White American, married sports enthusiast

I sit on my couch and wonder which three things in my house express me culturally, socially, and ethnically. Thoughts pass through my head about as quickly as a sedan can pull itself out of a deep mud road. One by one they go and then return... things that are obscure about me. I have a chess piece that I made, reminding me of an entire chess set that I made once, among many things. No, too obscure. I have different kinds of shoes. No... that doesn't tell people that I'm white. Is white really my ethnicity? My roots go back to Europe, but the vast majority of my ancestors were in America before the revolutionary war. Then it hits me, "My family has been here so long that I'm American." What do I have that is American.... hmmm. The only flag I have is Brazil's. I got rid of my patriotic shirt when it no longer fit. Oh! I have a picture of an american flag on the cover of "1776." Genius! That represents more than just a flag. My wife and I have a few hundred books and we love to read! Killing two birds with one stone--culture and ethnicity. I go and search it out on the bookshelf. No flag on the cover. oh well, everyone knows it is patriotic. It has a picture of George Washington. Yes, it will still do just fine.

On to subject number two. The assignment reminds me that culture is along the lines of something that I do everyday; it is something that is a part of me. How about a T-shirt? I wear a lot of T-shirts. That represents me daily. So which shirt? It's got to be a BYU shirt or nothing. Sports have consumed a portion of each day of my life for the majority of the days that make up the past 25 years for me. A reference to sports needs to be present. What better way to do it than to include a BYU T-shirt? Afterall, I did grow up wearing my dad's BYU shirts to bed when I was young. I've been a cougar since before I can remember. And my parents before me. In fact, pretty much all my relatives have been cougars. Hey, that's actually is culture. It's my culture, my family's culture, my extended family's culture. A BYU shirt is also a really good idea because people may assume common stereotypes about me and guess that I'm white and I'm LDS. Which I am.

Okay, number three. Number three. Tapping my foot on the floor, I scan the room. Laundry detergent? no. Shoes? No, what's with my mind and the shoes? games? I do love board games. A frisbee? Eh, maybe. I already connected to sports with my BYU shirt. Oh, I know what the third one will be. It will be a copy of my engagement picture. Nothing has every changed my life so much as getting married. I'm very happy to have the wife that I do and she has been infused into every part of my life. She is definitely someone that is involved in my daily life in any way imaginable: culturally, socially, or any other way you can dream up. She comes from a similar background as me. She's white, comes from a good family, and reared in the LDS church. I guess that rather than being an item that has shaped me throughout my life, this item is more symbolic of where I see my future going and how I will be shaped through the joys, tears, and everything tomorrow (and every day after) will bring.

Yes, those are three great items that reveal me. I guess now all I have to do is write about them.

Capture 12

Over thanksgiving break I read a book called "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. It was a great book that took principles about frugality that I believe in and showed how to apply them to be successful, no matter the income. It was truly motivating, as well as captivating. I like how he was able to publish a book and thereby teach millions of people how to better use their money. Business, finance, all those things, have always really interested me, but I left the business school shortly after my mission because I figured out I wanted to teach. I had always thought about how cool it would be to teach finance, economics, and such to high school kids, but I had always just figured that if one of those classes opened up in my school I would try to get it. However, after I read this book, I've been thinking about it so much, and realizing how large of an impact it could make on students' lives if they figure out what to do with their money. That book had some shocking statistics that showed how poorly many americans manage their money. For example, over 80% of college students graduate college with some debt. 97% of americans aren't financially ready to retire when they are of retiring age. I want to become involved and help people with that. Debt is often caused by a lack of financial knowledge, and debt can be super depressing and crushing. It is a horrible master but an excellent servant. I took a look at the requirements online at uose to see what I would need for an endorsement to teach those classes. It is a 15 credit endorsement, but I already have the accounting credits and macroeconomics credits, so I would only need 9 more, (microeconomics, finance, and one other). I'm seriously considering picking this endorsement up...

