The Big 3-0

Many people dread leaving their twenties behind and finally turning thirty. I personally never really cared. We all get older and hopefully wiser. Each year brings new experiences, and this past year has especially been enriching. I've made so many memories and finally found my place in the world. This birthday is the first in a long time where it felt like a birthday and where I enjoyed it. So I can remember what this day brought, I'll briefly recap.

My close teacher friend got me two Monsters and a mousse cake plus hooked me up with some movies to show my kids since they took their final early.

Being glomped by a student and having my (annoying) third period genuinely keep wishing me a happy day as they filed into the room to take their test.

Two of my honors kids writing and drawing me a message on the board during study hall (I had to Instagram it).

Being sung to by two of my teacher friends and the brother of one of them.

All the Facebook well wishes from people I connected with during the teaching program and from my school site, my family, and the people from my pastl.

My brother wishing me a happy birthday right when I got home AND then buying me cheesecake and a vanilla shake from Del Taco "instead of ice cream."

Calling and talking to my grandma, whose birthday is also today and hearing how happy she was to hear all about my day.

Hillary Clinton becoming the Democratic nominee for president (I had to add this).

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.

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.

Change

“A childish mind will turn to noble ambition”

Or so I was taught by a video game long rooted in my childhood

And yet I cannot place the day when such delusions of grandeur

Were replaced by that vision of what was to come

My fantastical notions of saving a world became grounded

I was never cut out to save the world

But shaping it for the better was well within my reach

It was about time I settled in to chasing that credential

And chase it I did

Even if it took four more years

4/26/2012

CGS

“Change”

(I'm so bad at titles)

Okay, time for some recent goings-on.

I got to "teach" a class this last Thursday. My mentor teacher offered to let me, and it was great. I did a lecture on adaptation and then a game with spoons, clothespins, and beans. They seemed to have fun, and I even got a compliment from one of the boys in her fifth period. Then at work yesterday one of the ladies in the bakery tells me her daughter was in my mentor's sixth period. I knew that girl was familiar. She told her mom she had fun, too. I got compliments from the kids. That made me feel great. So did being up there in front of the class. Man, I can't believe it took me this long to figure out I want to be teacher. I almost am too impatient about getting there now.

School is almost over, woo-hoo! I got accepted to the CCI at UCR. So did this guy in my education class so I get to know someone there. I'm so excited about that, too. One of the checkers at work today asked about my mold (she didn't want to say fungus, and I didn't realize why until just now). That was nice, and it's going alright. We think we ID'd everything and are now formulating the paper and a way to put our samples in cases for future mycologists. Except I was looking at the temp and humidity data for this area, and I don't see any reason that the fungi seemed to be mostly dead April 11 and then come back April 18. Then I was thinking about the dew point and how that might mean more than humidity. The two are connected, though. April 11 had the lowest average humidity, which means a lower dew point. It was also more stable that week, which is good for fungi growth. Who knows. I'' try and discuss it with my friend on Monday.

In other news, I love Armin's new album Imagine. In his song with Jennifer Rene she actually sounds good. I like that it is more vocal trance.

Indescribable

I got an email alert from FanFiction.Net today. Someone added GS Distress II, my second Pokemon fic, to their favorites list. No matter how much I think it sucks and could be revised, someone else liked it enough. I felt humbled, and it feels good to know that some people like your creative outlet and storytelling. It's a welling-up type feeling, the same kind I get when I think about being a teacher. It's almost overwhelming sometimes, especially when I am pleased with my writing or am suddenly motivated either all of over again or even more so.

Despite being broke and having no time for a social life, these things make me so happy I forget about that.

You gotta smile sometimes. Life can be really good to you when you stop feeling sorry for yourself and forget your problems for happier thoughts.

Lichen and mold and fungus, oh my

This isn't my picture, but this does look exactly like some fungus that my project partner and I found in Day Canyon on Friday. It's supposed to grow from July through November, but it's almost April... Anyway, it grows on dead wood, which is where we found it. It looks like shells kind of. Pretty cool, eh?

I also realized that this indeed was where Jon and I first hiked to that one day. It was our forest. At least, it used to be a forest. Once my partner and I reached the gauging station and sat there, I realized I didn't recognize it initially because of the fires and debris flow that destroyed the area. I saw it when it was still a forest. I think it is very cool how I hiked there as a kid and am now studying there as an adult for my biology class.

Off to See the Wizard

I wish that were true. I have a few things I need to ask for...

Actually, I am just off to do fieldwork in the classroom with the teacher I have been assigned to observe. I tell you, if I was still in high school, she is the kind of teacher I would want to have. I hope to be like that and a few others I can think of someday when I'm a teacher.

no title

Things to do in the near future

1. Take and pass the CBEST (first try is in April)
2. Go out into nature, observe, and think of questions
3. Get my granddad's old camera working (top of the line in the 70s)
4. Return the Xbox to my store
5. Get camping stuff for my bio weekend trips

Yeah. I have goals, man. :-D