Summary of Individual Observations

I really enjoyed being at Mayfield High School. I think the major reason behind this was because it was exactly like my own high school. When I went there for the first time my first thought was this looks exactly like North Royalton (where I attended). This relates back to a topic that we talked about in class. Teachers are more comfortable and prepared when they are teaching in communities that they are familiar with or have experience with. I think my observations would have been much different if they were all at Shaker High School, a school that was foreign to me and did not remind me of my own high school.
The four teachers I observed while at Mayfield were all brilliant and I am so happy I was placed with them. They all truly showed how much they loved the education field, which was refreshing after discussing all the issues in education during class. The one thing I noticed from all four was how much they cared about their students. Whether it was taking time out of class to go over a concept from the day before, to postponing a lecture or lab because some students did not understand the material, or even offering to stay after school for extra help.
These teachers have reassured me that I want to be a high school science teacher, preferably chemistry. They constantly expressed to me how hard the job can be at times and how difficult it was at the beginning of their career, but they also expressed how all the work was worth it in the end. I am even more excited for my future as a teacher and hope to be as passionate and caring as the teachers I recently observed.

Mayfield High School Observation

This was my last visit to Mayfield High School. I observed a biology class, a zoology class, and a chemistry class.

The biology class was supposed to watch a video during the period, but the computer broke at the start of the period so they had a change of plans. They ended up having to fill out their notes in small groups using the books. The teacher improvised very well and made the lesson work even though they didn't have the computer. They were learning about the structure of DNA and the teacher had a huge model that she used to show all of the different parts. I think this worked much better than just drawing DNA because they got to go up to the model and point at the parts and see it in 3D. I was impressed with ow quickly she changed her plans, but I think that is an important part of being a teacher. Things don't always go as planned.

The second class I observed was a zoology class and they were dissecting a mud puppy, a type of amphibian. This is the same class I observed a few weeks ago when they struggled to follow the directions and perform the dissection correct. This week they all seemed a little better and had to circle the structures that they saw. The teacher knew what they would be able to see and what they would never be able to see so I think this was a great way to tell who actually did the dissection. The teacher is also very attentive during the dissection and really seemed to know what she was doing, which was different from when I was in high school. My biology teacher didn't really help with structures and couldn't identify the structures herself. It is important for a teacher to be able to do the things they expect from their students.

The last class I observed was AP chemistry. When the students walked into the class they all had questions about the lab they were supposed to be doing that day so the teacher last minute decided to post pone the lab and answer the questions as a class because the majority of the students were confused. I think this showed how much she cares about her students learning. Any other teacher would have just made them do the lab to stay on schedule, but this teacher wanted them to understand the lab before and really know the meaning of everything they were doing during it. This teacher is someone I really look up to and admire how much she cares about her students.

Proposal

Angela Spilker

Dr. Shutkin

ED 100           

20 November 2015

Proposal

            Everyone has that one special teacher that made a large impact on them. For some reason when students look back on high school they can immediately pin point their favorite teacher and rattle off reasons as to why they impacted them. For me it was my contemporary issues teacher, Ms. Forshey. At the time I was in her class, I did not realize how much I was learning. One of the most important lessons she taught me was to challenge the world, never settle, and to work for others. She is the most selfless person I have ever met and I aspire to be like her one day. In and out of the classroom she was caring for her students and I can honestly say she would do anything for them. I admire her so much and hope to be half as good as a teacher that she is. Ms. Forshey was the perfect balance between being a teacher, being a friend, and being someone I could look up to. Everyone respected her and knew she was very wise. She quit a very prestigious job in DC, working for the president, to be a teacher. I think that alone shows how dedicated she is to teaching and that she is in the field for the right reasons.

