Blog Post #1

About Me

     My name is Callie Marie Amond. I am 19 years old and a sophomore at the University of South Alabama. My major is Elementary Education. I chose South Alabama because my family lives across the bay in Fairhope and I wanted to be able to visit them occasionally. My family and I are originally from Neenah, Wisconsin. We moved down here about nine years ago because my Dad transferred jobs. I have one brother named Drew, my mother, LeAnn, and my father Drew. My brother is a finance major here at USA as well. So far, I have really enjoyed South and I plan on graduating from in here in 2015.

     When I was a little girl, I used to always pretend to play teacher in my parents basement. I would use my current school books and pretend to sit in front of a class and teach. My mom even bought me some posters and supplies to encourage my little fantasy. In my real classes at school, I would help teach my peers what they didn't understand. From then on I knew that my passion was teaching others. I chose elementary education because I feel that it is the most crucial time from learning in child's life. These six to seven years are when students begin their study and disciplinary habits. Personally, my favorite grade was second, so I have been leaning towards hopefully teaching second to third graders. My only challenge  is to become patient with the students and to help discipline them in a positive manner.

     My interests include volleyball, painting, shopping, spending time with my family and friends, and helping others. I have played volleyball consecutively for 6 years, year-round, and I will never get sick of it! I just recently started painting pictures on canvases. Usually, I just take a picture and recreate it with paint. Something about painting just relaxes me. I definitely got my creative and "artsy" gene from my mother. Shopping is my stress reliever I guess you could say. Every time I am stressed or mad, I just go to the mall by myself and vent by looking at, trying on, and buying clothes. I like to dress comfortable yet stand out. Another big part of my life is my sorority Chi Omega! I am very involved in school activities and community service which I have always loved doing. I love all of my sisters and I am truly grateful to be apart of the organization.

Future Classroom

     Once I have become a teacher I will try my best to educate every one of my students. One of my techniques will be to create fun, yet memorable songs or activities my students will enjoy. I know for me, songs have always helped tremendously! For example, one of my teachers taught us a song to remember the colors of the rainbow in Spanish and another to remember all 50 states. It is a fun yet effective way to incorporate learning.

     Another method for teaching my students will be through hands on projects. Science is a great subject for this! Weighing, measuring, and calculating experiments can really effect one's learning capacity. For example, mixing certain elements together and seeing how it changes is very memorable. I remember making "goo" one time and I'll never forget how much I learned about the elements on the periodic table.

     The next approach to continue successfully teaching my students will be creating an achievement board. Every student will get a star for every A they make on a test or good deed they do. At the end of the year I will reward them with a prize. I think discipline is very important in growing up. Every time a student misbehaves, a star will be taken away. I will clearly explain what the problem was and why they should not act that way so they will hopefully learn not to do it again.

     I am hoping to teach second or third grade. In my classroom, there will be "cubbies" for every student so they will feel welcomed and cared for. I will also create a comfortable lounge area where the children can interact with each other. Socializing plays a big part in a child's life and what better place to do it at then a place you go to everyday! I will have posters up of positive encouragement and of educational table and maps. I'm not sure exactly what subject I will be teaching but I would not mind teaching a little or everything. Eventually, I will have all of the necessities for a positive learning environment and hope to have a positive impact on my students' education.

Randy Pausch's Time Management Video

     In Mr. Pausch's video, I could really relate to the things he was discussing. I am a procrastinator and I get stressed out a lot. So working on my time management could really help my issues. He made me want to set goals and come up with a plan. For example, instead of waiting until Sunday to do all of my EDM310 assignments, I could incorporate an hour or two a day in between school and work and complete my assignments little by little. This would create less stress and I wouldn't have to worry about cramming everything in at once.

     Another memorable point Mr. Pausch made was creating a to-do list. This would keep me organized and I could determine when to do things. He stated to do "the ugliest thing first", which I completely agree with. If you start with the hardest or most complicated task first, that sets the difficulty standard and things can only get better from there. This technique really relates to stress. You are relieved after you finish something challenging, and become less stressful which may lead to more motivation to finish other tasks. The video taught me very good time management techniques.