So it is Monday and I am soooooo tired.
Maybe it is because I worked too much this weekend. maybe because I have two jobs and until last week I was taking two classes.
I think maybe it is the weather.
If I am honest it is really that I haven't taken care of my soul. I need to take time to refresh. I love to walk in the outdoors and see the world around me. I love to laugh and hang out with others. I love to worship my God.
Somehow lately I have let my business, the heat, take away my resting in Him!
I need a period of solitude--a Sabbath. I need to rest in he who created me. I need to rest in his creation.
Jeremiah 6: 16 "ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls"
By grace,
Dawn
Monday, July 26, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Serving God and People too!
In 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, I had the opportunity to participate in a recovery trip to Biloxi, MS. It meant a great deal to me because when I was a child, I was in a disaster. When I was six years old, my house was completely destroyed in the Xenia tornado. Members of my family were injured and some friends were killed. The biggest impact on me as a child was that one day my life looked one way and the next it was completely different. In fact thisis the beginning of my faith in God. I was really scared. My Dad told me that it did not matter what we lost but just that we had each other and that God would take care of us. It helped, even though I was terrified of the wind for some time.
So back to Biloxi, when I first saw the damage I was scared. Later it was great to do my little part in helping the people get back on their feet. We cleaned out houses, we cleaned yards filled with several feet of debris and we just listened to hurting people.
I'm glad that I could minister to others as they had ministered to me.
Serving Him,
Dawn
Thursday, July 8, 2010
My Journey to Becoming An Educator
Since I was a little girl, I have always been interested in helping people. Because of that desire, I always told people that when I grew up I would be either something in healthcare or a teacher. Although, I settled on a career in healthcare early on, I usually played games that involved teaching others. I also always found myself helping my friends in school. I used to even give my friends homework to do over the summer. My mother quickly put an end to that in order that I still had friends. So I went to college determined on becoming a physician, instead a teacher was developing within me. My experiences in college and since then have prepared me for a career in education. I have been most impacted by motivation, personal experience, and my individual goals for the future.
It is necessary for me to explain some things about myself in order for my motivation to be better understood. I am a person who loves God and who loves people. My love of God stirs in me a desire to help people to reach their fullest potential. There is a verse in the bible (2 Timothy 2:2, NASB) that best explains my philosophy of life and my philosophy of education. “The things you have heard in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who are able to teach others also.” For me this verse means first that people have invested their lives into me. I appreciate mentors, teachers, colleagues, and ministers who have invested time and energy into me. I have grown tremendously as a person and have overcome many adversities in life. In addition, I love to read and learn new things. I am definitely a life long learner. Next, because of how people have invested in me, I want to invest in others. I want to teach others about God, about the world and my love of Mathematics. I want people to be able to overcome their struggles and to learn things that are difficult for them. I want people to be challenged and to not just get by in school or in life. I want to motivate others to be life long learners like me. Lastly, I want them to inspire others to learn. Whether we are teachers, parents or in other fields, we are all teaching people new things. I want to inspire others to have the self-efficacy in what they know so that they are confident to teach others. This motivation has inspired me to want to move this desire into a profession.
The next thing that has shaped my desire is my personal experience. It began with my play teaching and helping of friends as a child. This continued when I attended university. I was often helping classmates with schoolwork. I was involved in a campus ministry organization. I began teaching small groups and seminars through this ministry. My junior and senior year in college, I became a Calculus Teaching Assistant. I loved this experience, because I loved helping the students learn when they were confused. Some students I encouraged to take courses that were more appropriate to their skill level. Up until college, I had always had a great fear of public speaking. This is probably why I had never considered becoming a teacher. I took some speech classes to help me to overcome that fear. The speech class helped a little but mostly my experience in the campus ministry and my experience as a teaching assistant helped me to overcome this great fear of public speaking. Yet in college, I was still determined to become a physician. Late in my junior year in college, I was studying for the medical school admissions test and decided that I did not want to be a physician. I decided to go into full time ministry. After college, I went away to work for a Christian ministry. There was a rigorous application process and emotionally I did not survive. I was asked to go home. I found myself as a college graduate with no idea of what I would be doing professionally. Eventually, I ended up working at a local laboratory. Even though I hated many things about this job, the one thing that I really enjoyed was training new employees. I became a member of the training committee and served as my department trainer. Also during this time, I worked at a few business colleges as a teacher to Medical Assistants. I loved teaching students. Also during this time, I was very active in leading ministries to women and youth. I also helped to home school several students. My laboratory position developed into a position at the hospital. I designed my new position which is a position for a person who only likes to work with people part of the time. Much of my time is spent isolated in my office or taking to people on the phone. This position quickly taught me that I needed to be involved directly with people. In the last few years, I learned about a program that was designed to give people with Math and/or Science degrees a teaching degree in the year. The first year, I let my fears keep me from applying. The next year, I did apply and I was accepted. This year long program taught me that in many ways I have always been a teacher. I have had a teaching license for two years.
