Spring Semester Reflection

This semester has been amazing! During this semester I feel like I have grown and learned so much about my life and where I am going. When I came back from Christmas break in January I knew I wanted something different for my life and there were a lot of things that I wanted to change about my life. I really wanted to become more comfortable with myself and really find out what made me happy. Soon after I came back I applied to be an Impact counselor and I got it. Impact has been one of the best experiences of my life. I have grown so much through it and the other people in my camp and been some of the best people I've ever met. This semester I really reevaluated my life and really got back to who I was instead of trying to be someone I wasn't. This semester hasn't necessarily been to best for me academically but I plan I plan on working on that more in the fall semester. In the fall semester I'm also planning in getting involved in some more organizations that really fit me and will be good for me.

Change of Heart

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the type of area I would like to teach in when I graduate. I grew up in a very wealthy school district where the parents were very involved in their children's school affairs and organizations like PTA. In my school district the teachers always had close relationships with the parents and the parents always knew exactly what was going on in the classroom. Growing up, I always thought that this was how most school districts operated and I always thought that I would teach in a district like mine. I mentioned in a previous post how I was involved in HOSTS last semester and that experience made me realize very fast that not all districts were like mine from back home. I've really been questioning myself lately and trying to decide what kind of district I would be happiest and where I would be most needed. I really felt during my HOSTS experience that I was really needed and that I was making a difference. There are many pros and cons to both kinds of school districts and it is something that I really have to think about.

Watch How you Phrase Things

I have a friendship with a girl that is a lot of fun but in my mind we never were really able to talk about more serious issues. I casually mentioned how I felt about it to her not to long ago. I told her that I really enjoyed how we were able to joke around together but I kind of wanted to be able to talk about more serious things as well. Well, she took that as me saying that I did not want to joke around anymore and suddenly our friendship become serious all the time. We eventually got things worked out but it was definitely a big misunderstanding. I learned that I need to watch how I phrase certain subject matters like this one because people can easily take it the wrong way or take it to an extreme.

Children's Literature

In the fall semester I will be taking english 360 which is children's literature. I think in this class I will be reading different children's book and discussing their effects and techniques. I think this class will be very beneficial to me in my future career as an elementary school teacher. I hope that this class will be able teach me different ways of looking at and reading children's books and what effects they might have on younger children. I have heard from other education majors that this class is a lot of work and you have to read a lot. I have never really taken a class like this before so it should hopefully be a good learning experience and prepare me more for my future career.

Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone

Throughout my whole life I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher. I am naturally a very indecisive person and don't tend to make decisions well but that is one thing that I have always known is right and have never strayed from it. I grew up in a wealthy school district that really didn't have much diversity. I kind of just got used to certain types of people and almost forgot that there were people and children that we much different than what I was used to.
Coming to Texas A&M this past fall I had to be involved in the HOSTS program in the Bryan school district. This was a very eye opening experience for me because I was dealing with kids that were completely opposite than me and what I was used to. It really tested me at first and really made me think if this is what I wanted to do with my life. After I got used to it I really enjoyed working with these kids and really helping them. It created this passion in me to help kids that are less fortunate and are different than the kids I'm used to working with. Right now I'm even planning to go overseas on a mission trip to help kids in Africa. I'm not sure if this is the direction I want to take my career path, but I think that it is definitely a good experience to step out and help these kids that need it most and are so different from what I'm used to.

The Future of Education

It is already very apparent that technology has and will continue to become a very important aspect of my future career as a teacher. Today, schools do almost everything online and are always adding new electronic devices to make learning better and more up to date. Schools have new projectors to display information and teach and also have many more ways to teach children using technology. Schools also have many different new electronics to teach children with learning disabilities. For the future I can really see the way of teaching changing as technology increases. There will probably be better and more efficient ways to run a school through new technological advances in the coming years.

Virtual World meets the Real World

In today's world everything is on the Internet. With new trends and innovations almost every week people are seeming to revolve their whole life around the Internet. Now, thanks to virtual worlds like Second Life people are even able to create separate lives from their own to form relationships and work with other virtual people. These virtual worlds are becoming such a popular tend that they have the potential to effect my future career. I could see things like Second Life being used to communicate with my fellow co-workers and having sort of a separate life in that virtual community. Even though Second Life is becoming more popular and it has the possibility to work it's way into my future career, I don't see this happening anytime soon or having a big effect. My future career is in education and I can't think of a way that this would be beneficial. As a teacher you need to interact with people on a personal level and don't really see Second Life being useful.