            Going into college I knew I wanted to be a science major, but I was unsure of what I wanted to do with it. After taking my freshman general chemistry course with Dr. Heston I knew I wanted to be a high school chemistry. It was a very difficult class, but for some reason I wanted to impress Dr. Heston and do well in her class. Every day when she lectured us she conveyed how much she loved teaching, and that we were the reason she got up and came to work, no other reasons. Not for the research or for the money, for the students. I knew she cared about us and that is the reason she made the class so hard. She wanted us to be challenged and to learn to work for our goals, but also be successful and feel proud of our accomplishments.

            A common theme I have seen through these two educators is caring for students. They taught me more than any textbook could teach me and that is what I believe in. I think it takes a special kind of teacher to care so deeply about their students that they secretly teach them life lessons. I knew that both of these teachers were there for me on a personal level, but I also respected them. I believe that teachers need to be caring and passionate, but also earn the respect of their students.

            The problem with education is people are in it for the wrong reasons. They think it is an easy job with the summers off. This mindset and attitude is reflected in the classroom. They are not passionate about it and do not care for the students as much as the students need to be cared for. If a student sees that a teacher cares, they will feel inspired to earn their respect and work hard in their class. Some teachers are not passionate about their subject and it shows when they are not happy to be in the classroom. If a teacher does not have the motivation to teach, the students will see that and have no reason to want to learn. Instead of teachers like this, we need teachers like Ms. Forshey and Dr. Heston. We need teachers who care about their students, are passionate about the subject they are teaching, and truly want to be working in the classroom.

Mayfield High School

On this visit to Mayfield High School I observed a biology class, zoology class.

The biology class had a sub so it was interesting to see how the students behaved for the sub. In the biology class they took a formative assessment which wasn't graded and then went over the answers as a class.  After that they were supposed to independently study for their quiz the following day. Everyone decided to talk and no one would listen to the sub. Some of the girls were even trying to look through the teachers desk and find the quiz. The class was not out of control they were just talking and not studying independently. They behaved a lot better than I was expecting for having a sub.

The next class I observed was zoology and they were dissecting a fish. They were given directions the day of and just started without any pre work. None of the students seemed to be paying attention and were just cutting it open and goofing off. After they all quickly finished the teacher lectured them about not following the directions and how if they don't start performing better they will not do dissections anymore. I think it was important that she told them that she knew they were not doing the lab right. I think if they would have had to read the lab before and take a pre lab quiz they would have been forced to prepare for the lab.

The last class I observed was AP chemistry and it was pretty similar to my other visits. They had an exam coming up so they were given review problems and she was going over them on the projector. Then she went and walked around to individual students and addressed their questions. I think this teacher has masted the art of lecturing and then also giving personal attention to address individual questions.

Field Blog- Gearity Elementary School

I am set on being a high school teacher, but it was still nice to visit an elementary school. Although I was a little board while observing a 1st grade classroom I think the teacher did an excellent job. All of the students were very well behaved. They all had personal iPads that they did math practice on while the class was getting situated. After everyone was done with the math practice the results showed up on the board and the teacher got to see what everyone missed the most and what she needed to review. I was surprised at how well the students were behaved and how they knew exactly what to do on the iPad. One little boy got all of the math practice right and his picture was featured on the board as star student. After this they did an activity where they had to build a city out of construction paper. The teacher had done her own example which I think is important to show the students that she did the assignment also. Over all I enjoyed my time at the elementary school but it also reminded me why I want to be a high school teacher. I want to teach something that is concrete and not just something I can go through the motions with. This experience showed me how effective technology in the classroom can be.

Blog Post 10

After reviewing my blogs one thing I noticed was I always talked about how to be a good teacher. Consistently I was listing off traits that were "good" and traits that were "bad." The beginning blogs were more structured and less open ended. We were talking about ourselves and responding to quotes in the reading. I think we did this so it got our mind in the blog mindset and talking about just education in general. We were trying to form our opinions and each blog slowly did that for us. Later in the semester the blogs got more open ended and I enjoyed that. When I was writing it didn't feel like I was doing homework, rather just talking and reflecting on class. After writing all of these blogs it made me realize how much I loved my high school and how most of my teachers displayed good teacher qualities. I would love to teach in my high school and be part of such an inviting and supportive community. This being said as a future teacher I plan to interpret many of my former teachers teaching styles and make them into my own. I think the most important quality a teacher can have is caring for the students and finding the balance between teacher ad friend. I know that this is a very difficult thing to master.  I think in my blogs I talked about experiences I had in high school that I didn't enjoy and related that to the reading. Like teachers being too focused on teaching and not forming relationships. In conclusion, my blogs have really opened my eyes to what kind of teacher I want to be and the readings we reflected on have helped shaped my beliefs. 

