Who Am I?
Unlike the majority of the students I have encountered in the year since I began attending The University of South Alabama, I cannot say that I was born or grew up in this wonderful part of our country we know as Lower Alabama. I cannot even say I was born in The United States nor was I raised in one area with friends and memories held onto from childhood. What I can say is I am a type of human mutt, a hybrid of sorts. As a result of being raised from one military instillation to the next, one culture to another, and having been influenced by a wide variety of ethnicities, I have developed an innate ability to adapt to any situation and welcome change into my life with open arms. Along with an astute ability to conform, however, I grew to acquire a wandering spirit. This inability to "sit still" in one place eventually had to rest when I met the man I now call my husband. Another individual born and raised in Lower Alabama, the thought alone of living anywhere else gives this man the cold sweats. Subsequently, the shores of The Mobile Bay are where my nomadic soul has been laid to rest and my husband and I now raise our children. Alongside my husband's career in marine mechanics and the fervor for water sports he was raised with, the bulk of our family's free time is spent on the water passing these same traditions on to our kids.
My personal interests, tastes and dislikes are one long line of contradictions. I am in my late twenties, a child of "Generation Next", an "echo boomer", yet I prefer to keep my life simple and unadorned. I favor musicians such as Glenn Miller, Lena Horne, George and Ira Gershwin over Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga or any of the other over rated contemporary musicians being awarded today; yet I cannot seem to turn the radio off despite my disdain for the only reason that I try to give everything a chance to grow on me. I have strong Christian morals, but am willing to accept and respect others for what they believe no matter how contrary they may be to my own principals and standards,
though I do not feel that I have betrayed my own. I would love nothing more for my children to experience the lifestyle I had growing up, but at the same time I am comforted that they will grow up knowing what "home" feels like and with an unique familiarity that I have always lacked. Some have told me that these qualities would make me a very poor elementary educator, or an educator of any age for that matter and for the longest time I agreed with these critics. It finally took some occurrences, or what I like to call divine interventions, to make me realize that these qualities could only enhance an elementary aged student's experience that may change their entire outlook on education all-together. Most of all, I believe I have trust in all people no matter how different they may act, look, or behave as a result of, what I prefer to call, these eclectic ideas. While it is not always easy to automatically trust others, it is important an educator composes themselves in a manner that students, and parents,are able to trust immediately. In his book No More Meltdowns, Dr. Jed Baker illustrates the importance of developing a trusting relationship when dealing with children and how these particular relationships are built from the heart rather than from experience. To make a child feel cared for and appreciated, something they may not receive from their home environment, could change their outlook and attitude on education forever, and just maybe, possibly supply the motivation many students lack. In my opinion, before any progress in a student's learning process can even be thought to be accomplished, a teacher must earn a student's respect. Furthermore, before respect can be earned, a teacher must be capable of accepting and loving the differences observed in the various children that will inevitably cross his or her life. This respect also requires a teacher to bring themselves down to the student's level and get to know each one's likes, dislikes or any other personal interests. Once this level of respect is earned, trust takes over, and with this trust a teacher has the power to impact a child's life immeasurably.
though I do not feel that I have betrayed my own. I would love nothing more for my children to experience the lifestyle I had growing up, but at the same time I am comforted that they will grow up knowing what "home" feels like and with an unique familiarity that I have always lacked. Some have told me that these qualities would make me a very poor elementary educator, or an educator of any age for that matter and for the longest time I agreed with these critics. It finally took some occurrences, or what I like to call divine interventions, to make me realize that these qualities could only enhance an elementary aged student's experience that may change their entire outlook on education all-together. Most of all, I believe I have trust in all people no matter how different they may act, look, or behave as a result of, what I prefer to call, these eclectic ideas. While it is not always easy to automatically trust others, it is important an educator composes themselves in a manner that students, and parents,are able to trust immediately. In his book No More Meltdowns, Dr. Jed Baker illustrates the importance of developing a trusting relationship when dealing with children and how these particular relationships are built from the heart rather than from experience. To make a child feel cared for and appreciated, something they may not receive from their home environment, could change their outlook and attitude on education forever, and just maybe, possibly supply the motivation many students lack. In my opinion, before any progress in a student's learning process can even be thought to be accomplished, a teacher must earn a student's respect. Furthermore, before respect can be earned, a teacher must be capable of accepting and loving the differences observed in the various children that will inevitably cross his or her life. This respect also requires a teacher to bring themselves down to the student's level and get to know each one's likes, dislikes or any other personal interests. Once this level of respect is earned, trust takes over, and with this trust a teacher has the power to impact a child's life immeasurably.
Randy Pausch's Time Management
I am utterly heartbroken. After watching Pausch's assigned video on time management, I did what I naturally always do while on YouTube, and that was watch the suggested videos in the right hand column. I really became inspired by the material I was, almost literally, ingesting. I am a huge Star Trek nut, although his almost constant references to this pop culture craze is not what had me entranced. First of all, to start with the portion on time management. The one thing that really stuck out for me was his emphasis on doing the right things adequately rather than doing the wrong things beautifully. This resonated unlike anything I have ever heard before. A bitter truth put in such eloquent terms forced me to evaluate not only my academic life, but also the responsibilities in my personal life. What is it that I am honestly succeeding at? Am I succeeding at failing as a parent, wife, or daughter? Perhaps succeeding at not paying bills on time. Or am I doing my God's honest best to accomplish the goals and tasks at hand, though they may not be perfect? The biggest apparent failure succeeds everyday when you take long enough to reflect upon it. This principle has given me self confidence to refer back to when there are those nights that I feel down trodden and ready to throw in the towel and turn on the television. Pausch also addresses the equality of experience and money. He states that experience comes with time, good judgement comes from experience but that experience comes from bad judgement. Almost immediately he denotes that people in general pay a lot of money for services rendered by someone with experience. I am reminded of the old adage "patience my grasshopper". All too often students search for the easy way to accomplish a goal which is typically a second rate route of learning anything. Going the easy way does not ensure you have acquired the life lessons or skills meant to have been obtained had "the path less traveled" been taken. Time management in this sense is not just about turning in assignments on time although you threw something together an hour before it was due, but to allocate wisely how much time will be required to prepare to complete the assignment. As I watched these short clips of this brilliantly spoken man, little did I know his real intended audience was for his children he knew he would be leaving behind in a short time. In his "Last Lecture", Pausch outlined many different life lessons that could be carried out in any setting. One in particular stood out from the rest for me. He says to celebrate brick walls, they are there to show us how badly we want something. Anything worth accomplishing is not going to be easy, and anything easy is probably not worth accomplishing. But as he says, if you are passionate about what you do, those brick walls will eventually come down and hard work put forth will pay off in the end. Pausch was among one of Time magazine's world's 100 most influential people in 2008, the same year in which he passed away after his battle with pancreatic cancer.
