Reading on the bus - point to follow up with tutor enc

Mega bus - to catch up on all your reading needs!
I used my long bus journey well - reading several of the MIE booklets. Presentations - I wonder do the people who write these (lecturers I'm assuming) not remember that they are continually presenting? Or maybe I've just read too many of these booklets. I know lots of people have a fear of presenting but perhaps if people didn't always start giving you guidance from the "we know you hate it but you have to" stand point and took a "this is a process that it's good to learn to love no matter how you feel now" it would all be more positive. Or maybe I just like standing up and spouting off with an air of authority too much to not be properly prepared. As usual it was a valid expenditure of time as some timely reminders on "don't pack too much in" this time.
Then read the Unit 1 (well we've been told which ones to read for homework, this hadn't come up and I had forgotten to get round to it) booklet which is about - this stuff. Had an interesting time with the "what makes an effective self developer". the lowest scoring items were "Clear realistic aims and career plan" as I'm not really sure. I feel this current role has a year of development to go - along side this course, by which stage I thought I'd start looking at what is out there and in March 2006 when the funding runs out I would have an idea where to next. At them moment there is nowhere to go but consolidate and I'm restarting having given up teaching last year. Perhaps I need to do something sooner, although it does feel like a paper exercise for the purpose of this course. The other item was "Is skilled at Self protection where needed" because I don't know what this means. Nor did my companion. Must follow this up with the tutor.

I now plan to have a 6 week experiment with the personal journal layout they suggest. I think I'll use it to focus on learning around my new minion who starts next week. It'll be odd as I don't think I have a choice about doing it on paper not on a keyboard. Think I may run the structured diary in parallel and continue with this as well, presumeably the discipline of the diary will spill over into this but need to ensure I have as much as possible to draw on for the assignment.

Also did the specified homework reading about "what a manager does" - bit tricky when you have italians doing weird stuff around you - so reread and make the required notes will be necessary. Obviously the literature is talking about someone who is purely a manager not a manager of X so spends some time managing and some time at the bottom of a heap being managed by with responsibilities for other stuff. I am primarily an administrator and I would say about 50% of my time is spend in the way these theorists summarise management but I don't have a person to manage. It has scared me - how would I feel I was achieving anything if my role was like those descriped - there's so little physical output or completion of tasks which is the way I measure my sense of success currently. If I'm not cut out to become a manager does that mean I will be stuck at this level for ever?