After completing this program, my goal has been to be a high school or middle school Math or Life Science teacher. I would prefer to be a Math teacher. I want to be a teacher who challenges their students. I think most people find math difficult. Because of that, they develop an attitude that they cannot understand it. I want to work with my students to understand what they are thinking about a problem and help them to design a method of understanding the problem. I want my students to experience success and to not just simply pass their classes. I also think I would one day like to become a guidance counselor to help students to overcome their adversities and to design a plan for after graduation. I also would really enjoy becoming a foster parent or an adoptive parent. I know that these children may have diverse abilities or come from a different culture. I need to be equipped to parent these children.
Because of my personal motivation, my life experiences, and my individual goals for the future, I am very grateful that I have decided to take this course in order to understand students with diverse abilities. This course has shown me how when I felt different in the classroom or in life, I became overcome by fear and insecurities. These fears and insecurities kept me from developing my potential socially, academically and professionally. I want to understand all the students in my classroom. This course has exposed me to many ways that individuals learn and resources for helping them. I believe that this class has equipped me to become a better educator and a member of society. It has shown me as a teacher that I need to understand the culture and diverse abilities of my students. I believe that through this course I am better equipped to understand those that I encounter in my everyday life and in my future profession as a teacher.
It is necessary for me to explain some things about myself in order for my motivation to be better understood. I am a person who loves God and who loves people. My love of God stirs in me a desire to help people to reach their fullest potential. There is a verse in the bible (2 Timothy 2:2, NASB) that best explains my philosophy of life and my philosophy of education. “The things you have heard in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who are able to teach others also.” For me this verse means first that people have invested their lives into me. I appreciate mentors, teachers, colleagues, and ministers who have invested time and energy into me. I have grown tremendously as a person and have overcome many adversities in life. In addition, I love to read and learn new things. I am definitely a life long learner. Next, because of how people have invested in me, I want to invest in others. I want to teach others about God, about the world and my love of Mathematics. I want people to be able to overcome their struggles and to learn things that are difficult for them. I want people to be challenged and to not just get by in school or in life. I want to motivate others to be life long learners like me. Lastly, I want them to inspire others to learn. Whether we are teachers, parents or in other fields, we are all teaching people new things. I want to inspire others to have the self-efficacy in what they know so that they are confident to teach others. This motivation has inspired me to want to move this desire into a profession.
The next thing that has shaped my desire is my personal experience. It began with my play teaching and helping of friends as a child. This continued when I attended university. I was often helping classmates with schoolwork. I was involved in a campus ministry organization. I began teaching small groups and seminars through this ministry. My junior and senior year in college, I became a Calculus Teaching Assistant. I loved this experience, because I loved helping the students learn when they were confused. Some students I encouraged to take courses that were more appropriate to their skill level. Up until college, I had always had a great fear of public speaking. This is probably why I had never considered becoming a teacher. I took some speech classes to help me to overcome that fear. The speech class helped a little but mostly my experience in the campus ministry and my experience as a teaching assistant helped me to overcome this great fear of public speaking. Yet in college, I was still determined to become a physician. Late in my junior year in college, I was studying for the medical school admissions test and decided that I did not want to be a physician. I decided to go into full time ministry. After college, I went away to work for a Christian ministry. There was a rigorous application process and emotionally I did not survive. I was asked to go home. I found myself as a college graduate with no idea of what I would be doing professionally. Eventually, I ended up working at a local laboratory. Even though I hated many things about this job, the one thing that I really enjoyed was training new employees. I became a member of the training committee and served as my department trainer. Also during this time, I worked at a few business colleges as a teacher to Medical Assistants. I loved teaching students. Also during this time, I was very active in leading ministries to women and youth. I also helped to home school several students. My laboratory position developed into a position at the hospital. I designed my new position which is a position for a person who only likes to work with people part of the time. Much of my time is spent isolated in my office or taking to people on the phone. This position quickly taught me that I needed to be involved directly with people. In the last few years, I learned about a program that was designed to give people with Math and/or Science degrees a teaching degree in the year. The first year, I let my fears keep me from applying. The next year, I did apply and I was accepted. This year long program taught me that in many ways I have always been a teacher. I have had a teaching license for two years.
After completing this program, my goal has been to be a high school or middle school Math or Life Science teacher. I would prefer to be a Math teacher. I want to be a teacher who challenges their students. I think most people find math difficult. Because of that, they develop an attitude that they cannot understand it. I want to work with my students to understand what they are thinking about a problem and help them to design a method of understanding the problem. I want my students to experience success and to not just simply pass their classes. I also think I would one day like to become a guidance counselor to help students to overcome their adversities and to design a plan for after graduation. I also would really enjoy becoming a foster parent or an adoptive parent. I know that these children may have diverse abilities or come from a different culture. I need to be equipped to parent these children.
Because of my personal motivation, my life experiences, and my individual goals for the future, I am very grateful that I have decided to take this course in order to understand students with diverse abilities. This course has shown me how when I felt different in the classroom or in life, I became overcome by fear and insecurities. These fears and insecurities kept me from developing my potential socially, academically and professionally. I want to understand all the students in my classroom. This course has exposed me to many ways that individuals learn and resources for helping them. I believe that this class has equipped me to become a better educator and a member of society. It has shown me as a teacher that I need to understand the culture and diverse abilities of my students. I believe that through this course I am better equipped to understand those that I encounter in my everyday life and in my future profession as a teacher.
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