Sunday, January 9, 2011
Introductions
Please use the comment feature to respond to this blog post. Introduce yourself to us. What are your various responsibilities and interests? Why do you want to become a teacher (beside the fact that you like children)? What do you hope to learn from this course on beginning reading methods (please be specific)? If you have a screen name that does not include your last name, please sign your entry so we know who you are.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
My name is Dave Koppenhaver. I will be professor for this class. I have taught at App State since 2004. Before that I taught and conducted research on children with disabilities and literacy at Gustavus Adolphus College, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My wife, the assistant director of Teaching Fellows at App, and I have two sons in high school and one finished with college who is preparing to become a firefighter. I hope to learn some new technologies for supporting student learning (yours and children's).
ReplyDeleteMy name is Heather Williams. I have been married for 16 years and have 2 wonderful boys. Briar is 13 and Blaine 9. I am currently working part time for the Burke County Literacy program teaching an ESL preschool class. I chose to become a teacher because I enjoy seeing the look on childrens faces when they learn something new. It amazes me how fast they can learn when given the right tools to succeed. I hope through this course to be better able to help children learn to read. I also hope to gain very useful tools in order to accomplihs my goal as a future teacher. I can not wait until we graduate NEXT year!!
ReplyDeleteHeather Williams :)
Hi. My name is Amber McDade and I'm have been single for 37 years. I have zero children unless you count the 2 cats that I've raised since birth, Gingiss and Jobu (ages uncertain). I am the instructional assistant to all the 4th grade classes at Edneyville Elementary in Hendersonville, NC, where I was born and raised.
ReplyDeleteI didn't consciously choose teaching, it sort of chose me. I took a 15 year detour into the dark heart of customer service and retail, emerging when I got a job as a Kindergarten teacher assistant at the very same school 5 years ago.
I am quite at ease speaking to children, much more so than to my peers and I find what and how children think fascinatingly surprising.
My first love is reading and I hope to learn more about the mechanics of it in this class, and how to help those who don't love it or struggle with it. I, too, would like to discover new technologies to support my students' learning. I also look forward to discovering new things about myself as a reader and student.
My name is Aaron Mirtsching. I am a computer teacher at Eastfield Global Magnet School in Marion, NC. I have been married 7 years and have a little boy named Zackary. He is 2 years old. I really enjoy working with kids in the classroom. I do not get to do this enough. I have my own classroom but it is filled with computer programs that have to be run. I envy assistants that get to work one on one with the kids. I hope to learn alot in this class. Things that I can use to help my 2 year old learn.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Misty O'Brien. I have been married to my wonderful husband for almost twelve years. I am currently a stay-at-home mother. I have two awesome daughters. Hannah is 10 years old and Emma is 4 years old.
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to be a teacher, but have taken a few detours along the way. I enjoy working with children and love helping them understand something new. Every child thinks and learns differently and I want to learn how to reach each child.
I enjoy reading as does my oldest daughter, Hannah. We enjoy reading the same books, so we can talk about them together.
I look forward to gaining more skills to be a successful teacher and to be able to teach my students to be confident readers.
Hi! I'm Rhonda Butler. Aside from being a student, I work full time at Blue Ridge Radiology as a medical office assistant. I am not married and do not have any kids, but I some day hope to.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to be in a classroom where I will not only be teaching students, but will be learning from them as well. I think teachers have the chance to change the world, a generation at a time. I think it is going to be a huge responsibilty, but we owe it to the children to strive to do our best!
I love reading now, but it is a very recent love for me. I hated reading when I was in school, and I feel like I missed out on a lot because of this. I want to know how to teach children, not only how to read, but how to love to read. It is important for children to connect and understand the stories they read, I think it broadens their minds and stretches their imagination beyond its limit.
Hi! My name is Whitney Hines. Along with being a full time student, I am a full time Title 1 teacher assistant at Old Fort Elementary in Old Fort,NC. I have been working in the school systems for 5 years and going on 6! I highly enjoy working with children...they are my life!!! I am a big kid myself so I fit right in with my children! I am not married and I do not have any children except my lovely ones at school! I hope to learn a lot from this class and use the things I learn to build on my teaching ability!
