Future Teacher, Forever Student

One of my favorite things about the Education program at Saint Michael's is the incorporation of different professional development opportunities as a part of my course work. Earlier this month, my Adolescent Development class attended a workshop on transgender teens run by Outright Vermont , a local organization that aims to build safe environments for LGBTQ+ teens. Knowing that my future students will be members or know members of the LGBTQ+ community, I was extremely excited to learn more about transgender teens. Even more, I was eager to learn how I can make my future classroom a safe and welcoming space for all of my students. Source: http://images.thecarconnection.com/med/lgbt-rainbow-flag_100375401_m.jpg Rather than post a lengthy description of the workshop and how I plan to nurture a tolerant and accepting classroom in the future, I decided to post a poem I wrote in response to the workshop instead. I think the most important thing I learned at the workshop is that ...

Wow. March was a hectic month. Between classwork, homework, and life in general; I admit that the last thing I wanted to do on my brief semester break was tear through a book. As I settled into the extremely uncomfortable bus seat for my five hour ride back to school, I reluctantly opened Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda .  I knew there was a lot of hype about the book and the new movie, but I also knew that I am typically underwhelmed by young adult books the media takes by storm. I knew it was probably a cute story, but it couldn't be as good as everyone says. Let me tell you, I was dead wrong. Wonderfully sarcastic, completely awkward, and surprisingly clever, Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda   follows sixteen- year- old Simon Spier and his group of friends as they stumble through their junior year of high school. Author Becky Albertalli tackles everything from homosexuality and bullying to cliques, new kids, and crushes-- and she does so in a seamless, almost ...

Source: http://www.clipartsuggest.com/images/687/external-image-world-holding-hands-png-T6RSbU-clipart.png One thing I absolutely love about the Burlington, Vermont area is the cultural diversity among its citizens. Local restaurants, clothing stores, and small knick knack shops often reflect the cultures of their small business owners; and Saint Michael's frequently hosts poetry slam groups, musicians, and speakers that have immigrated to the United States. There are several opportunities, through both the college and local organizations, to work with local refugee communities and American newcomers. Fortunately for Secondary Education majors, St. Mike's connects students with ELLs in surrounding middle and high schools as a field placement and partnership opportunity. If you missed the post about my first meeting with S., my amazing ELL student, check it out here! Since my first meeting with S., I have only worked with him on one other occasion. S. and I continued...

As a future social studies teacher, I am always excited to see how my school incorporates history into special events on campus. From parties to film screenings, the possibilities for history to reach beyond the classroom are endless, and this past Wednesday I participated in a unique experience that brought the 1800s to my computer screen. February 14th, often celebrated as St. Valentine's Day, is one of those dates that have a long list of reasons for their historical significance. Don't get me wrong, St. Valentine deserves all the celebration he gets, but this year my school gave Frederick Douglass some special attention. Unsure of his exact date of birth, Douglass chose to celebrate on Valentine's Day. February 14th, 2018 marked the 200th birthday of the abolitionist, and the Saint Michael's community (with some help from the Smithsonian) celebrated in style. Working with a series of handwritten documents from the 1800s that were scanned onto a Smithsonian websi...

Nepal (shaded in yellow). Source link: http://www.yourchildlearns.com/online-atlas/images/map-of-nepal.gif As a part of the Secondary Education Program at Saint Michael's, students have the opportunity to work with English Language Learners (ELLs) in local middle and high schools. When I first learned about this placement opportunity, I was admittedly a little nervous. How can you work with a student that doesn't quite understand you? Expecting a lot of frustration, "uhms," and "uhs" on both ends, I took a few deep breaths before meeting my student for the first time. For the sake of privacy, I will refer to my student in this and future posts as "S." Prior to our meeting, I knew that S. was from Nepal, a place I had never been to and knew little about its culture. Luckily, I did know where to find it on a map! Wanting to better understand what sort of environment S. had emigrated from, I conducted a general search on Nepal. I also looked ...

While I know there are scarier things in the world, I consider failure to be among my top fears. Especially as a college student, there are several factors in the higher education world that eliminate the option of failure altogether: scholarships, graduate school, future employment, honors societies, the ability to participate in extracurricular activities, and the scariest numbers under 5 (that is, the G.P.A.) just to name a few. However, the TED Talk presented by Astro Teller on "The unexpected benefit of celebrating failure" sheds some light on the shadowy doom no ones wants to talk about. Highlighting the secret to the successes of his company, X (formerly Google X), Teller offers insight on the benefits of failure. His project teams are encouraged to think big, tackle the largest obstacles to their ideas head-on, and abandon (essentially, fail) their projects when the obstacles become impractical to overcome. Employees are rewarded for failing projects that just ar...