#11, 12: 2 for the price of 1

Hello there! This week I read TWO books- not one, but TWO! The first was for a class, and i was highly UNimpressed. All of this 'educator's education' is really making me think how badly i do NOT want to be a teacher. then i have to do a lesson plan and i realize it's all going to be worth it- not only do i have the power to make my students read books that i can select, but i can also make them analyze it in a fun way, not some drab, blecky way that some of those stiffies in high school made us do it. plus, lesson plans are just to-do lists with big fancy wording and "learning objectives".... and we all know how much i love me some to-do lists! :) So this book, the 'T.E.T. teacher effectiveness training' is just so much bullshit.... i can't handle listening exercises and if i hear one more person say 'use "I" messages' i'm going to fly off the handlebars. i realize there is conflict and management issues in every classroom but i think dealing with them is all about intuition and learning from experiences. because if all else fails, i can drop out of the whole teaching game, write a string of super trashy romance novels and aim to marry rich. or just marry someone handsome who loves me and loves dogs. that'll do too, i suppose ;) as for being "an effective teacher," well, i have had enough of that and I'm only one semester in to the school of ed. uh oh. it's going to be a long ride isn't it?

T.E.T. Teacher Effectiveness Training by Dr. Thomas Gordon
"Now revised and updated, T.E.T. can mean the difference between an unproductive, disruptive classroom and a cooperative, productive environment in which students FLOURISH and teachers feel REWARDED."
well isn't that nice.


Now for the main event.... or at least, the much more enjoyable event.
The Map of Love, by Ahdaf Soueif

This was certainly interesting, but i feel like some of it went flying over my head. for instance, what? Soueif was up for a Booker Prize on this one, but i can understand why she didn't get it. it may be that i am a little dense, and wasn't paying close enough attention to what i was reading (hey, it happens...) but i feel like the stories didn't really come together as they were supposed to. the whole premise is based on these two friends who may or may not be related and the story wraps between two eras and england, egypt and new york.... the whole story was just a little much to take in. and i know i missed something important, i just know it. don't you hate when that happens? especially when you are reading something fun.... i don't mind missing school stuff. hahahahahahahha oh man oh man. i did feel like i took something away from this confusing little (well, actually not so little- 515 pages. too many, although it went fast) number was that love spans not only between people but between time, family, continents, cultures, war, politics, babies.... making me believe that maybe- just maybe- regardless of who i find to love, or who my friends find to love, we can make things work wherever we go and wherever we are from. air force, foreign exchange..... anything is possible