About MeI am a Teacher Candidate in the Single Subject Credential program at California State University, San Marcos. I also graduated from CSUSM in the spring of 2015 with my degree in history with a single subject focus. I would love to teach US history at either the middle school or high school level, but I am passionate about all areas of history. I am also working towards a credential in English/Language Arts, and would love to teach English at the middle or high school level as well. My teaching philosophy is a combination of progressivism and existentialism. My learning styles include linguistic, logical, and visual/spatial. This means that I like to talk about ideas and projects with others in order to get every perspective possible and I like to make charts and other visual tools to help me keep organized.
I love to go on hikes and to be surrounded by nature and all of its beauty. Breakfast burritos and Chees-its are definitely my favorite foods and I would eat them all the time if I could! I love going to the movie theatre to see all the new releases and I saw at least 30 movies at the theatre in 2015 alone! |
Educational Philosophy |
Progressivism:
Progressivism focuses more on the child than the subject matter. The students' interests and personal growth are important. Learners should be active and learn to solve problems by reflecting upon their experience. The school should help students develop democratic personal and social values. Because society is always changing, new ideas are important to make the future better than the past. Influential progressives: John Dewey, William Kilpatrick, Francis Parker. -authenciteducating.com Existentialism: Just as its namesake sprang from a strong rejection of traditional philosophy, educational existentialism sprang from a strong rejection of the traditional, essentialist approach to education. Existentialism rejects the existence of any source of objective, authoritative truth about metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Instead, individuals are responsible for determining for themselves what is "true" or "false," "right" or "wrong," "beautiful" or "ugly." For the existentialist, there exists no universal form of human nature; each of us has the free will to develop as we see fit. In the existentialist classroom, subject matter takes second place to helping the students understand and appreciate themselves as unique individuals who accept complete responsibility for their thoughts, feelings, and actions. The teacher's role is to help students define their own essence by exposing them to various paths they may take in life and creating an environment in which they may freely choose their own preferred way. Since feeling is not divorced from reason in decision making, the existentialist demands the education of the whole person, not just the mind. Although many existentialist educators provide some curricular structure, existentialism, more than other educational philosophies, affords students great latitude in their choice of subject matter. In an existentialist curriculum, students are given a wide variety of options from which to choose. -ctle.hccs.edu My educational philosophy is a combination of Progressivism and Existentialism. Progressivism focuses on the development of the students instead of the subject matter. The students are encouraged to reflect upon their experiences and develop democratic personal and social values. Existentialism focuses on the importance of the individual and emotional commitment to living authentically. It emphasizes individual personal choice over the importance of rational theories. I want my students to feel like they have a say in my classroom and to teach them how to go out into the world being able to work out their issues in a competent way. Student voice and choice are very important to me because I want my students to get more out of my classroom than facts that they may or may not remember. |
Salmon
Your Spirit Animal is the Salmon! Salmon are an exciting and highly charged animal and Native American Totem animal. In the wild, a salmon has to travel long distances, jumping up streams and swimming against currents, and so represents perseverance and determination even in the face of adversity. Salmons sometimes come to us when life is unclear so that we may learn and be inspired by their strength of character. Salmons like to seek recognition in some way, usually using their own creativity, but sometimes they seek a slightly quiter path and choose to use their talents of creativity, inspiration and motivation, to bring about great things in others. When the salmon appears in your life its time to see if you are living up to your full potential. If you are, the salmon encourages you to continue and take further steps to reach your goals, and if you feel you are not then now is the time for change, with the help of this vibrant animal. The salmon represents life force and vitality and encourages you to feel and express these qualities. The Salmon helps you fight for what is important and overcome obstacles, just like the creature has to in the long journeys it makes through tough waters. While you are most likely tough on the outside, and like to act as though things don't bother you, the salmon is actually quite sensitive on the inside and can be easily hurt. If the salmon enters your life its quite likely that you are ready to explore new depths of spirituality and learn to develop psychic or spiritual abilities. The negative side of the salmon is that all that passion and creativity can lead to being, or being seen as controlling, even arrogant and intolerant, and so as with all Native American totems you are encouraged to learn from the Salmon and work on avoiding these traits. Similarly you should be in balance so if you shy away from taking control and standing up for yourself, you have a lesson to learn here too. Positive Traits: Creative, Inspirational, Determined, Successful, Ability to bring out great things in yourself and others Negative Traits: Controlling, Arrogant, Intolerant, Easily offended