Blog 5

The Rofes reading was very different than I was expected. Rofes said his childhood was neither good or bad. He also said "despite the constrictions place on children…children are always to a grater or lesser extent active agents in participating in the production of their own childhoods and adolescences." He followed this up by saying that while many of us don’t ask for the circumstances which we live in, many of us do not fully accept them. Like him, I agree that we play a role in "shaping our own consciousness," however he puts it in a much harsher way. Rofes seems very unsympathetic and that life is just horrible and we need to figure out how to deal with it. I think that in life sometimes are hard, but people can work through it and he didn't mention that. He also mentions he thinks that people choose to be gay, and that they weren't born that way. I do not agree with him at all. In the school I do my observations at (Mayfield High School)  I saw posters for LGBT. When I was in high school I didn't even know what that was so obviously it wasn't something that my own high school provides, which is kind of disappointing looking back. I did not see anything at the middle school and high school we attended as a class. I would consider the high school that I went to very liberal and they probably had an LGBT group and I was just oblivious to it. There were open gay students at my high school and everyone was very accepting. While we are all entitled to our own opinions, LGBT is a thriving topic throughout schools now and I think everyone needs to be open minded and accepting when it comes to this topic.

Blog post 9

This is the link to the school my group and I created.


https://docs.google.com/a/jcu.edu/presentation/d/1lro7I8dmWJOiG_Bp4b5_giQAV6ylFvby3gCwezrbR-U/edit?usp=sharing

Individual Observation (Mayfield High School) #2

I observed three different classrooms while I was at Mayfield High School this week. The first was a physical science class, the second was a chemistry class, and the third was AP Chemistry.

Physical chemistry is a 9th grade class and the first semester is basic chemistry and the second semester is intro to physics. I thought it was interesting how at this high school they start off with introducing the hard science classes at an early age and I think it really prepares them for the full length version of the class. The first 10-15 minutes of the class they took an individual assessment and had it graded and they corrected the wrong ones. First off this is a great way for the teacher to know what the students are doing well on and what they are struggling with and then the students can also get a taste of what the upcoming exam will be like without being graded on it and being nervous to do bad. The next part of the class was the students working in their lab groups and trying to create their own periodic table with limited amounts of information on each element. It taught them to recognize trends in the elements without looking at the already made periodic table. Before this I was struggling of ways to think of group work in chemistry besides labs and I think this was an awesome activity to get the students familiar with the elements without even really realizing it.  The classroom was really large and had desks and then in the back there were large lab tables. There were plants hanging all over, motivational quotes and on the board the class objectives were clearly written out and stated well. At the end of the class she asked if the assessment was helpful and everyone said it was. They appreciated having exam practice. This teacher was able to involve group work into her class which I think is impressive because sometimes chemistry is straight memorization on your own.

The Chemistry class I observed was reviewing for their test the next day. The test was going to be on naming compounds. The first review activity they did was the teacher stood at the front of the classroom with large note cards and the students guessed as a class what the name on the molecule was. They did that for about 10 minutes. After that they got review packets and did them together. The teacher called on random students to answer the questions. It was very interactive and everyone seemed to be paying attention. If there was side conversation it was about why the answer was wrong and it was all related to the class. He gave out different color pieces of paper for different review topics. This is a techniques I also noticed in a different class I observed before. During the class review one student appeared to be sleeping. After the group review they were given independent silent time to review. Most students plugged their ear phones in and listened to music while they were studying. The teacher seemed to find an effective way to review for the exam and include everyone in it.