ReplyDeleteWhitney Hines
Hi! My name is Wendy Thomas. I'm married and have a step-daughter, who has graduated from Appalachian. I live in Lenoir, NC. I work in Newton at Blackburn Elementary as a Speech-Language Pathology Assistant. It's a great school and I love the job; very rewarding. I also love playing with my dog Hershey. He is part Jack Russell and part Beagle and my baby. Hershey is truly enjoying the snow.
ReplyDeleteI chose to become a teacher because it's uplifting to experience that light bulb going off when you help a child figure something out. Twenty years ago I worked in a daycare for children with disabilities and loved it. After the business career got outsourced I decided it was time to do something more satisfying. Teaching helps me to learn, kids have a way of making you laugh, and the perks of good holidays and summers off are unbeatable.
I hope to learn various ways to reach children with reading disabilities. I've always struggled with reading. In working with children now I can relate to the problems they are having. I try to tell them what helps me. For example: reading it again, reading it slower, looking for answers in the text, sounding out words they don't know, etc. What make reading easy for some and hard for others? This is something I would like to learn.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Angela Castillero. I have four sons. Their names are Logan (4), Anakin (4), Phoenix (5) and Cory (10). I've been married to my husband for 10 years. I subsitute teach in Lincoln County Schools.
ReplyDeleteIn my free time, I like to research family histories in Burke, McDowell, and Buncombe counties. I also enjoy reading Irish literature.
I've worked in eduaction for ten years. I've had careers in other fields, but nothing is as meaningful as teaching others.
My name is R. Lynn Evans. I have been married to my husband Kenny for 16 years. I have 2 step-sons Kenny (23), Patrick (22) and our youngest Thomas (15). I currently work in the medical field and I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life.
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to be a teacher. My desire is to inspire, challenge, and motivate children to be the very best they can academically and as citizens in our society.
I am excited about learning the building blocks of teaching reading and various technologies that will be beneficial to the learning process.
My name is Monica Barber. I am married and have two boys. Chan is 7 and Banks is 3. We have a farm where we raise beef cattle. I work as a Title 1 assistant at Sunny View Elementary. I want to become a teacher so that I can help children learn and hopefully motivate them to do better. I hope that this class helps me understand what it takes to help children understand what they need to be able to read. I am looking forward to learning what it takes to become a good teacher.
ReplyDeleteMonica Barber
My name is Melisa Vassey. I am 34 years old, not married, and have no children. My pride and joy are my two nieces and nephew ( Leighden is 8 months old, Ashlyn is 6 years old, and Talon is 22 months old). I have always wanted to be a teacher ever since I was a little girl. I am currently a teacher assistant at Polk County Middle School. I work with the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade resource classes. I have been working at this school for 4 years and love my job. I have not always been a reader. I hated the thoughts of even having to read (elementary school was not so bad because you had colorful pictures to look at). Nicholas Spark books have inspired me to love to read. I have read all his books. He is an outstanding author. I look forward to taking this class and learning ways to make reading fun and interesting for my classroom students.
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm Allison Critcher (now McCracken). I was recently married in October. My husband and I have a 7-month-old son, Ty, who is amazing. On top of being a newlywed, mother, and student, I am a gymnastics teacher at IGA Adventure Center in my county. Gymnastics has been my passion since I was in preschool, and my job is actually the reason I want to become a teacher. It made me realize how much a really love children and love helping them learn new things. I am excited about this class because I love learning new ways to teach children different things.
ReplyDeleteMy Name is Brian Lowman and I am 23 years old. I will be getting married in May to my beautiful fiancé who I have been with for over five years. I have been working in the school system for three years now as an EC teacher assistant and really enjoy it. I want to become a teacher because I feel that I have a lot to offer and I relate to children very well. I had a lot of great teachers when I was in elementary school and I just want to make a difference in a child’s life and make learning fun. I hope to learn helpful ways to help children read and make reading fun and interesting. I also hope to learn how to effectively teach reading methods to my future students.
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm Elise Hembree. I have recently (within the last month) become a stay at home Mom to my 7 month old daughter Paisley and 2 older daughters, Riley (13) and Bailey (9). Having a new baby and a teenager in the same house has proven to be very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI worked in a kindergarten classroom for the past year and a half and prior to that with a developmentally disabled student.
