Saturday, January 19, 2013

Blog post #1

About Me:

       My name is Jana Sharpe and I am 20 years old. I attend the University of South Alabama and am currently a sophomore working on my degree in elementary education. I chose to attend South for may reasons. I wanted to stay close to home by all of my family and friends, I received a scholarship to South, and also have heard great things about their education department. So for me it was a no brainer to attend college at South Alabama! I chose education to be my field of study because ever since I can remember, I have always wanted to be a teacher! I love to work with children, especially if I can help make a difference in their lives!

          I live at home with parents and my brother, who is younger than me. My mom is a teacher and she has also inspired me in becoming one, myself. I graduated in 2011 from Faith Academy. I am engaged and will be getting married in December. I am very excited! I babysit two children on a regular basis. In my free time I like to go to the beach or be with my fiance and friends!



My Future Classroom:
           
             Anyone can just read to students out of a book, give them worksheets, or just give them things to memorize. I want to be the type of teacher that actually helps my students learn. I want to be able to best prepare them for things in their future. I want to teach sixth grade math, and I feel like especially in math this is crucial. I want to show my students how they can take the things they learn in my class and use them in real life. I will also make sure I have my students fully prepared for the math that they will endure after my class.

           There are many different approaches on how to teach things and there are also different types of learners. I think the two main types of learners are visual and auditory learners. I think students in my class will learn best if I use both of the approaches by thoroughly explaining a topic and also giving a visual aid to see what I'm actually talking about. I think you also learn by asking questions and I will let my classroom be a place for many of them. If they never ask, then they will never know!

           The tools me and my students will use to learn are a variety of them. I think if you constantly use the same thing, the students will start to tune you out. Technology is something that is around us everywhere today, and that is what children are into. A smart board is something I would definitely use often and be a way the students could learn interactively. I once had a teacher who turned our classroom into a bank in order for us to learn. I can remember being excited for class. I would also like to implement tools like that in my classroom.    

         I want my classroom to have an interactive feeling. I do not want my students to have to come in and sit down and feel like they can't move. While, of course there will have to be boundaries, I feel like there is no good use out of me talking the whole time and them just writing things down. I want it to be a fun place of learning! As I want to be a math teacher I would also like to have interactive bulletin boards for them to be able to solve something on it for bonus. Why just put a random saying on the board?

Randy Pausch:

             I have never heard Randy Pausch speak before, but I feel like I can definitely put to use many of the things he said. They will be very beneficial for edm310. Time management is crucial. Things should not be put off until the very last minute, this will just create a more stressful situation. He says how it will be a good idea to create a checklist to get things done. Something that also really stood out to me is to get the harder things done first. I normally tend to put them off until last minute. He also talks about growing wiser with age. This was a great video to get me on track for this semester!