Blog Post 4 - Affective Dimensions of Writing

Growing up and going through the public education system, I never thought I was a good student. I admit that I had some learning difficulties and was diagnosed at one point with ADD. My grades were mediocre and I especially struggled in math classes. There was one area that I excelled in and I always felt comfortable, writing. I have always felt that writing has come natural. I feel as though when I am able to take my time and organize my thoughts, I can articulate myself well.

Those of you who are reading this blog may argue differently on the ability of my writing. Nevertheless, it is definitely an area where I have at least felt comfortable. I think this is why I have enjoyed the last two or three years of school so much. My first two years of college consisted of generals classes which included math, sciences and classes that didn’t involve much writing, my grades suffered as a result of that. However, when I started here at USU I began taking History and Political Science classes that involved extensive writing. I have thoroughly enjoyed every semester of it and my grades definitely reflect it.

As a full-time student, a working man, and a married man, I don’t have much free time, so I am not able to do much writing recreationally. However, I still am able to get in the occasional facebook post or blog entry. In the past, when I had more time on my hands I have enjoyed writing recreationally through personal journal entries, letters to friends and family, and of course communication through social networking.

This past summer I had the opportunity to do an internship in Washington D.C. at the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence. This was an experience of a lifetime. However, it did come with some sacrifice, particularly two big sacrifices. Firstly, my wife was not able to join me in Washington due to her work situation, so we spent about three months apart. Secondly, the internship was unpaid. Due to the fact that my wife and I were not together, I wanted to stay connected with her and other family and friends through a blog. I kept a blog and updated it almost daily with pictures and stories of my experiences in DC. I spent a lot of time with it, but found that as the weeks passed my followers were stacking up! I often got many compliments from people I hardly knew telling me how much they enjoy following my blog and how much they enjoy my writing style. It sure made me feel good.

The following pictures are photos from my DC blog...

As I reflect on my experiences with writing, I think of how I can help my future students become just as, or even more passionate about writing than I am. Of course I will be teaching social studies, which traditionally involves a lot of writing, so I hope to be able to establish a positive attitude about writing in my classroom. There are many ways I can do this, but I feel as though the most important way is to let student choose what they want to write on. That way they can choose something in which they feel passionate. Of course I will have to have them stick to a certain subject (like the civil war), but they could still choose a certain aspect of it that particularly interests them (like the underground railroad). I have felt most comfortable in writing when I am not restrained or confined in the assignment. I hope to limit the restraints with my writing assignments so that my students feel comfortable in their writing. 

INST 4015 - Picasa Assignment

As part of my assignment, I have uploaded three photos using Picasa.

The following photos are from my summer spent in D.C.

These are my feet on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where MLK gave his famous speech.

Arlington Cemetery - Hallowed Ground

The Capitol during the Memorial Day Concert

Affective Dimensions of Reading (Blog Post 3)

Reading and I have traditionally had a rocky relationship. Through my years in school (up through high school), I never read recreationally. I of course read for school assignments, but other than that there were few exception in which I read when it wasn't required of me.

Despite the efforts of LeVar Burton on Reading Rainbow, I did perceive reading as something "nerdy" so, I wanted nothing to do with that. Also in elementary school I had some learning difficulties with reading out loud and I had trouble pronouncing my Rs. Another factor is that I saw reading as a punishment. Reading was always an assignment or if you were misbehaving you had to stay quiet and read a book. So, as anyone can see, there are a number of factors that prevented me from wanting to read.

When I was 19 years old I left to serve a two year religious mission for my church. During this time I of course did much studying and reading. I see this as the turning point in my life as far as reading goes. Ever since, I have been interested in reading, however, my preferences are narrowed. I only read non-fiction. I don't have much of an imagination, but I do love history and politics. So, I do read a lot of historical books and biographies. Additionally I often read religious texts. In the last few years I have not done a lot of reading for myself. I often find it hard to find the time when I am required to read for so many classes.

As I am about to switch my hat from being that of a student to that of a teacher, I often think of how I can create an environment in which students will have a natural desire to read. I have come up with a few ideas. Primarily, I have vowed never to make students read as a form of punishment. This will create a negative stigma around reading. Also, I think it would be important for students to choose. Obviously, there are occasions when there is no way around it, but for the most part, I think students should be given the choice of what they want to read. The few exceptions that I actually read when I was a wee one was when I was given the choice of what to read. As I will be teaching social studies, there is often a lot of reading involved. A key would be to let students choose the subject or topic of which they are most interested and read a text about that. I feel this will eliminate the feeling of "having to do it" and replacing it with "wanting to do it". Additionally, I see it important to cater to the individual student needs. I was embarrassed to read out loud, so if I find there is a student that feels anxious in the same way, I wouldn't require him/her to do it unless they felt comfortable.

I now see how reading is such an important tool in the educational process. It is essential. It is going to be my responsibility as a future teacher to remove the negative stigmas that surround reading and foster an environment that makes students want to read.

Connecting School and Home Experiences (Blog Post 2) - Traveling the Countryside

One Summer, when I was middle school age, my Dad needed to attend a business convention in Veil, Colorado. So, he decided to make a trip out of it. We had a big truck with a big camping trailer, so the plan was to load up my Mom, Dad, the four kids, and the dog and travel to the land of rocky mountains.

My Dad did something that I will alway admire. He detected that I had an interest in geography and social sciences, so he gave me a big atlas book (this was before the days of google maps) and he instructed me to plan the road trip. The trip was to be 10 days long and I was to map out our route, find place to stop for the night, and find points of interest along the way. It was a challenge, I had to learn how to better read a map and learn of historical locations. Nevertheless, I was in heaven. I was surprised my dad trusted me with such a responsibility and I tried my best to rise to the challenge.

The trip was a wonderful success and is still one of my fondest childhood memories. We saw many neat locations as I guided my Dad with my big atlas. The lasting affect of that experience is a greater love and interest for social sciences. My father saw I had an interest and helped me to foster it. Due in part to this experience, social science became more than just another subject in school I had to complete, it became a genuine interest and passion.

As I reflect on what kind of teacher I will be, I often think of this experience. Students do not learn through rote memorization and will definitely not be interested learning in that manner. It is my responsibility to design an environment and opportunities in which learning and interest will foster as did mine. Additionally, it is my responsibility to recognize student interest, skill level and background and do my best to draw from those to aid the students in the educational process.

My father was not a professional teacher, but did something that affected me astronomically. I hope to play a similar role as I attempt to draw off students' background and experience to increase ability and interest.