Whenever I feel down, i just watch this clip...

My Philosophy of Teaching

As a teacher, I hope to introduce the tools needed to enable my students to become self learners. By employing skill and will, learning strategies, and high levels of motivation I would like to create learners that are able to learn in spite of themselves, a bad teacher, or their ability. Students should become life-long learners where learning becomes second nature. Once they understand how and what to learn they will do it without even thinking about it. This may in turn increase their motivation, which makes learning easy and fun.

In order to promote learning a teacher needs tools, much like a carpenter needs tools. The carpenter needs his or her hammer, nails, and wood. The teacher needs his or her own learning strategies toolbox. Concepts such as verbal mediation, elaborative rehearsal, and mnemonics provide ways for students to arrange knowledge in their schema so they are easier to retrieve. To make use of existing knowledge, students need to retrieve that knowledge from working memory, but they often need help with this process. They may not realize that they have relevant existing knowledge; they may not select the most useful knowledge to activate; or the necessary existing knowledge may be missing, incomplete, or flawed. Consequently, you need teaching techniques to address these different issues. The teacher should also make things personally relevant, making the learning more meaningful for them. An excellent teacher always “speaks in the known”.

Teachers who praise for effort and improvement create successes in their classroom every day. By simply creating the illusion of success, students gain confidence they need to become better learners. The child should look at his A+ paper and think, “I did well because I worked hard.”

I cannot wait to teach. It is something that I have always enjoyed doing. By shaping the leaders of tomorrow, I can feel better about living in today.

Let's blow Gamecocks!!

Happy Euro-Thanksgiving!!!
So much to be thankful for. This point 2 years ago I was at the lowest point in my life. Today, I couldn't be more happy. A special thank you to everyone that kept me in the game.

If this strike doesn't end soon, I may go completely crazy.

Hello all!
Sorry I've been so slack about writing. My internet in my flat hasn't worked in almost a month, plus I've been super busy.

So...Paris has been very exciting! It's hard to believe I've been here almost 2 months now. I spent the first 3 weeks living with some Math teachers from my school in a cramped flat near Montparnasse. They spoke almost no English, so it was quite an experience. I had a ridiculously hard time trying to find a flat. Everything was too much, already rented, a crap-hole, or the renter would never return my calls. I ended up renting a room in a place near Porte de St. Cloud which is in the far southwest of Paris. I share a flat with a Polish girl and a German girl. Both are students at a university and will be here until the end of the year. I'll miss them when they have to go! I average about a 1.5 hour train ride to my school. The great news is that I only teach Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday! 4 day weekends are great. I love teaching at my school, but the faculty has been less than spectacular. My kids range from BTS to the vocational tracts.They range in age from 13-22. Alittle bit of everything! I do what I want with them and we have a good time.

We recently returned from toussant (fall break) which was a massive 17 days for me. I went to Amsterdam for 3 days/2 nights. It was a blast. I visited all the museums and the Anne Frank house. I was so surprised how beautiful the city was. I had to come back to Paris because I spent too much money! Once I was back home, I went and visited the hot spots around Paris. It's amazing here. You can just hop on the metro and get off at a random stop and there's something to see. I've frequented the discotheques here as well with other assistants as well as some other French friends. We have quite a group when we paint the town!

Currently there is a strike that is affecting 90% of the metro and most of the buses. It's nice because I can't make it to school, but isn't so great when you want to do something. I did some grocery shopping today and cleaned around the flat. Almost all of the government workers went of strike last month as well, but it ended up only being a couple of days. This time it's expected to last into next week. Not good as I have plans this weekend!

It's getting late, but I promise to write more often. I have some pictures uploaded to facebook and more uploaded to my myspace page. Maybe someone can show them to others who are myspace/facebook deficient?

Bonne nuit!

So my internet hasn't worked in weeks. Lame. Maybe later tonight?