the layered approach

Many apologies for the delay in updating this blog! It has taken me longer than I thought it would to get my feet under me and to get used to this new life of being a cosmetology student. Hopefully this long lapse won't happen again but I make no promises...

When they said it was an accelerated program they really meant it! The fast pace, my personal drive to LEARN ALL THE THINGS and the horrible Metro-DC traffic have left me with little time for a social life and even less time for blogging and my beloved hobby of sewing and costuming. I comfort myself with the mantras "I can do anything for a year" & "Work now so I can play later". Sewing and playing dress-up with be there for me when school is done so for now I'm determined to focus on the task at hand and make the most of my investment at PMTS.

The time is really flying by and in the past 9 weeks I have progressed through the "Core" and "Protégé" phases. As of today I am officially an "Adaptive", meaning that I now spend half my time on the Salon-Clinic floor and half my time in the classroom. Overall I'm really loving school and am so glad I choose this Paul Mitchell School. My classes are interesting, many of my fellow classmates are great people and the more I learn, the more I'm confident that I'm meant to be a cosmetologist. Of course there are things that I don't like about school and things I struggle with but such is life. Overall it's been a good experience so far.

The curriculum's approach has been interesting and honestly not quite what I expected. While there is an emphasis on making the information accessible to many different learning styles there is no escaping that some of the teaching methods used are not the way I personally learn best. That was a little disappointing if fair. The curriculum's basic approach is one of a system of layered information. Basically every subject is on a rotation and as you go on you get more each rotation through. As a "Core Baby" I was basically exposed to all the basic elements of cosmetology, but only getting a basic foundation and taste of each. During the next phase, "Protégé, I learned a bit more about each subject (albeit very condensed since Protégée is only 2.5 weeks long). As an "Adaptive", which I will be for the next few months, I'll learn more as we cycle through and in the last phase "Creative", even more.

I'm the kind of student that likes to reach a certain level of comfort and mastery in one thing before moving on to the next so that has been a struggle. I have often felt a bit lost at sea without a life vest and it's been very uncomfortable at times. Still I've learned some valuable lessons and made some self discoveries through it. Being stretched and tested is never fun but it's a necessary part of life. Without it you can't grow and I certainly don't want to be stagnant - that is not a good way to live at all! So I have started down the path to let go of some of my ODC/perfectionist tendencies, swallow my pride, grow in my faith and be content to accept life as it comes. Oh yeah and I'm learning about cutting, coloring and all that jazz too. I can't say life as a Future Professional is dull, that is for sure!