Blog Assignment #1

About Me

My name is Kim Templeton. I was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. Two years ago, my husband and two children moved to Citronelle, Alabama. We all love the weather and being close to the ocean. It is so nice to live close to the beach. To see the ocean in Ohio, it would be about a ten hour drive.  We have all adjusted to our new life in Alabama, but of course we miss our friends. My son, Benjamin,  is 18 years old and will be graduating from high school this year. He loves to hunt, ride dirt bikes & pester his sister. My Daughter, Brittney, is 15 years old. She now has her driving permit and that is scary. She loves to ride horses, go shopping & hang out with her friends.

This is my second semester at the University of South Alabama. Before starting at the University, I attended Faulkner Community College for 1 year. While in Ohio, I went to Sinclair Community College. This is my junior year of college. In class we are getting ready for  field experience and I am excited. Becoming a teacher has been a long time dream. Shortly after high school, I started college and went 1 quarter. I was unable to return, until 4 years ago. I am now 41 years old and determined to finish. It has been challenging going back to college, at my age, but worth every minute. I am looking forward to graduating and starting a new career.

My  Ideal Elementary Classroom

I can still remember my kindergarden classroom and  my teacher. She made everyone feel so loved and special. I remember her giving me hugs and how wonderful she smelled. She was always smiling and just a pleasant lady. She was well kept in appearance with beautiful black hair. I remember wanting to learn the alphabet, so she would be proud of me. She motivated me to want to learn. Her room was organized and I especially remember the letter family. She was  a perfect role model in my mind. I hope when I have the opportunity I can give back what she gave to me. She gave me a desire to learn in a pleasant enviornment, where I felt loved and cared about. This is how I want my students to feel. I want to create an environment where the students feel connected and have a desire to learn.

In my classroom, I would like to create a learning environment with lots of structure. I know from driving a school bus if you don't have order it is chaos. In order  to focus on learning, I think structure will be very important. If kids know what to do and what is expected, more time can be focused on learning. Keeping the room organized and giving the students jobs to help accomplish this will help.

Next, I would stress the importance of treating  each other with respect. When mutual respect is present in the classroom, students are will to be an active learner in the classroom. Gaining respect from the students can be a valuable tool to a teacher. If students respect a teacher they will bend over backwards to please the teacher. Without mutual respect, there is no real foundation for a student-teacher relationship or foundation for a good learning environment.

Another method of teaching I have experienced is group based learning. Last semester, I took a class and they used group participation. It really got everyone involved. The students worked together as a team and we learned more than any lecture. We weren't just sitting in a room for an hour writing every detail as fast as we could. The team had to come up with ideas and solutions, using all of our resources. It really made you dig for information. It motivated me to work harder, because I didn't want to let the team down. As a teacher, I would like to try some of these methods.

Randy Pausch: Time Management Video

Before watching this video, I had never heard of Randy Pausch. I googled him on the internet and he has an interesting story to tell. It is sad someone with such potential was taken from this world. He is a good orator and easy to listen to. I think what caught my attention was the to do list. He suggested we do the ugliest thing first. I agree with his idea, but that is hard to do. Pausch says to ask yourself WHY are you doing something. This is something I practice. It helps keep life in perspective.