My 8th Semester

Wow I have completed eight semesters or 40 classes. That is a lot of time spent in university and learning. In my past university experience I had to reflect on everything – education classes that is. Why is it now that I actually want to reflect? Why could I not go to sleep because I wanted to write this post while it was still fresh in mind? I tend to think when I lay down to go to bed. I am horrible for it and it takes me forever to fall asleep some days. The thoughts keep running through my head – what I learned, what I have to do or how I feel about a certain subject.

Throughout my internship, I really didn’t want to come back to university. But once I was at the end of my internship I wanted to come back to the university. I wanted to learn something, anything. I learned tons in my internship but I wanted to start thinking at a higher level – not grade 5. As a future teacher, my class was awesome in helping me explore myself and my confidence. Now I was back at the university and I wanted to be on top of everything – all my reading, responses, projects and posts on Moodle. I was very determined for this goal but eventually my days didn’t have enough hours and I found myself not keeping up with everything. However in the end I real did surprise myself. I had a couple projects that were supposed to be collaboration but I ended up doing them alone. Sometimes I spent so much time worrying that once I had done it, I just shook my head. Why was I so scared? Why did I not think I could do it? I don’t give myself enough credit and I think I can’t do an assignment because it is hard and I don’t know what to do or how. For me, this last full semester was all about finding myself and finding what I believed in. I registered for classes I thought I would enjoy and learn from.

EMTH – Originally I wasn’t registered for this class but with the misunderstanding of ECMP actually being on Wednesday, made me change my whole schedule around. This class focused on some math topics but we talked lots about social justice issues. This class often touched on other classes because many of my classes dealt with society and what is happening around us. I think this gave me some insight into life as an educator.

RLST – I needed to upgrade an elective and I chose a class on the Hebrew Bible. I am not that religious of a person but this class was quite interesting. Again, it was neat to see the issues in the Bible relate to other classes I was taking. Our prof made class interesting and he embraced the small class environment. I realized I really did need to explore the Bible. I had to write a comparative essay on the sacrifice of Isaac. I was scared but when I got the assignment back I did pretty well. I was on the right track and dug into all my commentaries and resources to produce a diverse paper. See, I really suprised myself there! My final essay was again a comparative essay between Genesis 6 and the novel, Many Waters. I struggled with this but technology actually helped me. I needed some ideas for my specific focus and where I wanted to go with the essay. Out of curiosity I went on Twitter and asked “Anyone religious and want to give me an essay topic dealing with Genesis 6?” I received a direct message from a math teacher in Garner, NC. He had read the novel and new his Old Testament. He gave me some ideas which was great because he was the only person that had read both parts. I had asked others for help and tried to explain the novel in two minutes but he was the only one who knew exactly what I was talking about. If you ever read this – Thanks so much! Who knew my social networking would benefit me in my RLST class? I didn’t…I was very suprised to get a reply. I sure am glad I thought to use Twitter in this time of frustration.

EFDN – Well I loved this class. If you know me, you definitely know that. At first the class was intimidating but I thought I would stick with it – I hated having to mess with my schedule since I had to switch so many classes already in my first week. But I sure am glad I stuck around for this class. Not only did I meet some awesome people, who I would have never met otherwise but it made me open my mind. Each week we talked about another issue in society that dealt with education. We talked about residential schooling, gender, masculinity, femininity, heterosexism, social class, bodies, bullying, disabilities and many other topics. Each article dealt with the effects it had in schools and schooling. Each week we explored an issue. I would say I am a shy person especially when I learn with peers but this class made me speak. I wanted to share my thoughts on articles and I wanted to make points that others hadn’t brought up. I really allowed myself to grow. As a future educator, these topics open your eyes. Some teachers don’t think about all the issues that surround schooling in society. But now I can acknowledge those issues and have some insight because I have explored the topics. This class almost makes me want to come back and do a masters on one of the issues.

EPSY – This class opened my eyes to children with learning disabilities and disorders. I really wish I had the chance to take this class before my internship because I would have understood some students better. I was given strategies and I was also able to learn from others. We posted each week on specific topics and reading what others wrote gave me many AHA moments. The prof also told us about the students she works with and it  showed the reality of working with children with special needs. We also had guest speakers and they talked to us from a different standpoint. We had visits from a doctor, a student, a mother, another special education teacher and a speech and language pathologist. If I have to make a plan for a student with a disability or disorder – I knew who would be part of my team. Remember: “A child is a child before they are a disability/disorder.” We also had a chance to talk about this issue in my EFDN class and I had a better idea of the topic then I would have had without this class.

ECMP – Well I already reflected about this class.

Okay, just because I wrote more about one class then the other…it doesn’t mean I liked it better. Each of these classes expanded my “worldview” and my “knowledge.” I can thank each of these classes, and ECMP also, for helping prepare me to teach! Thanks.

Now I think my brain won’t be churning because I got all this information out of my head!