Ok, I know some of you are already "grown up" in the traditional sense. But you are either currently in college or considering it the near future. So what are you working on becoming? Who are you striving to become? And why? What do you have to offer that field? What unique talents or contributions can you offer?
These are all important questions to ask yourself as you progress through your journey. Even after you've completed your degree, you should continue asking yourself these questions. With today's economy and global society, we need to continuously remain on the cutting edge in our fields of work and study.
Now, so you all get a feel for where I come from, I'll answer my own questions:)
What do you want to be when you grow up?
For right now the answer is a teacher. I already am in a sense, as a homeschooling mother. But an accredited teacher with a degree and a "job" would be a really nice addition to my resume. I say this because teaching isn't an end goal for me, it is a stepping stone to a much larger goal...you've probably heard names like Dewey, Webster, Vygotsky, Plato, and Pestalozzi...one day I hope to have my name counted among them. Is that a high goal? You better betchya sweet buttons it is. But is it unattainable? Absolutely not!
Who are you working to become?
For the moment, my main focus is on becoming a college grad. Before completion of my undergraduate degree, I plan to complete a summer research opportunity program (SROP) at either Michigan State or University of Michigan. From there, I hope to continue research throughout and beyond my masters degree completion. I'm working on becoming an influential part of American education.
I've also started a little bit of education related freelance writing. None of this is scholarly, peer reviewed work; however, it is giving me the confidence and helping to improve my talents. I think it will benefit my writing in the long run...it is all online publication work, so as technology advances and globalization increases, I'm sure this skill will transfer into the educational writing sphere.
What do you have to offer the field? What unique talents or contributions can you offer?
First and foremost, I believe the most helpful ability I posses is the ability to remember what it was like to be a kid. All through growing up, my mother told me "remember this, it will help you later". So I did. When I started to learn how to ride a bike. I remember all the tips people gave me, what I thought about them, how I applied them, and what I took away from it all...I'm not saying I have some perfect, photographical/autobiographical memory. Actually, I have had a hard time with my memory. But I work to hold onto the things that really mattered to me, and why they mattered to me in the first place. Because of this, I am able to get down on the child's level (no mater which level that is) and understand them. Thus, I am better equipped for them to understand and relate to me as well.
I like to believe I also have at least a mediocre command of the written language. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but words come easily to me...because of this, I am able to convey my thoughts to the following generations, and leave a legacy for future learners to glean from.
OK
Now it's your turn.....click comments, then post your answers....thank you!!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Lets Get Interactive
First, I must apologize. I started this blog with great enthusiasm....thinking I could add stuff everyday and offer a wealth of information and resources to me fellow students of life. Unfortunately...this task was a whole lot greater than myself. So....
I decided early on to make this an interactive blog, where fellow students and learners of life could ask questions, share stories, and build a community. But I guess I never really made it formal. So here it is....This is the post to comment on if you have questions, concerns, or suggestions.
Are you a current college/university student?
Are there resources or information you would like to see here? Are there questions you have in a particular field of study? Are looking for a tutor or other study helps? Have you found this site helpful, or could it use some improvements?
Are you a current High School student?
Are you considering college, or continuing your education? What are some of your questions or concerns about continuing your education? Have you considered distance learning? What is stopping you from enrolling in college or university?
Are you a college/university graduate?
Do you have any helpful tips or advice for current college students? What about for future students? Do you have horror stories to tell? How about stories with happy endings? What did you do directly after graduation? How has your career held up through the recession?
Are you a college professor or instructor?
Can you share some tips or helps for current and future post secondary students? Are there certain schools you would recommend for specific career fields? Can you share some humorous stories of your teaching experiences? Do you have some students success stories you'd like to share with current and future students?
I know this isn't a very informative post, but the well has run dry for the past couple of months. Up until this point, I have only been sharing information, experiences, and resources from my own perspective, and I would like to include yours. So please, click on the word "comment" below and share:)
I decided early on to make this an interactive blog, where fellow students and learners of life could ask questions, share stories, and build a community. But I guess I never really made it formal. So here it is....This is the post to comment on if you have questions, concerns, or suggestions.
Are you a current college/university student?
Are there resources or information you would like to see here? Are there questions you have in a particular field of study? Are looking for a tutor or other study helps? Have you found this site helpful, or could it use some improvements?
Are you a current High School student?
Are you considering college, or continuing your education? What are some of your questions or concerns about continuing your education? Have you considered distance learning? What is stopping you from enrolling in college or university?
Are you a college/university graduate?
Do you have any helpful tips or advice for current college students? What about for future students? Do you have horror stories to tell? How about stories with happy endings? What did you do directly after graduation? How has your career held up through the recession?
Are you a college professor or instructor?
Can you share some tips or helps for current and future post secondary students? Are there certain schools you would recommend for specific career fields? Can you share some humorous stories of your teaching experiences? Do you have some students success stories you'd like to share with current and future students?
