Back to School

The 2012-13 school year is well underway and as usual, there’s always something new to make things interesting. I have a new boss– my seventh since I’ve been at the school and I’m starting my fourteenth year– which is pretty hard to believe. Three of the teachers I work with the most are retiring at the end of the school year, making this year bitter-sweet in many ways.

Auditorium Before

Over the summer I started painting the auditorium. It was looking pretty drab and I’ve been wanting to paint the proscenium walls since I started working there. The original fifteen-plus year old paint was really looking dingy and outdated, plus it reflected a lot of the stage light. The new grey actually ties all the colors together and has a more modern feel.

Our fall play has been pushed out of its normal time slot in October, to the weekend before Thanksgiving– by an outside organization in a disappointing and unprecedented move by the school and district. Reportedly, the group is going to ‘make a donation’ and this was the reasoning behind allowing this to happen. I think it is a

… and after

dangerous move to start giving priority to non-school-related events over student activities in order to make a buck. Especially when all of August and September were wide open. Once again, the arts get pushed aside.

Back to Class

I’ve decided to take more classes online to further my education. It has been a year since I finished my Masters and I’ve found I really miss class. Currently, I’m taking two classes, with a third starting next week. We’ll see if I can keep up with all the work. The structure is slightly different from my past studies but so far all is going well.

I’m taking the classes for FREE through Coursera.org. It’s a great opportunity to take a wide variety of courses from major institution around the world.

Imagine taking a course with over 26,000 students from around the world! That’s the enrollment in my Introduction to Sustainability class offered by the University of Illinois through Coursera. One of the drawbacks of this type of learning opportunity is that its hard to get to know any of your classmates. One of the pros is that you get unique perspectives from students of all ages from all over the world.

I’m also taking a course in Securing Digital Democracy offered by the University of Michigan, and Monday I start Networked Life offered by the University of Pennsylvania.

Many, but not all, result in a certificate of completion form the institution offering the class. Grading can be different from course to course and most classes provide all the study materials needed with optional texts that can be purchased from major online retailers. Many different courses are offered year round, though they do have specific timetables for starting and completion. They also can range from a few weeks to a full semester in length.

If you are looking to expand your knowledge or perhaps a career change, you might want to check it out.

Before

After