Lake Superior

Lake Superior
There is no place like home

Sunday, February 6, 2011

NTS - To be or not to be - This is the question that I ask of me

NTS - aka "Non-Traditional Student" - is more than just an acronym. 
It is a way of life. 
A chance to look at oneself and assess what self-improvements are necessary. 
So I ask:
  • Do my technical skills favorably compare to current offerings?
  • Have I been passed over for a promotion because of a diminished skill set?
  • When I look at what I want to do for the next 15 years, does it require further education?
  • Can I commit to the expectations of a curriculum caseload?
Depending upon the answers I place to the aforementioned queries, the question I ask - NTS or no NTS - can be answered with the highest probability of right choice. 

Of course asking the questions is much easier than determining the truth to the responding answers.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Slow Ride to Success

In my quest to better convey my blog to the reader, I visited several blog advice sites.  This site  http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/12/30/tens-tips-for-writing-a-blog-post/ offered the best advice.
Non-traditional student status continues to:
·         Challenge my mental faculties
·         Motivate my winter lethargy
·         Inspire creativity
·         Scare the hell out of me

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Deep Thoughts by LJ

While some may think a return to the classroom falls short of front page news, for this student it is a minor miracle of momentous proportions. I find myself questioning the logic of such a maneuver: I am way too old - I mean while 50 spells young in the church pew, it wreaks of elderly in the classroom.  Facing the obvious loss of short term memory is just one of the many reasons I can deliver for why I should leave the learning to our youth.  The future of our nation.  I am the present.  They - the righteous owners of the classroom - are the future - our darling impressionable youth. 
Of course none of my ramblings thus far have really focused on the jest of this entry, which is to note how life as a non-traditional student is.  Or isn't... 
During the course of a given day, I can offer up numerous reasons for concentrating on the needs of others.  I am great at solving the world's problems.  Just rather suck at confronting my own needs, my own problems if you will.  So, how does someone who is so dependent upon the needs of others break free from such binding chains to pursue an effort that will only serve self?  Wow.  Big steps for an old fool.  A martyr of the maternal brand.  My first challenge to conquer is to figure out how to put ME first.  Then and only then will I sufficiently get from this class what I have signed up to receive.  So when one thinks the discipline of the experienced is of little consequence, I must insist consideration be given to the idea that all of my discipline thus far has been for self-sacrifice to the cause of others and only now will I begin the cause of ME. 
Cause I am worth it and that my fellow students is motivation enough to give this endeavor a chance. 

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Class Begins

Here I am.  Blogging.  From my classroom.  I am in a class.  I am a student.  Unbelievable.  A blogging student sitting in a classroom.