I know this isn't a very informative post, but the well has run dry for the past couple of months. Up until this point, I have only been sharing information, experiences, and resources from my own perspective, and I would like to include yours. So please, click on the word "comment" below and share:)
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The American Constitution
Hip Hip Hooray! Finally a class I can really get into. For the next 9 weeks I get to focus my academic studies on history, and I can't help but share the joy. When I finish the Constitution, I will be moving on to the education system...both of which impact our lives as students greatly, and have served their purposes but are in drastic need of reconstruction. So, if nothing else,these next weeks should be interesting.I'm eager to read what my classmates have to say on each of our topics of discussion. I hope you all will follow through with us as well...who knows, maybe you'll learn something too:)
So, this week my classmates and I are discussing different government systems; unitary, federal, and confederal. Do you know the difference?
Unitary government: a strong national government holds all the power, then delegates responsibilities, rights, and privileges to its states and local governments.
Federal government: a constitution specifies the powers to either state or federal governments, the federal and state departments share some powers, responsibilities, and privileges, but are given their power by the consent of the people they are governing.
Confederal government: a government made up of individual and independent states. The federal government is only granted power the states wish to allow.
These are my paraphrased definitions derived from the text, "American Government; Continuity and Change." But what does that mean? We have always been told that our nation is governed by a federal system, but have the people ever felt like they granted anyone any powers at all. Or has it actually been the contrary; that people have strived to reign in the powers of the federal government, and get them out of our backyards, schools, and churches?
Perhaps our government doesn't quite fit into any of these categories??? Maybe, in an effort to avoid one and create another, our nation has gradually slipped down a slope; merging one with another over time.
View with me this progression...
When colonies were planted on this continent, some 400 years ago, each one began under the rule of another government. The Dutch, French, British, and Spanish were the largest contributors to the growth of a new nation. All of which fashioned their governments on a unitary system model. One monarch, Parliament, or other governing body had supreme power. Even though subordinate states, colonies, or territories had some form of local government, the supreme authority could step in at any time, change laws without notice, tax with no explanation or benefit to the people, and do as they please (even outside of the law they mandated).
As colonies grew away from their mother countries and in unison with each other, they formed a compact. Through this compact, they fought back to earn their freedom, and recognition, as an independent nation of the world. However, they had no clue what they were doing, and no desirable model to emulate. Therefore, they were left to flounder in their own philosophies and ideals. Through this floundering, they created for themselves a confederate system of government.
Remember, each state grew from a colony, and each colony was planted by a different nation and for a different purpose. Therefore, there was no real union to begin with. Only a bunch of teenage boys who thought they knew more than their parents and grandparents, and were smart enough to call on some friends when the bullies came to push them around. ...Ok, so some of them weren't teenagers, but they were all amateurs at governing themselves. Loosely, these boys created a compact of independent states, which they called the Articles of Confederation.
This was the formation of a confederal system of government. One of which all the powers of the nation were allotted to the states, and only those powers deemed necessary were granted to the federal government. When this plan backfired, they did what any teenage boy would do. They fell back on their parents models. They intended to form a democracy, a republic, a representative government, in which the people had the power, the states had authority, and the federal government had what was leftover. Instead, they formed a warped copy of the unitary system, the federal system.
In the federal system, the constitution has supreme power and authority, only congress can change it(therefore they have ultimate power in the nation). The people elect their representatives who then make laws, enforce them, and interpret them as times change. The states, then, are left with what ever the feds don't want to be bothered with. The menial tasks, dirty laundry, policing, and the like. The states, then, are more or less the hands of the federal government, where the federal government is the mind, and the people are its blood.
**Disclaimer**
I am not a licensed or certified history teacher, I have no authority in the field. I am but a student of life, and these ramblings are my own workings through the topic. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong or mistaken, or join in with your own thoughts on the matter.
Comments are not moderated here, so when you hit "post comment" it shows up right away...please feel free to do so:)
So, this week my classmates and I are discussing different government systems; unitary, federal, and confederal. Do you know the difference?
Unitary government: a strong national government holds all the power, then delegates responsibilities, rights, and privileges to its states and local governments.
Federal government: a constitution specifies the powers to either state or federal governments, the federal and state departments share some powers, responsibilities, and privileges, but are given their power by the consent of the people they are governing.
Confederal government: a government made up of individual and independent states. The federal government is only granted power the states wish to allow.
These are my paraphrased definitions derived from the text, "American Government; Continuity and Change." But what does that mean? We have always been told that our nation is governed by a federal system, but have the people ever felt like they granted anyone any powers at all. Or has it actually been the contrary; that people have strived to reign in the powers of the federal government, and get them out of our backyards, schools, and churches?
Perhaps our government doesn't quite fit into any of these categories??? Maybe, in an effort to avoid one and create another, our nation has gradually slipped down a slope; merging one with another over time.
View with me this progression...
When colonies were planted on this continent, some 400 years ago, each one began under the rule of another government. The Dutch, French, British, and Spanish were the largest contributors to the growth of a new nation. All of which fashioned their governments on a unitary system model. One monarch, Parliament, or other governing body had supreme power. Even though subordinate states, colonies, or territories had some form of local government, the supreme authority could step in at any time, change laws without notice, tax with no explanation or benefit to the people, and do as they please (even outside of the law they mandated).