The AP chemistry class I observed was taking an exam the day I was there so the teacher showed me some things while they were taking the exam and gave me little tips. First she said make different parts of the exam different colors so they turn in the first part and then get the second part after. By making the different parts of the exam different colors you can know where students are and who is still working on part 1. She showed me her huge lesson plan binder and she has everyday planned out with exactly what to do. I guess that is what happens when you teach something for 28 years. She also showed me how the multiple choice portion of the exam was graded. It is new technology. All the students are given a student number that they bubble in at the top of the exam. After they turn in the multiple choice the answer key is placed under a camera and the camera grades it on its own and inputs it into the grade book. The teacher literally has to do nothing. I was surprised at how advanced the technology was. A sheet with the answers the student put and the correct answer could also be printed out and given to the student. This is similar to scantron, but much faster and more efficient. Scranton is what my high school and middle school and some of my college professors use. This teacher really seems to know what she is doing and the advanced technology seems to be improving her classroom.

Shaker Heights High School

Shaker Heights High School was a lot different than I thought. It was very different than my high school. I observed two different science classes, a biology 2 class and a freshman physical science class. The teachers had two different teaching styles so it was nice to compare them to what we learned in class. In class we read about finding the balance between being an authority figure, but also being a friend at the same time.

The first class I observed the teacher seemed to be more of a friend. All the students were on their phones the entire class and were not taking the assignment seriously. They were supposed to think of a movement and say what muscles were being used. The students were just looking up music videos and dancing to them. The teacher wasn't really doing anything to stop them. At one point she did take on an authoritative roll and disciplined a student in the hall and sent her to the office.

The next classroom the students were independently studying for their exam the next day. The teacher was strict on having no phones and actually looking at the material. I think he was a better teacher and even though I only saw a few minutes of his class I got that vibe that he was strict enough to be a good teacher, but was also a friend to the students. I hope to find this balance in my classroom. After being in the first classroom I was scared that being a young high school chemistry teacher would make students think they could walk all over me and do whatever they wanted.

Blog Post 8

I decided to make my lesson about chemical reactions. I would put all of these reactions on the board and have the students balance them. 

6 CO2 + 6 H2O + light → C6H12O6 + 6 O2     Photosynthesis

C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O + Energy  Cellular Respiration

C6H12O6 → 2C2H5OH + 2CO2 + Energy Anaerobic Respiration

C3H8 + 5O2 → 4H2O + 3CO2 + Energy  Combustion

Fe + O2 + H2O → Fe2O3. XH2O Rusting

            I think when Bill Ayers talks about “building bridges” he wants to display the idea that it is the teacher’s responsibility to take the information they are teaching and first off gear it toward things students are interested and second make the information applicable to the real world.

            After all of the equations were balanced I would tell them what each reaction was and what it was used for in the real world. This is how I would bridge the information to the real world. This would show them the importance of chemical reactions and why it is important to learn about them and understand them. Being able to balance chemical reactions is a very important skill to master early on in chemistry, but a lot of student struggle to understand why they are doing the balancing.

Ideas to keep in mind when planning/doing this lesson:

             

1. The purpose of this lesson is to teach a basic chemistry skill and to show the students why it needs to balanced and what results from the balanced equation in the real world. I will need to keep in mind that as new chemistry students they probably are not interested in balancing a chemical reaction this idea originates with Freire’s Banking Concept of Education, where he advocates for teachers to be more than just people who deposit information into their students. If the students can apply the skill to the real world they won't just be a depository.

2.  DiGiulio explains the effectiveness of relating the material to what students already know. Everyone learns about photosynthesis in middle school science and by providing the chemistry behind the process is just broadening the students knowledge about a topic they already know stuff about.

3. Ayers explains that good teachers put the needs of their students first. I would have the students try to balance these on their own, and then discuss them with the people around them. If I noticed that this system was not working for a student I would go individually help them and change my plan of letting the students working it out on their own.

