compact Calendar Card - Design 3 by Joe Lanman on Flickr

I think it’s time I add a little bit of method to my posting madness.  Trent says so.

Starting now, I will be posting once every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I don’t know how this will work with future Five-Week Courses, or how vacations will fit in, or if the timing structure will cause me to add some content structure. We’ll see how it develops.

A major downfall of my 5WC has been that it ignored the rhythm of my life.  I started it without regard to the monthly visits I have with my long-distance boyfriend.  This was silly of me.  I basically set myself up to fail.

The great news for me is that he’ll be visiting in just a couple of days.  The good news for my self-directed professional development is that I’m looking to change the 5WC structure starting when he goes back home.

So, I’ll be back late next week with some proposed changes.

Happy Snail by davey-boy on Flickr

Although I’ve been slacking with the blogging, I wanted to let you know that I’m still inching along with the 5WC about teaching.

I had an “interview” with one of my volunteers who’s an experienced adult ESL teacher.  It ended up going much differently than I’d expected.  We both teach Advanced at my center, so we ended up talking a lot about that class specifically.  It was fantastically helpful, I think for both of us, and I think it will result in some positive changes that will benefit our students.

I was surprised that I was able to give back during our chat.  She asked more about the 5WC with the idea of bringing it to a group she’s involved in.  I was also able to give her helpful tidbits about Macs and social media.

So I’m really glad the 5WC spurred me to actually take the time to talk to people instead of just saying, “yep, that’d be a good idea someday.”  The 5WC made “someday” become a “today.”

I have to admit, I’m not doing so hot with my reading.  I also have no idea where I’m at in the five weeks.

But for now I’m still going (at a snail’s pace, but still going!) and finding that every effort I’ve put in has been rewarded far more than I’d expected.

Airplane Wing by Zoagli on Flickr

Spring Break snuck up on me.  As a result, it’s looking like radio silence from me and my blog till Monday, March 23rd. I’d been hoping to not to disappear for over a week, but some things came up and I’m not prepared to keep talking.

The fact is that the 5WC and blogging about it are medium-priorities for me.  I’m enjoying it and learning from it, but family, work, and my need to sleep are higher priorities.  It’s refreshing to not have to pretend otherwise.

I’ll be packing my physically smallest 5WC book to (theoretically) read en route, and I’m still hoping to watch some Cleese/Child demonstrative videos during the trip… and I’ll let you know how it went a week from Monday!

Memorial Day Practice by Sister72 on Flickr

Mary Jane left a comment that I didn’t have time to properly reply to this morning.  I don’t really feel I have the brainpower to properly reply right now either, but I should at least try.

Basically, she encouraged me to not forget about actually practicing what I learned from Renner.  And, despite all my reading about experiential learning, I’m wondering whether practicing things I’ve learned fits into this project.

It all comes down to this:

• I wrote learning objectives while I was unlearned (they focus on gaining a broader awareness of the field).
• MJ’s advice is in line with the reading I’ve done so far, but would divert me from my stated objectives (by pursuing more depth than I’d planned to).
• I still like my objectives, but I’m only marginally more learned than when I wrote them.

My current compromise:

I think that right now, or rather tomorrow, I can go back through what I learned from Renner and select a few promising tidbits that might be particularly useful to me in the near future.  I’m looking to go beyond activity ideas to other points I might work with less directly.  It would start a short-list for what to put into practice when the opportune moment arrives.  Maybe that moment will be this Thursday, or maybe not for a month or two.  Either way, I’ll be ready.

Future considerations:

I would like to build intentional practice into future 5WCs, and I think it would be well-suited to a relatively narrow topic.

I’d also like to learn more from books and other teachers before deciding what to subject my students to.

Also, after a slightly strange conversation with a long-time business manager today, I realized that I do act upon very clear  priorities: students first; volunteers second; administration/accountability/curriculum third; everything else if I have time.  5WCs would end up being in the “everything else” category at work because they’re not directly and immediately focused on the students.  I’d have to be strategic about when I decided to implement a practice-based 5WC or else it would just be another good idea I didn’t have time for.

Other ideas for what to do are welcome!  I won’t necessarily act upon them, but I would enjoy the chance to consider them.

I have to say, I’m happy have finished Renner.  Knowing that I’ve kept up with my project and that I have solid notes to use just makes me feel good.  A minor accomplishment, but I’ll take it.

I’m also liking that the blog holds me accountable to my 5WC.  Most of my readers seem to be people I know (my grandma is one of them!), and they comment on the blog and in person.  I also can’t just passively skim and call it done – I’m posting my notes for all to read, and they’re staying posted and public for a good long while.  Who knows what other readers will happen along?  I have to follow through, and I have to follow through well.   This is good for me.

Next up is to figure out where I am and what’s up next.

First let’s figure out where I am.  I’ve been vague about the dates up till now to give myself wiggle-room, but it’s now time to nail it down.  I’ll call my official start date the date of my first 5WC post: Tuesday, February 24th, 2009.  I’d been thinking on it before then, but I think the general start-up time can be considered outside the course itself.  That puts me at slightly over week and a half in right now.  I have about three and a half weeks left.

Something to consider: Spring Break.  I’m going on a ten-day trip to the East Coast starting this Friday, and I’m not sure how it and this project are going to function together.  I could mimic school and just be on break, with maybe one reading assignment?  Or just totally take a break.  Or take no break whatsoever and hold myself to the same standard of a post a day by hook or by crook.  If I choose a break or partial break, how will this affect my five-week timeframe?  Opinions are welcome, and I’ll let you know what I decide.

Something else to consider: I’ve set up one interview with an experienced teacher for the middle of this coming week, and another teacher has agreed to talk to me at some point but we haven’t hammered out the details yet.  Preparing for them, talking with them, and writing up what we talk about is going to take time, so I need to not go crazy with the reading list.

Now, to the syllabus.  Time to organize and set priorities for the end of this week and at least part of the next..

Oops by estherase on Flickr

I’m pretty embarrassed because I just caught three spelling errors in my last post.  These ones weren’t even like mixing up “cite” and “site” – they were just flat out wrong.  And I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more I didn’t catch.

I’ve corrected the errors I found, but I know the corrections won’t show up on people’s RSS feeds or emails.  Sorry about that.  I do re-read and edit, just probably too soon after I finish writing.  I’ve definitely got it earmarked for improvement.

View from the Observation Tower by ehpien on Flickr

About the project:

• I noticed that when I read something I disagree with, I want to look at it more closely.  It’s a knee-jerk reaction, and I don’t think it’s a bad one.
• Having my syllabus and using it as a living resource document (not a display piece) helps keep me on track.
• David Chioni Moore’s “How to Read” piece is the voice in my head that asks questions (and meta-questions) when I read.  I wish I had used it when I was his student.  You can find it on his faculty page.

About the blog:

• I have doubts that these posts are interesting to readers.
  • People who are into the topic are better off reading the books directly.
  • People who are not into the topic will not be into my posts or the books.
• I keep on posting.
  • Posting my notes holds me accountable.
  • People I talk to seem interested in pursuing their own 5-week courses, and seeing mine in this much detail might help them with theirs.
• I need to go back and re-think some of my post tagging.  I’m ok with my categorizations for now.

So, if you’re still out there and reading, I’m curious – what are you interested in seeing here regarding the 5WCs?