Comment Win X

From HuffPo.

What makes this even better is the Kristen Stewart bashing. Sorry but the chick cannot act.

Year in Review: 2012

Timeline 2012

January: brother is committed to a mental health facility for almost a week

February: start watching Attack of the Show

March: get into rear end car accident on way home during rain; pass CSET General Science I & II subtests; get into The Hunger Games series

April: see The Hunger Games movie with Grandmom (2x) and Uncle Rob

May: take and pass CSET Science subtest Biology/Life Science; see Wyatt at work on Memorial Day

June: turn 26; Mom wins tickets to Sea World from KOLA; celebrate Uncle Rob graduating Cal Poly Pomona; brother wrecks car in accident not his fault; Grandmom buys me new tires and gets free tickets to stuff

July: lay offs finish at work; Summer Olympics begin; start rewriting A Hero's Sojourn

August: my brother and I install our pool; The Hunger Games on DVD; fight with Eric

September: start applying to graduate school; attend Military Appreciation Picnic 2012 with fellow store employees; eight year Albertsons anniversary; make up with Eric

October: mad scientist for Halloween complete with eye patch; work at closing store

November: Thanksgiving with Mom, Andrew, and Uncle Rob; finish Statement of Purpose, only to realize I wrote it wrong because I didn't read; movie with Uncle Rob (Silver Linings Playbook); get new store director at work; receive my Certificate of Clearance from the CTC

December: decorate for Christmas for the first time in four years; lots of rain; Mom dogsits Summer at Grandmom's house; start reworking my SOP and Personal History; finish SOP; have New Year's Eve off

Year in Review: Entertainment

Entertainment that made an impression on my year...

TV

Revolution

Once Upon a Time

Adventure Time with Finn and Jake

Regular Show

The New Normal

Go On

Jessie

A.N.T. Farm

Austin and Ally

Dark Matters: Twisted But True

Summer Olympics

Merlin

Lost Girl

Movies

The Hunger Games

Silver Linings Playbook

The God Who Wasn't There

Winter's Bone

Poker House

The Burning Plain

Episode of Bardock

(I didn't see many new movies this year...or ones that didn't somehow star Jennifer Lawrence)

Books

The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

Mockingjay

Anthropology of an American Girl

God Is Not Great

Music

“Still Alive” and “Want You Gone” from Portal

“Call Me Maybe” - Carly Rae Jepsen

The Hunger Games soundtrack

“The Fighter” - Gym Class Heroes

“Underneath the Sycamore” - Death Cab for Cutie

“Easy” - Barenaked Ladies

“Rifle's Spiral” - The Shins

“Shoelaces (Morgan Page Remix)” - The Submarines

“Sophisticated” - Sarina Paris

“Good Time” and “Alligator Sky” - Owl City ft. Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City

Every Last Bit

School was a mixed bag
I excelled academically (usually)
I floundered socially (mostly)
And yet I am fortunate to say and feel
That I never hated any of it

Lucky, I guess, that I was naturally curious
Seeking, wanting, needing, asking
Fed information by teachers, which never satiated my mind
Close to others who were like me
(Some just lazier, I guess)

School was awesome
Even into higher ed, Chaffey, and UCR
Though homework and exams made me feel otherwise
Made me stress, study, proofread a million times
But still were satisfying with a passing mark (or top billing)

So to give such a feeling (hope, inspiration, pride)
To someone else
That makes it all worthwhile, every last bit
Start to end, beginning to my present
Their beginning to their future

How I was inspired, how I will inspire
It doesn't end with school
We never stop learning
Hopefully they take away at least that
And my job will be worth it

Every last bit

CGS

date unrecorded.

Lonely Ambitions

The idle hum of the refrigerator
The tick-tocking of the clock
The faint beep of a faraway scanner
These are the sounds of loneliness
Faint voices, laughing, talking
The sunshine they soon will see
The breeze, the fresh air after the rain
While the rest of us work idly away
A job pays the bills, and these people are like family
But sometimes I think about when I will join the other side
And not be chained to baskets or a checkstand
My ambitions go further
So why don't I chase them away from here?

