Sunday, January 29, 2012

For starters...


For starters, if anyone was confused by the title of my blog I should just throw this out there: my initials spell jam. JENNIE ANNE MAY= J.A.M. I thought it might be funny to use it as a sort of pun in the title. Sometimes in my class we might literally be jamming to some music while the students do some writing, at other times however, the only jam in the classroom will be me- unless I get married and my initials change or if a student has some in their lunch box.  Now that I have cleared that up—on to the educational matter.

I am a Junior Secondary English Education major at Slippery Rock University (in case anyone reading this is not a part of the university or did not read the biography about me beneath my picture.) I am keeping this blog to reflect on my coursework and all things educational going on in my college career.  I have completed most of my English and Education requirements towards my degree. Next Fall I will be doing field (and taking History and Philosophy of Education and next Spring I will be student teaching. The summer before field, I will likely be taking Mass Media, a Science lab, and a Challenges of the Modern Age course. My first year at SRU I was a Psychology major, so I am a little behind with the coursework because I had planned on taking four years of classes rather than 3 ½ and a semester of student teaching. Here’s a piece of advice to everyone out there—GO WITH YOUR GUT. I originally wanted to be an English teacher since I was in Jr. High, but at some point in high school, the idea of being a psychologist came to my mind. I thought it would be really neat, plus it appeared they made BANK compared to public school teachers (at least in the districts where I’m from) so that is what I came to SRU to get a degree in.  I had to listen to my heart though and change my major to English Ed., and now here I am taking 21 credits trying to get caught up! May 2013 cannot get here soon enough, and when it does I will be holding a degree in Secondary English Education, and I will be certified to teach grades 7-12. I want to do all of the things for my students that some of my English teachers never did. One of those things is really preparing students how to write a good essay, and I will likely have them write some longer papers as well, because when I came to college I was so unprepared. In high school I would have to write a 5 page paper and I would think it was the end of the world and the paper was so long I could never finish it. 

Some things about me- I am a part of Sigma Tau Delta(the English honorary,) I encourage you to join if interested! I am also a part of the University Program Board (Also known as UPB)- I volunteer helping with university events. There is a Facebook page for this organization HERE- join if you would like all the latest updates about what is happening on campus! In UPB I help do some of the advertising and create bulletin boards,  that is one thing I am looking forward to as a teacher decorating the bulletin boards in my classroom , and possibly even in the hallway, with my students work! I loved when my teachers displayed different poems and things that I did for class.
I will continue to update this blog several times a week throughout the semester and maybe even after the semester is over if it seems like something I want to keep up with…
If you are still reading at this point… I hope you enjoy my blog!
J.A.M.