Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...

King Henry said it well, and so I'll repeat it as I begin my home stretch on my journey to getting my certification. This fall semester I'm taking four classes to finish up my English content for my certification, Rhetoric and Theory, Teaching Writing, Teaching Literature, and Young Adult Literature.  I'm excited about all of my classes and I'm looking forward to learning the nuts and bolts of teaching lit and writing.  I got the reading list for my YA lit course at the beginning of August, so I've been getting a head start on the reading for that class.  So far I've read "Catcher in the Rye", "House on Mango Street", "The Chocolate War" and I'm finishing up, "A Wizard of Earth's Sea".  All of the books have been great, and it's been really interesting to read them with an eye toward teachable moments.  That's especially true of "A Wizard of Earth's Sea," which is a fantasy novel complete with wizards and a dragons.  You see, my favorite genre of all has got to be fantasy, but I generally read it for pure escapism, with little regard to the theme or symbol, so as I'm reading LeGuin's novel, I'm paying particular attention to the possible themes and symbols in the tale.  It's quite interesting.

I also got my assignment for student teaching.  I'll be teaching at Bloomington High School starting January 31, 2011, which is great seeing as how it is mere blocks away from my house.  I actually observed the teacher I'll be working with back in February and was very impressed with his creative writing class and his incorporation of The Beatles into his instruction.  I'm really looking forward to working with him for my student teaching experience.

I will try to keep this space updated as often as I'm able, I am, however, working close to 40 hours and taking 12 hours of class, so we'll see how it goes.

Wish me luck!