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.

Darkness

If you look in your heart for darkness

Darkness is what you will find

You can let it outshine your light

Use it to justify the pain you inflict on others

Or you can recognize that it does not define you

For human nature is a duality, torn this way and that

To be one, to be the other, to be both

Being is nothing at all

Because we can all be something

It is our actions that define who we are

Just make sure you can live with those actions

And make damn sure you can live with or without those who are affected by them

They may mean more to you than you ever could have realized

4/28/2012

CGS

“Darkness”

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”

Skydiving from the edge of space

In 2008, I was made aware of Captain Joe Kittinger who jumped from 102,000 or so feet and set the record for longest free fall and highest jump among other things (thanks to my physics professor in her attempt to teach us about free fall). Then, this past Sunday October 14, 2012 I had the fortune to watch Felix Baumgartner jump from about 127,000 feet. And man, was it ever epic. Both men were amazingly brave and patient to go through with their projects. I cannot imagine hurtling towards the earth from so high up yet I imagine neither of them will ever forget it. Go science!

And yet still, I see them both differently. Kittinger did it in 1960, when technology was nowhere near where it is now. He easily could have died. In fact, his right glove malfunctioned on the way up and caused his hand to swell twice its size, but he kept going. For the experiment. Not to take away from Felix because I could never do what he did, but the tech was so much better this time 52 years later. It was still f---ing amazing but somehow just not as impressive.

Personal opinion. Both guys rock and have collected so much valuable data that it doesn't really matter. Just thought I would put that put there.