Capture 11

We taught the sixth graders, and I felt so much more calm than I do when I teach my peers. I like that sign. I also thought that I was able to figure out a lot of the students in the classroom pretty quickly. There were some that were easy to figure out because they participated so vocally in class, but for most of them it took some one-on-one time to figure them out. I think if I create activities in my classroom that allow for that, that allow me as the teacher to go around and help individually then I will greatly benefit. I will benefit because I will know different students strengths and weaknesses. I will be able to tailor my activities and my class questions to best help each student. Another thing that Geoff said, as we were riding back from the classroom that I thought was interesting was that you can find yourself in these students. If you see a kid that is the same as you were, it helps because you know how to solve that kid's learning hurdles. You have a great insight as to what will help.

Teaching those sixth graders was pretty great also because I got to see that the teacher was himself. When I was in el ed and observed teachers at the lower grades, it seemed like they weren't themselves. Mr. Larson really just acted normally. I saw obviously saw moments when he needed to have some discipline but during the fun times he just had fun. That is really encouraging for me because I am split between which age level I want to teach. It was good to see that Mr. Larson could have fun with those 6th graders.

Capture 9

So last week I actually taught my lesson. It was my rockin' lesson that I had imagined. I really liked how it went. Geoff's feedback was he wanted the activity to be set up a little more, and go a little slower. I agree. If I could do it over, I might have to change it completely just to fit that criteria simply because 20 minutes might not be enough to have a mock boston massacre trial. I felt that if there had been more time, it would have worked well. Most of Geoff's feedback was directly related to time constraints. I had several people come to me after class and tell me how much they enjoyed class and thought I had done well. Normally "enjoyment" isn't what I'm pursuing, but since everyone in the class is an education major, I'm assuming they thought the teaching was good as well, or else they wouldn't have extended the compliment. Also, Geoff liked the double teaching. I liked it too, in fact I got pretty excited when I thought up the concept.

Tomorrow we are going to start working on the sixth grade curriculum, and I hope it all goes well. I used to be an el ed major but switched because the age group didn't fit me well. I hope I'm able to help my group instead of hinder.

Capture 8

This week was just a bunch of teaching. I was supposed to teach on Thursday but didn't realize that Geoff wasn't going to lecture. Up until this week, we had been observing schools on thursdays so I figured that Tuesday was a teaching day and Thursday was a learning day. Anyway- Thursday is also a teaching day apparently and I wasn't prepared. I sat next to Geoff in class as the rest of my group presented. I thought about leaning over and saying, "I'll just go today" but as I weighed the pros and cons I thought about the quality that would come out versus the quality I could get to come out. I started thinking about cool learning activities I had seen in schools growing up, and decided to do something really cool.

At the end of class Geoff got up and talked to the class about how the only teaching method he was seeing was direct instruction. He told everyone to try out more inventive things, take the class into the lab and do things there, etc. I was a little disappointed because I had already been planning on doing something rad, and now it was just going to be the same as everyone else's.

I guess the thing that I really cemented in my mind was the difference between teaching on the fly and teaching with a plan. I have always considered myself a capable teacher on the fly, maybe even better than many prepared teachers (in church at least). I realized though, that that isn't good enough, not for my students, not when I can do so much better.

capture 7

I was out of town on tuesday but on thursday of this last week I went and observed at Salem High School. The teacher there was chewing out the kids because they were getting lazy. The kids were supposed to be doing the video school news for the school but they were simply taking clips from ESPN and CNN. One thing the teacher did that I thought was probably effective was he was realistic, he showed them examples from other schools of what he was hoping for approximate, he was also in a good mood. I think if a teacher needs to reprimand his class, his demeanor should still be friendly or else the students may think that the teacher is attacking, rather than correcting. I thought the teacher we observed did a great job of doing just that. We only got to observe one period because of a school assembly and the only thing that happened during that hour was the reprimand so it was fairly one dimensional.

There is, however, one more thing I'd like to comment on. I talked with a few of the students at the end of the period and I found out that the classes range from freshman to senior and some students take it all through high school. I really really like that. I like it because one of the things I'm looking forward to as a tech teacher is to have students multiple times through high school so I can really get deep into material with them. I'll have a chance to be able to not only teach them the subject but get them to a point where they can really run with it. They can become proficient in the subject by the end of high school.

Capture 6

I couldn't attend class on tuesday and on that thursday the class took the tests in the McKay school which I completed a year ago for el ed.