Article and Peer Response

The two people that I chose to learn more about were Nicki Ross and Laura Welter. Although we have been in the same block with each other for the past couple of semesters, it is sad to say that I have not reached out of my personal circle of friends in order to make new friends during this time. When reading their blogs I noticed that like myself, Laura has also been raised around a family of teachers and that is what pursued her into the career path she has chosen now. Nicki and I share the same interests in Elementary Education in the fact that we love children as well as that we both want to see a change in the children's lives and be able to lead them down that correct path.

In the article that was assigned for us to read, it discusses and tells about the many ways of writing to learn. Whether that be the many different strategies/ ways used in teaching or activities to help the student understand content better while increasing academically with writing (and reading). There are many points and keys in this article that are important because it will help me as a future teacher to know how to bring writing into the learning process in other academic areas instead of just Language Arts. I think the most important part of the article is where it breaks down and talks about incorporating writing to learn in instructional time. When teachers (including myself) see the many ways and activities we can use to pull in our students with reading and writing in other subject areas it will help not only teachers with knowing how to help students with literacy but make it easier for students as well. Some of the activities that students can do to help with learning doesn't seem like "writing" at times, but it is and it will help students develop in that subject or area. What stood out the most to me were the many ways to incorporate writing. I did not know that when you are doing other subject areas, such as social studies and science, that you could use writing to not only help your students learn but also to help improve writing skills and literacy with the students. I also loved doing the biopoems that we did in class today because it shows how we can incorporate social studies into an English lesson. I loved the interaction between the students as well because it will help the students with being able to come up or answer and understand the content. I only have a 3 questions. 1) Can you use math with this writing to learn? I know that math deals with mainly problems and equations but I was wondering if it was different or anyone possible it was used in mathematics. 2) Do teachers have to make different writing assignments for different learners? 3) With the framed paragraphs, I was confused by that, I did not quite understand what that was saying. The only problems that I would think of encountering would be the different types of learners with writing, which strategy would be most effective when using with certain subject areas, and how to use certain strategies with certain literacy problems.

Syllabus Response

The two things that most stood out to me during my reading of the syllabus were the rubrics for every assignment and how to do each assignment correctly. Most teachers give you assignments without telling you how to do it correctly or what they want until you get your paper back and see you were completely wrong so I really like that it is laid out for us in the syllabus. I think this course is about understanding literacy in schools and as a teacher for other students so that we can help with literacy in our schools and classrooms becoming teachers. I hope to learn more about how to help with literacy in my classroom as a future teacher to help me students in learning. I am looking forward to blogging because we get to express and really tell our side of everything being taught and I think I will enjoy getting to interact and know more about the other students in Philadelphia with their feel and take on things as well with what we are learning. As of right now, I have no questions or concerns, but I am sure that going more into the semester there will be a few that arise. I can't wait for a great semester!

This is me

My name is Emily Turner and I am going to USM to earn a degree in Elementary Education. What brought me to want to be a teacher are many things. First, everyone in my family is basically a teacher so it came naturally to me that I would want to do that as well. That is not the only reason, but I would love to play teacher when I was little and I would always love doing it. Second, I absolutely love children. I as a future teacher, want the best for any child/student that comes into my classroom. I also want a classroom where my students know that we are a family and they can come to be and be comfortable in our classroom to know that everything is okay. I also want to be a motivator to my students because most of the time students hear they are not good enough or will never amount to anything, I as a teacher want to show them that is not true. Although being a teacher can be fun at times, I am scared too. I want to "ideally" teach around 4th or 5th graders, but I will love and be used wherever I go. I am "scared" about some content areas that are typically not something I am really into. For instance, science. I grew up not liking science more than likely because every science class I was in was more note taking and then a test, there were no experiments or fun things involved in learning with science so that left me with not really liking science as much. One content area I absolutely love is math. I know that the teachers who taught me had something to do with it because they would help me with any problem I had but I also love to figure out problems that challenge me and motivate me as a person. I feel so much better about myself when I finally have that light bulb feeling going off in my head and I actually understand the problem. I know I can help my students with any content area, but I want to pull in more things to help them instead of just taking notes or what not. Some students learn better with hands-on activities or problems so this will definitely help me as a teacher. 

 Now that I have told about the reason of teaching, let me tell about myself. I live in Petal, MS and I am the daughter of Ronnie and Sherri Turner. I have two other sisters, one older and one younger (so I am the middle child). My older sister is Kelli who is 24 years old and will soon be going back to college in Culinary. My younger sister is Jessica who is 19 years old and goes to USM as well but she has no idea what she wants to do yet. I am 21 years old and I am learning to love myself (not in a prideful way). I work at a daycare center in Oak Grove and I absolutely love it because everyday I have a funny story to tell my family of the amazing children I am around. I am very involved in my church and I love God with all of my heart. I have the most amazing christian based friends, which are basically like family to me, that are always here for me and help me through things in life. I love to play the piano and write songs when I have time. I guess you could say that is my "quiet time" or alone time. My family and I have 2 dogs and 1 cat. No, they do not get along, so it is interesting at the house sometimes. When I have time to read, I like to read books that have a purpose or reason behind them. I love Crazy Love, Radical, and Capitvating. They are really great and I suggest them to anyone. My favorite movies would have to be Bridesmaids, Courageous, Fireproof, and a few more. I mainly/only listen to Christian music but my favorite artist are Casting Crowns. They are absolutely amazing and I can't stop listening to their new album. I love being around a fire with a bunch of friends and just simply hanging out and being able to laugh and enjoy life. My favorite bible verse is 2 Corinthians 5:17 partially because I do have a tattoo of it on my ankle. I am blessed to have the life that I do and this is who I am.