Thinking about Designing a Course

I guess I didn't realize that there is a lot of thought that goes into the actual design of teaching a class. Sometimes I feel like I know the material, so I just need to share it with others! What could be easier than that? Then I get frustrated because I understand it BUT WHY AREN'T THEY GETTING IT !! After many years of not knowing that there are people who are paid to design classes and that, yes, there is actual thought that goes into designing a lesson plan, I finally jumped on the Instructional Design bandwagon.

It seems like there are people who really know their stuff (the SME) and then there's people who really know how to design a lesson plan. Somehow, we have to get the two together. I do consider myself a SME in some things. So, I have to work on the other side -- how to design a class so that the students are actually learning something.

I'm enjoying the process, but at times I get frustrated with the mumbo jumbo of the educational world. Sometimes it seems like I'm reading whole articles about Instructional Technology and Technology Integration and thinking that the article was a whole bunch of nothing. Sometimes it seems like they just need to state the obvious, like "keep it simple, give out small chunks of information as to not overwhelm the student". Well, duh. Who wouldn't do that? To tell you the truth, that's why I didn't go into teaching in the first place. It just seemed so basic and obvious on what to do.

So, what is a troutgal??

Many years ago, I lived in a small village located one hour northwest of Chicago. It was a great place to live. The name of the village is Trout Valley. It is in McHenry County. The people who live in this village are kinda snobbish and they don't want people to know it exists. There are never any houses with For Sale signs on them, because the village has outlawed any signs on the lawns.

Try to find out about this little village. The village residents don't want anyone to know about them. They try to keep it exclusive. I'm not sure why. It has its own Village President and Village Clerk. It is on the Fox River and has a marina, tennis courts, horseback riding trails, barns and stables, and a beautiful Art Deco swimming pool. Really cool place to raise a family, if you don't mind the snobby people.