As colonies grew away from their mother countries and in unison with each other, they formed a compact. Through this compact, they fought back to earn their freedom, and recognition, as an independent nation of the world. However, they had no clue what they were doing, and no desirable model to emulate. Therefore, they were left to flounder in their own philosophies and ideals. Through this floundering, they created for themselves a confederate system of government.
Remember, each state grew from a colony, and each colony was planted by a different nation and for a different purpose. Therefore, there was no real union to begin with. Only a bunch of teenage boys who thought they knew more than their parents and grandparents, and were smart enough to call on some friends when the bullies came to push them around. ...Ok, so some of them weren't teenagers, but they were all amateurs at governing themselves. Loosely, these boys created a compact of independent states, which they called the Articles of Confederation.
This was the formation of a confederal system of government. One of which all the powers of the nation were allotted to the states, and only those powers deemed necessary were granted to the federal government. When this plan backfired, they did what any teenage boy would do. They fell back on their parents models. They intended to form a democracy, a republic, a representative government, in which the people had the power, the states had authority, and the federal government had what was leftover. Instead, they formed a warped copy of the unitary system, the federal system.
In the federal system, the constitution has supreme power and authority, only congress can change it(therefore they have ultimate power in the nation). The people elect their representatives who then make laws, enforce them, and interpret them as times change. The states, then, are left with what ever the feds don't want to be bothered with. The menial tasks, dirty laundry, policing, and the like. The states, then, are more or less the hands of the federal government, where the federal government is the mind, and the people are its blood.
**Disclaimer**
I am not a licensed or certified history teacher, I have no authority in the field. I am but a student of life, and these ramblings are my own workings through the topic. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong or mistaken, or join in with your own thoughts on the matter.
Comments are not moderated here, so when you hit "post comment" it shows up right away...please feel free to do so:)
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Computer Literacy and College...where am I?
Since my focus usually hovers on distance education and online learning, I thought I'd look for some good stuff out here on computer literacy and techno-know-how..Todd Pheifer has a piece on just that...here...
For some wonderful reason, I can no longer cut and paste bits and pieces in here. As a writer, that pleases me, because I know things are being done to protect my work...but it makes it more time consumming to share other writers' work.
In this article, Todd covers the necessity for today's learner to become comfortable with the technology they will be using to further their education. If you're wondering if your up to snuff enough to make it in an online classroom, it would serve ya well to chack it out.
On that note...Somethings you should probably want to get aquainted with before classes begin, or get any more difficult, are: Power Point, this is software that just about every college student today needs to be comfortable with. Micosoft Office Word...not the one that comes on your computer from the store, the one you actually have to purchase and download...almost every online school out there requires this because it is the program their instructors use. It provides editing tools that allow the instructor to give detail feedback. And...
You tell me..these two are the only I ones I've really encountered so far. But if there is another out there that you know of...let us all in on the secret:)
For some wonderful reason, I can no longer cut and paste bits and pieces in here. As a writer, that pleases me, because I know things are being done to protect my work...but it makes it more time consumming to share other writers' work.
In this article, Todd covers the necessity for today's learner to become comfortable with the technology they will be using to further their education. If you're wondering if your up to snuff enough to make it in an online classroom, it would serve ya well to chack it out.
On that note...Somethings you should probably want to get aquainted with before classes begin, or get any more difficult, are: Power Point, this is software that just about every college student today needs to be comfortable with. Micosoft Office Word...not the one that comes on your computer from the store, the one you actually have to purchase and download...almost every online school out there requires this because it is the program their instructors use. It provides editing tools that allow the instructor to give detail feedback. And...
You tell me..these two are the only I ones I've really encountered so far. But if there is another out there that you know of...let us all in on the secret:)
Friday, May 29, 2009
What Happened to the Featured Writer?
This is a quick note of apology. Some evidence that newbies have a hard time keeping up :)! As I get more accustomed to the blogging world, I know I will get better at this. Until then...I hope you can hang in there with me.
From this point on...no promises or expectations. I will do my best to keep the fresh voices coming...and you will still get the full months worth of air time.
For the next 30 days, we will be enlightened by a college professor and author, Todd Pheifer. I think that one of the best ways to introduce a person (when not face-to-face) is by quoting them. On his profile page at Helium.com, Todd wrote, "I love the word "tenacity", because I believe anything can be accomplished if you have the vision to see it through to completion." I think that is a great mindset for any student of any level.
If there is ever a topic you would like addressed here, let me know and I will do my best to cover it in a timely manner.
From this point on...no promises or expectations. I will do my best to keep the fresh voices coming...and you will still get the full months worth of air time.
For the next 30 days, we will be enlightened by a college professor and author, Todd Pheifer. I think that one of the best ways to introduce a person (when not face-to-face) is by quoting them. On his profile page at Helium.com, Todd wrote, "I love the word "tenacity", because I believe anything can be accomplished if you have the vision to see it through to completion." I think that is a great mindset for any student of any level.
If there is ever a topic you would like addressed here, let me know and I will do my best to cover it in a timely manner.
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