Monday, August 29, 2011

Blog Assignment 1

1. Introduction:   
     Hello, my name is Lindsey Gipson, I am twenty-seven years old, and have grown up in Southern Alabama my entire life.  I live here with my wonderful family: Daryl, my husband who is a Mobile Police Officer and a drill sergeant in the Army Reserves, my Third Grade daughter Camryn and my 3 month old daughter Marleigh.  They are by far the best part of my life.  As you can imagine we stay very busy juggling my husbands career, the two little ones, and now my new adventure as a student!  I have spent the past 5 years working at Springhill Medical Center Lab as a lab tech and then moving up to Client Service Coordinator.  This title lead me to the opportunity to teach new employees and work with some high school students who were thinking about pursuing a career in Laboratory Science.  While doing this I a realized that I really enjoy teaching and I have a passion for science, and this is what has brought me to USA this semester .  I have decided to go back to school and become a science teacher. 
     In my opinion it takes so much more than reading facts in a book and giving tests to be a good teacher.  To be a not just good but affective teacher you must give students an experience.  Give them a reason to remember that: “The basic structural and functional unit of all living things is a cell!” I just recited that definition from memory, a memory of my experience in 9th grade Biology where we laughed and danced to a rap my teacher made up about cells.  I will never forget that!  I want to make student’s experiences in my class unforgettable.  I want them to not only remember the material I have taught them but to be able to use it and apply it to their everyday life.  This has now become my passion.  I am excited about this class, because I want to know how to use todays advances in communication and technology to help me reach my goal!

2. Randy Pausch on Time Management
     This is the first time I have heard of Dr. Pausch, but I enjoyed the video on "Time Management".  I loved hearing that it's ok to change your to do list. This doesn't mean you have failed, it just means that sometimes things just change.  It also doesn't mean that you shouldn't make a to do list at all for fear that it might change. Pausch gives a nice tip: Start with the hardest thing on your list first, this will make the rest of the list easier to complete. Great video!








2 comments:

  1. Hi Lindsey
    I too am coming back to school after being out for a number of years. I am also married to a beautiful woman and am a dad to 4 children. I have not lived in Alabama my entire life. In fact, this is my first time living outside of the state of Michigan so this is new to me. I have worked for the past 8 years and this going back to school thing is also a new adventure for me.

    I must agree with you when you say that "it takes so much more than reading facts in a book and giving tests to be a good teacher". So many educators just want to make sure they accomplish what the state has required them to cover but the children aren't necessarily learning anything. A good teacher cares about the students success and will thus "think outside of the box" in order to help a student understand and apply the facts. A test is used to measure a student’s ability to retain information for a short period of time; a good teacher will make sure a student remembers what they have learned for a lifetime.

    You also state that "teachers must give students an experience" and I believe that begins with you, the teacher. As a teacher, you have to be willing to explore beyond the classroom (as Dr. Strange is doing with us) and take the children on the adventure with you. Your teachers rap did that for you.

    Finally, you stated that "you wanted the children to not only remember the material you have taught them but to be able to use it and apply it to their everyday life". This should be the goal of every teacher today. The children are our future and if they cannot take what they have learned and apply it, why go to school?

    Two weeks ago during my last week of work in Michigan, I had a co-worker ask me how they used Algebra in their everyday life. I went on to explain to her how she uses what she learned everyday and she didn't even know it. A good teacher will be able to do that and doing that can make learning fun. Because we can and will do this we will be excellent teachers.

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  2. Hey Lindsey, I truly enjoyed reading your blog and learning a little about you! I am not married and do not have any children and I struggle with keeping up with my school work, with that being said I genuinely admire you for being in more ways than one Superwoman! My journey of seeking a degree in the field of Education was also inspired by my work place. After working at a daycare in the afterschool care program, I realized I wanted to do more than play on the playground and fix snacks for kids. I realized more and more each day how much children want to learn new things. I hope to incorporate a creative and comfortable environment in my future classroom. Being an educator and truly making an impact on a child I feel requires going beyond reading out of the textbook and worksheets. Allowing opportunity for personal experiences I feel allows kids to not only learn but retain the experience in which they had. I also had never heard of Dr. Paush until the day we were required to watch the "Time Management" video. I loved listening to him speak and quickly found myself searching for many more of his videos to watch and learn.

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