Seminar?

I’m sitting down on the student side of the desk for this one, and frankly it is a little disconcerting. It’s interesting to be a teacher all day long and then come two evenings a month I gotta throw the whole system into reverse and become a student.

It’s not as if my singular class this semester (what a way to end college on a high) is particularly cerebral, it just has become a speed bump.
You know the speed bumps I’m referring too. They are that strange height where they’re too low to really cause you to hit the brakes, but so high that rolling over the thing makes a sharp jolt that could make you uncomfortably jostle your beverage you happen to be sipping.
That’s my methods class. It’s jostlingly annoying.

This time when we’re supposed to attend class, it’s not even class.

It’s a seminar.

Ok. Last week, I got an e-mail stating that instead of class, we were to report to Terrell Hall (near no student parking whatsoever just smack in the middle of asphalt deprived campus) to attend a ‘Teaching Skills’ Seminar.

I have problems with this.
1. I instantly don’t know what the word “seminar” means and it annoys me when I don’t know what a word means right away.
2. After skimming the vague description of said seminar, I realize I was required to attend this thing in my first semester of student teaching.
Which lends itself to a whole subsection of issues.
a) The College of Education thinks its student teachers won’t remember something they attended 8 months ago, which shows how intelligent they think we are.
b) The COE thinks their seminars take two doses to be effective, which shows the quality of their programs.
c) The COE forgot they’ve already hosted this speaker for the student teachers and booked the program again. Which show how on top of things they are.

No matter the reason, I have to go- the e-mail contains the big “M”: Mandatory. So I bitterly feed the parking meter and hike in my not-for-hiking-but-not-really-for-teaching-either-so-I’m-doubly-in-pain grey boots to Terrell.

Sure as a 7th grader as zits, it’s the same speaker from back in April. I pick up the same follow-along material I didn’t look at last time and sit by the door in case the intense déjà vu makes the room burst into flames, I’m near the exit.

This is a good example of the ‘student’ part of being a 2nd semester student teacher. The COE is trying to educate me, but really- it’s something I’ve seen before, wasn’t that riveting in the first place, and you have to sit in a hard plastic chair while it goes on for a couple hours till you can leave.

I did google “seminar” on my phone using my purse as shield. It wasn’t what I expected.

Sem.i.nar:
- a small group of advanced students in a college or graduate school engaged in original research or intensive study under the guidance of a professor who meets regularly with them to discuss their reports and findings.

I’m not sure if the COE knew what they were doing when they named this shindig, but I’m sure when they do it again next semester they can try a new name out.