4.  Ohanian emphasizes the importance of making lessons meaningful to the students being taught. All students know how important photosynthesis and the other reactions are they might have just never knew the chemistry behind it. Photosynthesis is the way plants provide us with oxygen and I think being able to breathe is meaningful to all humans.

Individual Observation

For my first individual observation I went to Mayfield High School and observed Mrs. Ancell's AP chemistry class. When I first walked into the school it reminded me a lot of my own high school. In the classroom the desks were set up in rows and each row was pretty far from each other. They were learning how to name poly-atomic ions and acids. They were working on packets as a class, she was doing them on the projector. Each subtopic was a different color so I think that will help the students remember how to do certain things. Associating color is a great way to memorize hard information. I still do that today. The thing I liked about her teaching style was she was going through each problem and letting the students say random answers and then other students would correct the wrong students and it was a group effort. After the students baffled with answers for a little bit she would tell them the right answer. After doing some problems she said it was time for notes. Instead of putting pre written notes up she wrote them with the kids and explained everything really well I think. After the class I reflected and really thought Mrs. Ancell projected the qualities of a good teacher that we talked about in class. She cared so much and wanted the students to succeed. Hand writing the notes really stood out to me as caring. She also said she stays after school three times a week for extra chemistry tutoring. By staying after school she is showing how much is trying to help the students. She is putting their needs first by staying late and not just going home to relax. I am excited to go back next week and observe her class again.

Post It blog

While reading the Paulo Freire article  I marked a few key points with my post its notes. In one section of his text he points out the major rules of the banking concept. They are as follows:

1. The teacher teaches and the students are taught
2. The teacher knows everything and the students know nothing
3. The teacher thinks and the students are though about
4. The teacher talks and the students listen

I do not agree with any of these. None of these benefit the student, which teaching should be about ultimately. I think people are always learning from each other and that teachers should also listen to their students. One thing that I learned from my chemistry professor is to love your job. Obviously, that is not something that a chemistry book was going to teach me. Everyday she showed us how happy she was to be there and she honestly changed my career path. I wanted to be a pharmacist for a very long time and then after I saw how much she loved her job and how excited she was to be there everyday I realized I was not that excited about being a pharmacist. I realized I wanted to be like her and to teach. I think that I also taught her something. I was a very good chemistry student and I would go to her for help and tell her things in the notes that were unclear. She said she was going to change them for next year. I think she also learned from me how much students studied for her class. She was not aware of the commitment people put in before I told her my studying schedule.

   I loved my high school and I think it was because my teachers were very open and knew that being an educator was about teaching your students, but also learning from them. I never felt pressured into believing what they felt they always allowed us to form our own opinions. A lot of times they would not even put their input in and would present both sides of an issue equally. I hope to be a teacher that is viewed as open. I know in teaching chemistry it is going to be difficult to allow free judgement and expression, but I will make sure to learn from the students and improve my teaching technique from their evaluations.

Field Blog 1 (with the class)

                I really enjoyed going to Mayfield Middle School. I observed a 7th grade science class. They had stations set up all around the room of experiments and that's how the student were learning the material rather than it being written on a chalkboard. It reminded me of when I was in middle school. Mayfield middle school had a sense of community to me, everyone was supportive of each other and working as a team. I forgot how hands on middle school really was, since being in high school and college most of my classes have just been straight lecture, taking notes, and there was no real student teacher interaction.  While I was observing I asked the students if they liked the class and their teacher. Most of them responded along the lines of "we do a lot of experiments they are really fun, we work in groups, the time goes by way too fast, we don't sit and take notes all the time." From Mayfield middle school I learned how important it is to be interactive and have activities for the children to do in order for them to learn the information. If they were to sit around and read the book they would have told me science was boring and that they hated it. Science in high school is a really hard subject, but I think there are some aspects that can be taught in an interactive way rather than lecture. I think staring off science in a fun way in middle school will change the way children view science in high school. I have heard a lot of people complain about chemistry and physics before they even had a chance to take it because their previous science classes were so boring. I look forward to more observations and learning how to teach science, especially chemistry,  in a fun, interesting, and interactive way. 

