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I am an undergraduate student at Bloomsburg, and college has been one of the best experiences of my life. I have grown to know what i love and I am even more certain than I was as a freshman that I want to teach. I also am a Shift Supervisor at CVS/pharmacy, where I've worked for five years. I drive a Jeep, which I love and I do all my vehicle's maintenance myself. Additionally, I am a Managing Editor for The Voice, Bloomsburg's Award-Winning student newspaper. As a student who will potentially become a teacher, it is important for me to know what helps me learn. I've noticed that I learn best from educators who are emotionally invested in their teaching. If an educator cares about their course material and cares about getting that information to me, chances are that they will be more energetic and more passionate about this aspect of education. While in the classroom, I've come to dislike the standard lecture lessons, as they are plainly boring. I also dislike group work, not because I don't see its value (because I do) but because I often have become responsible for the entire group's grade and it seems mildly unfair. Once I begin teaching, I will want to know what my students expectations and interests are, as well as what their previous experience with my content is.I believe that it is important for everyone to keep an open mind in the classroom and always be willing to better themselves.

Before Bloomsburg, I lived in… Sunbury, PA

At Bloomsburg, I want to major in… Secondary Education, English

Right now, I’m most interested in… Communications, Excitement, Fun, Good People

My favorite musical artist is…. Billy Joel

My favorite movie is…. Tie between The Princess Bride and Die Hard movies

One thing I like to do in my spare time is… Read

When it comes to technology, I’m most comfortable with…(put X next to all that apply)

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">xMicrosoft Word <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">xMicrosoft Powerpoint <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">xEmail <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">xCellphone <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">xText messaging <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">xTaking cellphone pictures <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">xTaking cellphone video <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">xTaking cellphone audio <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">xVideo editing <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">xBlogging or Social Networking (e.g., Facebook) <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Making websites

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">My favorite teachers were the ones who… <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">…care about their content material and got me excited about it!

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">But I didn’t like classes in which… <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">…a teacher made unfair assumptions about me.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">In this class, I’m most nervous about… <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The possibility that I might not be a good teacher.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">In this class, I’m most excited about… <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">TEACHING!!!!!!

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">If there’s one thing you should know about me as a student, it’s… <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">That I think about things differently than most people.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">If there’s one thing you should know about me in general, it’s… <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">That I am a very busy person, but I love everything I do and I’m always trying to find the learning experience in every situation.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Individual Unit Plan

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> For my individual unit plan, I propose to teach a unit which students would be actually interested in learning. I would ideally like to teach students a unit which allowed for maximum personal choice so that students would be more likely to be engaged in their education. Therefore, I would like to do a thematic unit where students are expected to choose a work of literature that exemplifies the themes of individuality and self-discovery. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> While in class, we discussed the idea that this unit might be a little over-whelming to teach because of the large amount of material that a teacher would be expected to cover in order to be able to assess a student's learning. In actuality, I think that this unit would be very practical to work with because of the idea that a teacher should never stop learning. Pieces of literature are not limited to novels, and can include poetry (and song lyrics), short stories, essays and novellas. Bearing in mind that not all students have the time or energy to read an entire novel, I think that many students would opt for the poetry and short stories, which would cut the work-load for all parties involved. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> I think that this is a valuable unit to teach because of student engagement. In a high school setting, the last thing that most students want to do is to be forced to read something written 200 years prior to their birth. In fact, most high school students realize that they have valuable insights and important things to offer the world, they are just waiting for someone to ask them to share their insights. By giving students the option to choose their literature, not only will they choose something that they are more likely to care about (and therefore invest some time and energy into it), they are also more likely to choose something that is accessible to them and is readable. One of the problems that many teachers run into is that not all of their students are reading on the same level, so with this unit plan, students will be able to choose a piece of literature that they understand without the pressure to catch up to advanced classmates. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> This unit plan, while possibly daunting to teach, is beneficial to both students and teacher. A teacher should not back down from a challenge if that challenge will benefit their students, and with this unit plan, the benefits to students are endless. A good teacher will value student opinion and be willing to put in extra work in order to maximize the learning experience. Also, with this unit plan, a teacher will never get bored. Even though a teacher could teach this unit to six different classes, those classes would all be different because students would all choose different literature. Although this unit would include a lot of extra work for a teacher, that work would all be worth it if the students and teacher all were engaged with the material and all learned. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">As an assessment to this unit plan, I have an idea that combines PowerPoint and speeches. I think that with public speaking being the number one fear (yes, more than death) students need to work on overcoming that fear. I would have each student prepare a presentation on student's insights and how what piece of literature they chose relates to their life in a surprising way, give a brief background of their literature, give some excerpts from reading journals that I will have them do during the unit.

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<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">In my unit plan, I've come to realize that I am reaching a lot of standards without going out of my way in order to do so. I am worried, however, that I might be too reliant on the same teaching methods (and therefore hitting the same standards) and I may not reach all of the standards that i want to or need to. I also now know that I need to come up with some more concise objectives that apply directly to standards at the national and state levels.

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