Ah, I remember my first standardized test like it was yesterday. I was in third grade when I took my first test. I had the flu, it was my birthday, and I had no idea how my scholastic would would change forever. I would say I am an average test taker. Standardized tests are actually quite difficult for me and i do not really like them. I have no idea the amount of time I set away for these test or the actual number of tests that I took during my youth. A standardized test is any form of test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same way, and that is scored in a “standard” or consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative performance of an individual. I’ve researched a few alternatives to standardized testing such as sampling and portfolios. In my classroom I will abide by the standardized testing laws and procedures, but will understand that all students can learn and succeed, but not all on the same day, in the same way.

Hello one and all, I just wanted to wish anyone reading this a happy Monday and a good luck to ya this week! Today I want to post about special education and disabilities. People with disabilities are near and dear to my heart. My mother has Multiple Sclerosis and can not walk so my life has had tons of ups and downs. I know what it is like to be around someone deemed “different”. In high school I worked with a program called Best Buddies. I basically got the privilege to hang out with students who were disabled and learn all about them and care for them. As a teacher I hope to put all my focus on all my student. Each student has the opportunity for greatness and that is what I hope to share with my students. As a student I remember teachers asking students If they needed accommodations and then they abided by. My biggest fear is that I won’t be able to accommodate my students to the best of my ability. That I wont live up to my greatest potential and helping others.

HELLOOOOOO YALL,

I’m currently blogging from the tip top of the carnival valor! The wind in my my hair and the sweet smell of salt is all around me. It’s honestly really nice. Today I want to talk about my classes at UNT. In specifically my education class. I am currently in EDCI 3800 and it’s unlike any class I have been in before. I actually enjoy what I am learning. This is the only education class I have taken and so far it has laid out the foundation for teaching. The biggest thing I have learned and actually feel like my teaching  will grow from is my understanding of the teaching philosophies. After hearing them and going and interviewing my teaching for my first year project i realized why I chose that teacher in the first place. MRS media (my teacher for the project) teaches in a progressivism/essentialism manor. Progressivists believe that education should focus on the whole child, rather than on the content or the teacher. This educational philosophy stresses that students should test ideas by active experimentation. I want to implement this philosophy in my teaching! I am so excited to take more classes about education! Hopefully I will be able to add onto this post with more insight on my education experience! Anyway, as my captain TJ says… “ciao, for now !”

Peace N’ Blessings

• Aspen

Hello again, today I want to share with you about a teacher who impacted my life. To make an impression is one thing but to leave an impact is another. In 8th grade I had the privilege of having a teacher who on papers probably should not have been teaching. Senora Medina, a unexpected candidate to teach middle school Spanish. Not unexpected in her skill set, no Senora was a native Spanish speaker. However, Senora Medina’s first year of teaching was at the age of 43. She had no previous training as a student and was hired just three days before school. Never the less she was perfect, or as perfect as one can be. She had no idea the impact she would leave on a 13-year-old.
Senora Medina ill-prepped as she was made Spanish a blast. I learned so much in that class. We used online websites to practice, wrote flashcards daily, learned a new song in Spanish every week, and even spoke in Spanish in front of the class. One of my favorite days was cultural day. On the last Monday of the week we drew from a jar that had Latin American countries labeled on pieces of papers. We then we recuired to bring something from that country on Friday. It could be art, clothing, or my favorite… FOOD. It was such a nice break from our crazy middle school lives to sit and be “one with the world” as Senora would say. Senora Medina was unlike any teacher I have ever had because everything she did in class was all on her, She didn’t have exact plans on what to do for the year, or typical assignments because she didn’t have that opportunity to learn during student teaching. Her age made it harder to find what clicked with her students, but that didn’t mean she didn’t love us. Senora was so nice and so invested in her students. She had this policy that every Monday and Friday during lunch her room would be open. She used to say, “It’s good to start and end your week eating with those you care for”.
I hope to be an empathetic and passionate teacher like Senora Medina. A teacher who embraces her uniqueness and differences, and tries new ideas from time to time, a teacher who after her first year of teaching spent her whole summer preparing her lesson plans for the following years making it easier to be a teacher and leaving more time to be the “mom” some students need. Preparation is key to success in a classroom but at the same time, so is a big “corazon”!

Peace n’ Blessings

-Aspen

Hey yall! Happy Tuesday! In today’s post I would like to tell yall about the person who inspired me to teach. But the funny thing is that I never wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be a broadcaster, marry a football player and life would be great. It wasn’t until I started working at Camp Thurman after I graduated college that I even considered being a teacher. Camp Thurman was a place where I had the opportunity to teach kids about the Lord, harness them for ziplines and climbing walls, and remind the kids that the Lord has a plan for them and they are unique. It was such a rewarding job and the idea that I could do that every summer was unreal. I could finally show kids and students the love and affirmation they might be missing in their daily life. But the thing is I can’t work at summer camp forever… I can only really work there just a few more years before I must start truly living and make a living for myself. So, what am I going to do? I began to think of jobs that would allow me to work with students and help them grow. Now who does that? TEACHERS. That’s right, teachers are the saving grace to society and remind kids that they are unique, worth their time, and have a purpose in life. I started thinking about my previous teachers; Mrs. Morris, Mrs. Polito, Mr. Gage, Mrs. Vick, Mrs. Rojas, and finally Mrs. Allibon. These teachers impacted me more than words can describe. Mrs. Allibon is the sole reason I am going to be a teacher.