Blog Post 4

[Teachers] should recognize that the linguistic form a student brings to school is intimately connected with loved one’s community, and personal identity. To suggest that this form is “wrong” or, even worse, ignorant, is to suggest that something is wrong with the student and his or her family. (p.33)

The Ebonics debate raises some important concerns and questions regarding linguistics in school and the classroom. Should student know Standard English? If they don’t how can it be incorporated into the classroom without making it the main focus? If a student is never taught Standard English will they be able to be successful?

In her quote, Delpit states that a student's dialect is connected to their personality and family background. If teachers competently disregard that it is completely disregarding the child as a human being. At the same time she emphasizes the importance of knowing Standard English. "It is equally important to understand that students who do not have access to the politically popular dialect form in this country are less likely to succeed economically than their peers who do" (33).

I think it is important for students to learn Standard English. We did not make the rules on what is standard and what is not, but someone else did. As a society we are under the impression that people who can speak proper English are more intelligent and I don’t think that is going to change soon. I am not saying I agree with this philosophy I am just saying that is how the United States is. As teachers it would be our job to give students the opportunity to learn Standard English. If the students choose not to take advantage of the opportunity and the teacher tried their best to teach them there is nothing else that can be done.

On the other hand there are a lot of intelligent people in this country that do not speak proper English. A lot of my science professors are from different countries and speak with a heavy accent and are not always grammatically correct. They still managed to be successful and earn their PhD and work at JCU. It really depends in the area you want to work in. Many scientists come to America to do research and excel with knowing hardly any English.

Blog Post 3

Over the weekend on Sunday I went to target and observed people for 30 minutes. I sat for a little and then I walked around. I brought my roommate Alondra to observe with me as well. While I was sitting at first I tried to only write down my observations, and not make any interpretations or judgement. When I would see people I would make stories up about them in my head and imagine what their life was like. If someone was carrying around a designer purse or had on a really nice jacket I would interpret that as they are upper middle class and live in a large house and that their husband was either a doctor, or a successful business man. My interpretation was probably wrong for all I know the nice clothing items were a gift from someone. After reading over my interpretations I could see a few of them that would fit into the "parking lot." The first one being when I saw the women with her kids and her not wearing a wedding ring. I did not judge her, but in my head I was thinking that in my family that wouldn't be something that was encouraged. I am Catholic and it is expected that people should have children after they are married and settled down. The second time was when I saw the lady with the nice purse and automatically assumed that she was a stay at home mom and her husband made all the money. My mom was a stay at home mom and so was both of my grandmas. My sister in law is currently a stay at home mom. I am not sure what I will be when I have kids and job, but I know that some members on my family will expect me to be a stay at home mom. My roommates interpretations were a little different than mine. She is kind of a free spirit and has different outlook on life than me. For example, she interpreted the lady with the children with no wedding ring as a women who was strong enough to raise her children on her own and she didn't need to stay with her husband. For all we know she could have forgot to put her ring on after her morning shower. The other difference was she assumed that everyone from JCU was shopping at Target because it is cheap and college students can afford it. Lastly, she commented on the woman with the nice purse and she assumed that the women was a very high business women and worked hard to be where she is now and to be able to afford nice purses and clothes. I learned a few things about myself, first being that I tend to give people a single story and not think about all the possibilities. I need to have a more open mind. I learned most of my beliefs coincide with my parents conservative beliefs. Everyone has different ways of interpreting situations. I think that some of my roommates and I's differing interpretations were due to our differences in beliefs.