I feel that becoming a teacher is something I was made to do. All of my life I have known that I would become a teacher, it is just who I am. After high school I pushed my dreams aside to enter the workforce and then got married. Once my first child arrived, family life took over and delayed the continuation of my education. Thankfully I heard about the programs offered by ASU and I signed right up!
I have always loved to read and feel it is the foundation on which all other subjects are built (except maybe math?). In this course I hope to learn about the learning process children go through when beginning to learn how to read and how to facilitate students with their learning.
Hello! My name is Martha Burton. I have been happily married for 22 years. My first daughter Brittany is in her 3rd year of college at Cabarrus College of Health Sciences. She will have earned a degree in physical therapy as of May 2012! Yepee! My second daughter Michaela is a 9th grade student at Bessemer City High School. She is looking forward to possibly attending UNC in Asheville. My plan to become an elementary school teacher stems from my desire to make a difference. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "Everybody is a Somebody". My desire is to help every student regardless of their abilities or disabilities feel like a somebody! My greatest desire for this class is to learn the educational skills that are necessary to motivate students toward positive feelings towards learning to read and enjoying reading.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Tonya McDonel. I moved to WNC about 7 and a half years ago from South Bend, IN with my husband, Erik. Erik is a 7th grade science teacher at East McDowell Junior High in Marion, McDowell County. We don't have kids yet, but have critter babies: 2 dogs, 5 cats and 1 snake.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy hiking with my husband and dogs. I am really into different crafts but mostly pottery. I have my own clay studio with a kiln in my basement and sell my handmade items online on ArtFire and Etsy. It's a hobby more than anything.
We just moved to Fairview in Buncombe County and now have several acres. I love gardening and starting plants from seeds and cuttings. There's just something about watching something so teeny tiny grow into something big! I am trying to convince Erik we need poultry on our little several acres as well.
Unlike most of my classmates I don't work in a school already and never have. I am a registered dental hygienist (RDH) and discovered through working in dentistry that I like to teach people new things. Kids are the most fun. They tend to stick to me like glue. What I like most about teaching is trouble shooting in order to help someone understand. What makes sense to me may not make sense to someone else, so you have to learn to open your mind and see things from some one else's point of view at their level. I also enjoy watching the progression of a learner. Someone who never flossed gets it when they understand what the VALUE is to them on a personal level, not just because you are telling them to do it. I guess getting to know people and figuring out what their motivating factors are interests me. It's kind of digging deeper and fitting the puzzle pieces together and seeing what fits for them!
Hi guys! My name is COurtney Cannon and I currently work at Davenport Elem. School in Caldwell County. I love going to work every day and hope I make a difference in childrens lives as some of my teachers did. Reading comnprehension has always been a hard thing for me, so I hope that I take a lot from this class so that I can help other children and myself!
ReplyDeleteI'm also planning a wedding and that is a job all in its own. This summer is going to be a busy one.
Hi I am Scotty Powell. I currently work at Drexel Elementary as a Before/After School mentor. I also attend thid co-hort and I am also the Youth Director at my Church. I have been the director for 2 years. I love the Lord, and I am a major sports fan! I love to observe the weather and make my own predictions. I love to be outside and be around water or the golf course.
ReplyDeleteI want to become a teacher because I want to be a helping hand to a student so they can grow up and be as sucessful as they can be. I think students need positive role models in life someone to look up to, I hope I can provide that to them. I am hoping to just gain knowledge to take into the classroom and help better the students lifes and help them get prepared for the world.
I am Felicia Rutherford. I am current single, I have no children. I have three beautiful nephews, Cameron, Azariah , and Micaiah.I live with my parents in Nebo. I work with NC Outreach Homecare. I have an excited job with the mental handicapped. This jobs gives me the opportunity to see people for who they really are which is a wonderful person.I am a Christian, I love my God so much, He has been so great to me . I have lately been through some things that only He could bring me out of.I want to be a teacher because I want my children to understand that they can be anyone they want to be if they try. I want my students to understand that when you read a book that their minds can go anywhere in this world. Reading to me is very important. I read like its crazy. I hope from this class that I gain a better understanding for including reading in everyday life and that my students will learn that reading is very important to them also.
ReplyDelete