Blog Post 1

About me:
My name is Jasmine Smith. I was born in Georgia but I've lived all over the United States. I am privileged enough to have both of my parents serve for our country. My dad served twenty years in the Army and is now retired. My mom has been in the Air Force for six years now and is currently deployed to Afghanistan. Growing up being a military brat, I have lived in Georgia, New York, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Mississippi. My family lives in Las Vegas, Nevada at the moment so that is where I call home. I have a younger brother that is my heart. We are eleven years apart which is very unusual for siblings that come from the same parents. I chose South Alabama because of cheerleading and I love cheering at south. Besides school, cheerleading takes up most of my free time so that is my hobby and interest. I want to be an Elementary teacher and the reason why I picked that is because I absolutely adore children and their fascinating growing minds. I want to help them develop different ways of learning because not everyone learns the same.

My Classroom:
When I become a teacher, I would want to help each student as much as I can. I know every person doesn't learn the same so I would hope that I could aid to each individual as uniquely as they are. I would also like to have as many hands-on learning activities as possible. Learning should be fun and I want to create an atmosphere where each student wants to come to school. I really want my children in my classroom to have the urge to learn, I know that there is always that one kid that just doesn't want to be there and doesn't want to learn. But children like that I want to change their way of thinking of school. If I can just help one kid love school and make an impact in their life then I will be okay. I don't think I would use more advanced tools other than a white board and a marker. I will probably make up learning games that the children can do. I've noticed that adults remember things better from elementary if the information was put into a song, that is probably another tool I would use. I haven't put much thought into what I want to put into my classroom. I love flowers and girly stuff but that probably wouldn't be the best things to put in there. I love colorful items and furniture, so that's most likely what I'll do. When I was in sixth grade, my teacher had a bath tub in her classroom with bunch of pillow in it. We could only sit in it if we were reading a book. It was really relaxing and it encouraged us to read. I would want a similar aspect to my classroom. I want to have something where the children can relax and not stress out about whatever is going on in their life. I really want to teach third grade, although I heard you don't get to chose what grade you want to teach. But I will be more than happy to teach any grade.

Randy Pausch on Time Management:
That was the first time I have ever seen Dr. Pausch but I learned to do the ugliest thing first. I've never thought about doing things that way when it come to to-do lists.