Blog Post # 1

A few little tid bits about me:
Hello! Welcome to my first blog! My name is Nikki Rae and I am currently a full time student at the University of South Alabama, and I also work part-time at a little boutique. I was born on an army base in North Carolina with my twin sister Jessica. My family hasn't really moved all that much, but after my sister and I were born we moved to Kentucky. When I was finally in second grade my family moved to the great state of Alabama! My family and I are not fans of cold weather so moving farther down south to the white beaches of Alabama was an answer to our prayers.

I consider myself somewhat of a creative person. By somewhat I mean that I love to do anything artsy. My projects just don't always turn out how I expect them too. I love to paint and I also love photography. I would have to say my most avid past time is reading. I am a huge fan of literature! If I could choose to do so I'd spend my days lounging by the beach with my nose in a book. To me reading is one of the best things a person could do with his or her time. One of my favorite quotes about reading is "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one."- George R.R. Martin

I want to be an elementary education teacher because education is a huge huge stepping stone in someones life. The best time to make an impact and get a person excited about education is when that person is young. How a child is treated when they're young helps to determine how that child will turn out as an adult. If I could make a child's life better by educating him or her and get them excited about learning would be a marvelous career for me.

My future classroom:
As a person I am a kinesthetic learner. I am very hands on and like to actually be able to see and interact with whatever I'm having to learn or study. So as a teacher, I would be teaching with a hands on approach. I would teach my students that there isn't just one way to approach a topic. When you're learning something you need to figure out a way to retain that information, so when the my students move on to their next grade level they'll be ready for what their next teacher has in store for them.

One of the tools that I want to use for my classroom would be learning through creative learning games and teaching creative learning techniques. Since I'm wanting to teach elementary education, I'll be having to teach an array of subjects. Some of the subjects will be math, english, history, and science. To children, most will find one of those subjects very easy and the other difficult. So in order to make the subject they find difficult become a little more understandable why not make it a little fun? Say I have a student who is having problems with grammer. I could find a way to help the student understand by maybe making up a rap song about grammer. That way when the student is having issues with the rule he or she couldn't understand they'll now have a song to help get them through the process.

Since I'm an artsy person I want my classroom to be colorful and vibrant. A place where my students come to school and get excited about learning. I want it to be an open room that the students feel welcome in.

Dr. Pausch on Time Management:
For me Dr. Pausch's Time Management video was great. I'm the queen of procrastination. I loved when Dr. Pausch talked about doing the right things adequately vs. doing the wrong things beautifully. The reason why is because it's true. Like most of Americans I try to just do the easy things that won't really get you anywhere compared to working a little harder and planning something that will reward you in the future.

The other point that I loved that Dr. Pausch pointed out was about to-do listes. As you grow older life becomes more complicated. You have to start thinking "Ok. If I do this, this will be the outcome." Once you have that plan in your head and it doesn't turn out how you wanted it to turn out, you tend to have a little freakout. So when Dr. Pausch talked about that you can always change your plan, but only once you have one. A light went on. That statement is 100% true. As long as you have a plan everything will turn out for the best. Even if the way to your goal changes, you're still on the right path.