My Road to Teaching (is Paved w. Good Intentions…)

So lets start at the semi-beginning. I wrote down somewhere that I want to “inspire people” for a living. Great. That limits my options. And then, one day I thought intensely about my lack of inspiration and started to long for the days of my academic past and the high school history teacher I still remember so well (and had a dream about recently, no details for you all on that one!) And somehow the idea of teaching started to sound brilliant. And somehow, history was the only option. After all, it couldn’t be that different than Art History right? (Ha!) So after I made the decision, I started looking for programs and realized w/o history credit in college I will have to take the state social studies exam that covers everything that has happened in the world at large from before time to the present and US Government, and Econ. That’s all?  Oh, and some psychology and sociology for good measure. But, once I pass the exam this January, I will find my way to a program and  be in the classroom by next August.

I have 5 areas or “domains” that the TeXes exam covers. These are broken down into competencies, of which there are 23. I have 30 weeks until the test. What’s the best way to tackle them? If I do one week per competency, if that’s even possible, I would finish 7 weeks early. If I do one domain per 5 weeks, I just get in by the deadline. Should I study 1 comp per week   and then pick up the pieces and test myself after I finish them all? I’ve pasted the domains and competencies below. Tell me what you think.

Domain                  Competency
I World History    001 Ancient World Civ.
I World History    002 World 476 AD-1350
I World History    003 World 1350-1815
I World History    004 World 1815-Present
II US History    005 Exploration/Colonization
II US History    006 Revolutionary Era
II US History    007 Expansion/Civil War
II US History    008 US as World Power
II US History    009 Pol/Eco/Soc 1877-Present
III Geography/Culture/Soc Sci    010 Physical Geography
III Geography/Culture/Soc Sci    011 Cultural and Human Geo
III Geography/Culture/Soc Sci    012 Humans and environment
III Geography/Culture/Soc Sci    013 Soc/Anth/Psych
IV Government and Citizens    014 Democratic Govt
IV Government and Citizens    015 Citizenship and Pol. Process
IV Government and Citizens    016 Types of Pol. Systems
V Econ and Sci/Tech/Society    017 Econ Systems/Concepts
V Econ and Sci/Tech/Society    018 Free Enterprise System
V Econ and Sci/Tech/Society    019 Sci/Tech/Soci
VI Soc St Foundations/Skills    020 Soc St Foundations/Skills
VI Soc St Foundations/Skills    021 Sources of Soc Info
VI Soc St Foundations/Skills    022 Soc St. Research
VI Soc St Foundations/Skills    023 Soc Instruction/Assessment

An Ode to Billie

An ode to billie on the anniversary of her death. Strange Fruit is said to be the first anti-racism song to hit mainstream culture.

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History of Coffee

I was under the impression that coffee had been a way of life since at least the greeks, but it is a very recent discovery! (Well, recent as far as history goes)

The act of roasting and brewing coffee is traced back to Arabia in the 15th century CE. Stories date coffee to as early as the 6th century CE, but there is no evidence of its existence until the 15th. The most popular tale states that an Arabian shepherd named Kaldi found his goats “stimulated” after nibbling around a dark green leafed shrub with bright red berries in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula.  Kaldi soon determined that it was the bright red berries on the shrub that were causing the peculiar euphoria and after trying the cherries himself, he learned of their powerful effect.  The story continues that he then took these berries to his teacher who angerly threw the berries into the fire. This produced an enticing aroma and the beans were quickly taken out of the fire, ground and made into a drink.

While this is a fun tale, there is little evidence that this is exactly what happened. We do know that Yemen is the closest we can come to a birthplace for coffee and it was used in monestaries before spreading to most of the middle east, Italy and the rest of Europe. Imagine the world without coffee. I know to many of us, that is quite a scary thought. But they did get by without it… somehow.

Sources:

The world of caffeine By Bennett Alan Weinberg, Bonnie K. Bealer

http://www.coffeeresearch.org/coffee/history.htm