CGS

15 July 2012.
on lunch break between 3 and 4 pm.
breakroom.

Worst Things I Ever Ate (Or Drank)

vomit flavored Bertie Bott's jellybean
-while hanging out with friends at the park, 10th grade, after first semester finals

mycoprotein (fungus protein) nuggets
-unsure; enough said

red and white wine mixed with cheap vodka
-with Jon, which ended up with me being super sick for three days with every symptom on the Pepto Bismol bottle. Also, Sprite does not equal 7 Up.

soda with a dead fly
-While watching Teen Titans 2003 in the summer after eleventh grade

gum and Pringles
-summer after fifth grade, after swimming and while playing Goldeneye with my brother in our garage

Statement of Purpose

I am pursuing a Masters in Education and a single subject teaching credential, which will allow me to teach in the public school system. Specifically I want to obtain an M. Ed. with a general education teaching emphasis and become authorized to teach general science courses as well as my specialty of biology. As a move towards this goal, I have taken and passed both CSET general science subtests and the biology/life science subtest. I have also earned an Associate of Arts in University Studies with an emphasis in math and science and a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology. Both sets of coursework have prepared me in different ways to become an effective teacher.

My time spent studying biology as well as other physical sciences gave me a strong foundation for understanding and appreciating the natural world. Aside from that, the lab work and more specifically the fieldwork and field trips I participated in brought out my curiosity. My professor, Doctor Robin Ikeda, inspired me to look at the world, ask questions, find my own answers, and test them out. Concretely, she allowed me and a partner to carry out a fungi survey in the canyon Chaffey College students had been studying for over twenty years, something that was very different than most other projects but just as enlightening. The area had been destroyed by fire five years prior, and this survey allowed us to not just catalogue species but to inquire as to why these particular types were thriving above others and to try and understand the recovery of the environment. I have taken this skillset with me since, and it will be helpful as I not only teach scientific concepts but also how I approach teaching itself. Teachers who show their own passion for the subject and who demonstrate that they still look for answers in the world are much more likely to get the students interested as well. I experienced this first hand in junior high and high school with two different but equally inspiring teachers.

As for my anthropology coursework, I have garnered an invaluable way of approaching others in our very diverse society. Specifically, because of my study of culture, I feel I am prepared to deal effectively with the very diverse student body I will face. One thing that was emphasized in my courses was taking a bottom-up approach to studying situations, which means to look at them from the perspective of the individual rather than the group. This gives better insight into what situations people are really dealing with, and this allows me to tailor my approach in the most effective and meaningful way. A second, equally valuable lesson I learned was that you cannot approach a situation from your point-of-view alone because, chances are, the students you are trying to educate and help will come from a different one.

My time spent at UCR, one of the most diverse learning environments in the country, has also prepared me for this, and I want to return to earn my M. Ed. and credential so I can share my love of learning. Aside from this reason, my experience taking two education classes in the graduate school allowed me to see what kind of experience I could have within the program. The GSOE has also shown its commitment to attracting and preparing math and science teachers with the Copernicus Project, something I as a community college student was fortunate to participate in. All of these are strong reasons why I want to pursue my Masters and credential at UCR and to further my own learning.

I have always enjoyed learning, which is what compelled me to take so many classes and why it took so long to earn my Bachelor Degree. My broad education in liberal arts and sciences also garnered me the greatest recognition an undergraduate can receive from an honor society- an induction into Phi Beta Kappa. This passion for learning I have wanted to turn into a passion for teaching for as long as I can remember. It started out as a simple reading of my favorite book to my first grade class and was further nurtured by the multiple times I led study groups and privately tutored friends and fellow classmates.

My closest taste of being an actual teacher then came when I spent thirty-five hours in a ninth grade science class with my mentor teacher Ms. Erikca Brown. Most of what I did at first was simple observation as I tied it to concepts I was learning in my education course. Slowly I came out of my shell and was more comfortable taking an active role in the student's learning. This culminated in me preparing my own lecture, approved by my mentor and presenting it to the two classes. The entire experience was fulfilling as I got to use the knowledge I had acquired in my own study of biology and present it with a game I myself had played as a college freshman and as a Copernicus Project intern. Receiving compliments and seeing them have fun while learning was so rewarding.

I also understand that teaching will have its fair share of challenges that will vary in degree. An effective teacher must be able to recognize such challenges and work with students, parents, and colleagues to find solutions. As such, I feel my personal qualities of patience and understanding coupled with the broad worldview I acquired as an anthropology student will allow me to do this. A good teacher must also be able to communicate well, a skill I have been able to grow and refine in my eight years of customer service and my experiences in study groups and tutoring.

To me, teaching is not just telling someone information. It is inspiring others not just to learn but to want to learn. I was fortunate to have two great science teachers, one in middle school and one in high school and even more lucky to study under professors who know their subject and conveyed it with such passion that it inspired me to think and explore on my own. Our students need, especially in math and my subject of science, teachers who will do this for them. My passion for learning and teaching, my love for science, my drive to encourage and help others, and my abilities to listen, understand, and communicate with others I know will allow me to be that kind of teacher. No matter where I end up teaching, I look forward to sharing not just my knowledge but my passion and being not just an effective and fun teacher but a voice and an ear for my students.