I decided to try designing and taking my own 5-week course in whatever I want.  The aim of my pilot course is to help me become a better teacher.

As I state in that initial project post, I have no intention of pursuing more of these 5-week courses if I don’t enjoy them.  That being said, I keep getting ideas for subjects I’d theoretically love to spend five weeks with.  That list lives here.

• more effective presentations and/or facilitation
• indoor, kitty-proof gardening
• nutrition
• cooking techniques I’ve been too lazy/intimidated to try
• focus on violin: technique and a new (challenging) piece
• personal finance
• education and democracy study
• more focus on a piece of becoming a better teacher: content, curriculum writing, teaching methods, ed psych – wow, that’s 20 weeks right there.
• calculus – theory without algebra
• 5 weeks of NOVA films
• meditation
• GTD
• fitness
• neighborhoods of the Twin Cities
• thoroughly reading one or two annotated classics
• doing a seriously deep study of a book or poem I love: Prufrock, Dune, and His Dark Materials come to mind immediately.
• a shared study with my boyfriend or other friends – like a book club, but some sort of 5-week club.

That’s 20 potential topics, multiplied by 5 weeks each, which leaves me with 100 weeks’ worth of things I’m curious about after only 15 minutes of brainstorming.