Blog Post 2

Lisa Delpit’s quote, “We do not really see with our eyes or hear through our ears, but through our beliefs.” (Curtis and Carter, 2000, p. 9), is a great quote to reflect on. It can be interpreted in a variety of ways. My first thoughts on this quote are that it is very true. We can see and hear whatever we want but our beliefs are how we analyze it in our brain and make judgement on events, situations, or objects. Seeing and hearing is just how we physically obtain the information and our beliefs shape how we view and hear the information. Our home life has a huge impact on our beliefs. The way we grow up (the type of parents we have and disciplinary action we undergo), where we grow up (city, country, suburb, ect.), and the people we grow up around have a significant effect on our beliefs. Personally I grew up in a tight knit, Catholic family. My parents set expectations for me and my siblings and most of the time we met them. There was a nice balance, they weren't too strict or too lazy with us. Here is an example of how my parents have shaped my life. If I see famous teenagers on the tv or internet doing inappropriate things for their age, my first thought would about their home life. I would assume since they are famous they never really had to follow rules, or learn what was right or wrong. My parents taught me that so I include my parents beliefs in my own beliefs. There is a problem with making judgments solely relying  your beliefs. As a teacher in the classroom you have to be open minded about the students. You can't make a judgement on a student just because they were raised different than you were. If teachers did that they probably wouldn't like any of their students and they would have a hard time teaching them. In the classroom it  is important to stay true to your beliefs, but it also necessary to have an open mind and accept that everyone is different. Having a closed mine will only hurt the student. Instead of focusing on everything that they do different or wrong from what you think, the teacher should focus on the talents the student has and try to bring out the best qualities in the students.  This quote has a lot of meaning and is very true, but as a teacher I think it is best to also evaluate situations with an open mind. 

Blog Post 1

1. I preferred to be called Angela.

2. I am from North Royalton, Ohio.

3. I am a sophomore and I want to teach High School Chemistry.

4. I really enjoy playing soccer and running. I played soccer from age 5-19. My three older brothers and two of my sister-in-laws graduated from John Carroll. I have a nephew named Will and a niece named Emma. They are one and half and four years old. I come from a very large Italian family. My mom and her parents were born in Italy. We are the typical big and loud Italian family and we love to eat pasta and other traditional meals. My favorite book series is Harry Potter and I have read all the books several times. This semester I plan to spend my time studying for class and also attending as many sporting games as possible, especially the soccer games. 

5. My family is one of the most important things to me. Like I said before we are a large, loud, and Italian family. We are very close and would do anything for each 

other. 

http://elitedaily.com/life/culture/growing-typical-italian-family/838934/

This article is so accurate in many ways. Sundays are the best day of the week and I love coming together as a family and it really starts the week on a high and happy note. I have so many cousins and although we don't see each other as much as we did when we were younger, when we are together it is always fun and crazy time. All the weddings in my family are huge and so much fun. The notable food items are antipasto with various meet and cheese and then also a huge dessert table. Yummy! Lastly, is the traditions. I love all my family traditions. Especially my grandma making homemade sauce, pasta, cookies and so many other things. She is an excellent cook and nothing compares to her food. I wish I knew her secret ingredients. 

6. In order for myself to be comfortable in a college classroom I need to feel like my classmates and professor are supporting me. I also need to feel like everyone is interested in what I am talking about or doing in the class. If I feel like no one cares about me and isn't listening I will not take any risks and be very uncomfortable.

7. My first semester of college chemistry is one of my best memories as a student. This class is when I realized I wanted to be a high school chemistry teacher. My professor loved her job and always told and showed us how much she enjoyed teaching us. The class was extremely difficult, but I wanted to succeed so bad and I did. I did really well in the class and even though I struggled at times it made me want to succeed even more. This class made me realize how much I enjoy chemistry and how I want to be a teacher that is challenging, but also makes the class enjoyable. 

8. I'm concerned that I won't be able to get out of college. I know that high school math and science teachers are in demand so that makes me feel a little better. My degree is going to allow me to teach grade 7-12 any science class except for physics so this also makes me a little more versatile compared to other teachers who can only teach one subject. 

9. What made you want to be an education professor?