Mrs. Amy Allibon was my choir director from 11th grade and 12th grade. I have been in choir since the 6th grade and I loved every minute of it, that is until my freshman year and sophomore year. I grew up in choir and in middle school my choir was really good. I felt like we were at the same level as a high school choir and when I got into choir I felt that my middle school choir was better than my high school choir. I was just going through the motion and felt that my freshman and sophomore director Mrs. Graff really wasn’t pushing us. I felt like I was challenged more in middle school. Anyway, I stuck with choir my freshman and sophomore year all the way until the end but I was just kind of bored with it. I didn’t try out for choir that May. I decided that after my sophomore year I was to be done with choir. All of that changed on the very last day of school my sophomore year. I was in choir and Mrs. Graff wasn’t there that day so the varsity director Mrs. Allibon filled in. She mostly hung out in her office since it was the last day and all and things were very chill in the choir room. My phone died and no one around had a charger so I decided to go to Mrs. Allibon and ask her for one. I had talked to her may times but didn’t really know her because she wasn’t my JV director. In that moment of asking to borrow her charger something happened. We began to talk and she asked me all sorts of question, genuinely try to know who I was. She ultimately lead me to the question of why I was no longer going to be in choir. I was honest with her and what’s crazy was I was dead set on leaving the program but like I said something changed. She told me I had a beautiful voice. First off I didn’t even really even think she knew who I was and she was telling me I had a beautiful voice. I was like okay … go on. She the began to tell me all the things Mrs. Graff told her about me. How I was a leader, a strong singer, and was sure that if I continued with choir I would make varsity choir easily the following years. This was all new to me. The varsity choir was AMAZING. They did challenging after challenging piece and I would have loved to be apart of it but to be honest a lot of my friends had dropped choir, I wasn’t close with many people and I was just about ready to walk out those doors and never return. That is until Mrs. Allibon asked me one last question. “I know you are not coming back but do you think I could hear you sing the Chorale (the varsity choir name) audition piece”. I didn’t think anything of it and so I agreed. I have no idea how it happened, but I made Varsity choir right there on the spot. It was a risk because I had such a crappy time the past two year, but Mrs. Allison saw potential in me. Potential I never saw in myself before.
That was my first of many memorable moments I had with “Bon”. She changed my life. The following years were extremely different from my first two years of high school. Because of Mrs. Allibon I was given leadership opportunities, a position in the show choir, and the confidence to sing my first solo at a concert my senior year, and finally become of this new confidence, a junior high worship leader. Amy Allibon is everything that I hope to be as a teacher. She is classy. She is organized. She is inclusive. She is respectable. She is personable. She is womanly always. Mrs. Allibon was a phenomenal teacher. She took time after hours to work with students. She was persistent and stubborn but also spoke from her heart. She was very much a essentialist. She taught students how to read and interpret music, understand rhythm, and sing on pitch and effectively. She taught what she needed to teach but also, she taught me so many things that being in a standard class room I don’t think I would have comprehended as well. Mrs. Allibon was a teacher who didn’t look at me as a grade or class rank but someone who had something to offer. Every day she would ask the class how we were doing and twice a semester she would have a one on one meeting with every student in her choir. This was a time to reflect on how school was going and just another reason why Mrs. Allibon stood out among my teachers.
I hope to be half the teacher Mrs. Allibon is. I don’t want to teach music, but I believe that her way of teaching can be implemented in any classroom. I would like to get to know my students, have those meetings throughout the semester, and be a friendly face in the hallway who went to all of her students events. She was a teacher for the students and a role model for a life time. Mrs. Allibon is the reason I want to teach because she made me feel special and that is something I hope one of my students will say about me.
Now that you have read why I want to teach and my reasons why I hope that you can think back to that one teacher who stands out to you and remind you why you wanted to teach in the first place.
Peace n’ Blessings
-Aspen

 

 

 

Hey Yall! Happy Monday. Today I’m just going to leave this gem of a blog post for whoever wants to read this. So public education essentially is a way to educate children to prepare them to be productive members of society. That is all fine and dandy, but society is far more complicated and complex than math and science alone. I believe that what makes a school successful are the teachers who work there, the organizations and clubs held, and the keeping retention among the students. For the most part, schools are successful. They make grades, create music, score touchdowns yada yada yada but are the truly invested in their students? That’s my question. As a teacher I want to know my students the best that I can while still maintaining that student teacher relationship. For me to really make a difference I would want to see what it’s like to work in a provide school versus a non-privilege school just to get an idea of how both are run and try to see what I can bring to the table. In one of our readings for class it highlights subjects such as algebra, geometry, natural sciences, and foreign languages should begin earlier than high school. This is something I totally agree one. I am a communications major and I am required to have four semesters of Spanish and I wish I could have just tested out of the subject but since we started learning so late in high school that wasn’t the case for me and now I am having to take the classes a few  semesters at a time. Wish me luck.

Peace n’ Blessings

-Aspen

Hi yall! My name is Aspen Gonzales! I am a junior at the University of North Texas. I am a Communication major and I am minoring in secondary education  as well as social science. I hope to become a speech teacher in either middle school or high school. That honestly a sentence I never thought I would write. I hated school. Volleyball, choir, and lunch were the things that got me through the day, well that and the awesome teachers who stood by me the entire time. It wasn’t till I worked at Camp Thurman when I realized that being around kids and being that person they could talk to and to some a role model made me feel so happy. I thought out who inspired me and my speech teacher surprisingly made the top of my list. Coach Holman told me that “It doesn’t matter what you say, but how you make your audience feel”. That phrase stuck with me and is what drives me to continue my education and lets me know that even if I don’t write, speak, or do everything “perfect”, that if I make a good impression on someone that alone will make me memorable and appreciated. I might not speak the best or type a novel with zero grammar mistakes but I am passionate about many things. One of those is telling others the great things I see in them. I hope that in my teaching career I can continue to let others know how important they are while teaching them something I am passionate about, communication. This is my very first blog but I am excited to see how this blog unfolds throughout the semester and my life.

Peace n’ Blessings

-Aspen