I am back! And I am cultured! / Jsem zpatky a jeste vzdelanejsi!

Hello to all Czehmatediararians!!!

I came back from the under-world of big words and fanciful ideas. For those of you who do not know I am in the process of getting a teaching credential and the school is – well was – kicking my butt, now I am managing much better. That doesn’t mean I have time to do my most favorite thing in the world – write posts in the Czechmate Diary!

I have a lot to share. First of, remember when you, as a young individual, went to college and had to compete with those older folks in the front rows? They usually had jobs and took evening classes or they were moms and took classes while their kids were at school. They were always prepared, knew everything, and LOVED to talk. Well, I think I am officially one of them. Not sure if I am the most annoying student in the class but I do like to raise my hand and tell the teacher and the class what I think. What is worst, I think that since I am the elder person there, it is my DUTY to educate the youngsters about the ‘other side’ of things.

I really enjoy going to school again. I have three classes: one is The basics of teaching, then Technology in the classroom, and finally Diversity in Education. The first one is my most favorite one, the middle course gives me the biggest anxiety and the latter class mostly just ticks me off.

Technology in the classroom: once again I am one of the oldest ones (true, there is about 60 year old lady whom I feel really bad for) and the class just….. something. Thank God, I have two 19 year olds sitting on each side, telling me what to press and where. Despite of their help, not once, but twice (!!) everything from my screen strangely disappeared, which I did not take well. But I am learning and let me tell you, by the next year, our kids will be probably penalized if they use that ‘archaic’ pen and paper instead of an iPad for their homework.

Diversity in Education: Wow. I am not sure where to start. Our teacher is an older Latino man who does not seem to like white people very much. He rambles about white privilege, socio-economically disadvantaged groups, which is fine with me because I do agree with some of his points. But when he says ‘if you are a white, church-going, middle-class protestant, you hate everyone’, I just had to raise my hand and say something….Now, you see, I am his problem child in the classroom since I am white but was not raised in the US therefore I am of a different ethnic background and add to the melting pot. For that I get the  ‘approved’ stamp. But since I am conservative, he does not know what to do with me.

Weeks have passed and I learned more about our professor and the truth is that he just had been hurt too many times as a child and a young man with some racial insults. Ok, I get that and I am sorry. But the times are different now, people that I know truly don’t see color. With his fierce tongue, I think he is dividing our class more than anything. He is making those Hispanic and African-American students in our class believe that white people still think they are better than them which creates an animosity. Do we really need that? I am not sure how about you but I judge people by the content of their character not by the color of their skin…and I have a feeling I am repeating someone here.

CZ: Ahojte vsichni! Doufam, ze se vam vsem dari dobre. Omlouvam se za nedostatek kyberneticke pritomnosti, ale skola me opravdu casove zatezuje (snazim se udelat si nastavbu na ucitelstvi). Bohuzel nemam cas prelozit vse, co jsem napsala v anglickem textu, ale jen tak v souhrnu:

• ve tride jsem jedna z nejstarsich, takze ano, sedim v prvni lavici, ano neustale zvedam ruku, ze neco vim nebo ze mam k necemu neco dodat a ano, ukoly mam vzdycky hotove tyden pred uzaverkou
• jeden z mych predmetu se jmenuje ‘Technologie ve tridach” a bohuzel to, ze mam email a facebook a blog (!!) me vubec nezachranuje. 
• dalsi predmet se jmenuje ‘Diversita ve vzdelavani” a pan ucitel je postarsi Mexican, ktery nema rad bile lidi. Tak tam spolu debatujeme a on nevi, co se mnou ma delat, protoze ja nejsem ten typicky prototyp bileho Americana, ale bila jsem a k tomu jeste konzervativni:)