I've been blessed with being born with many abilities. Logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, and intrapersonal are probably my strongest attributes. From an early age I began playing the paino and much later moved to the pipe organ. I also have studied sciences so my interests lie there. The following video shows the culmination of several things I completed. Last year my college produced this video of me to highlight me as a successful senior college student and I think it exemplifies some of my best traits--minus the video part, I hate watching myself on camera.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Bilingual Education Parallels to Learning a Foreign Language
During my junior year, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Like many of our ELL learning in the US, I was overwhelmed by the system, the language, the culture, the food... I think it is something I really draw on when talking with my ELL students.
There are a lot of parallels to getting a student to learn English to the process of learning spanish. During high school and college I took a lot of courses learning Spanish in the US. This would compare most similarly to the paired bilingual education approach used in ELL programs. When I got to Argentina, however, I had a higher level of Spanish. Therefore I was directed into a Spanish immersion program much like the English immersion program.
As I reflect upon this experience, I recall writing this blog post. At the time I believed that the Argentinian education system was the craziest in the world. Boy was I wrong. I now think urban education is even more complicated than the inefficient Argentinian system.
One big implication to this is that this experience allows me to relate to my students in a very unique fashion. I can talk to them about the cross cultural immersion experience and how difficult it was for me at first to mitigate in another country speaking a language partially foreign to me at the time.
There are a lot of parallels to getting a student to learn English to the process of learning spanish. During high school and college I took a lot of courses learning Spanish in the US. This would compare most similarly to the paired bilingual education approach used in ELL programs. When I got to Argentina, however, I had a higher level of Spanish. Therefore I was directed into a Spanish immersion program much like the English immersion program.
As I reflect upon this experience, I recall writing this blog post. At the time I believed that the Argentinian education system was the craziest in the world. Boy was I wrong. I now think urban education is even more complicated than the inefficient Argentinian system.
One big implication to this is that this experience allows me to relate to my students in a very unique fashion. I can talk to them about the cross cultural immersion experience and how difficult it was for me at first to mitigate in another country speaking a language partially foreign to me at the time.
Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development
While I was young my mother was in the hospital for an extended period of time recouperating from a farming accident. During this time she was in intensive care for what seemed like months, but in reality it was only a week or two. To keep a young 4 year old occupied, my grandmother taught me how to crochet.
She showed me how to do it through modeling. As she scaffolded the hand motions, I gained more confidence. I became a quick study and made garlands for all the Christmas Trees in the Intensive Care Unit in 1991.
I quickly became bored with crocheting because it only involved 1 needle. Later that year I taught myself how to knit from instructions at the library. Now I'm a very advanced knitter. I submit a few links to a few recent projects I've completed:
She showed me how to do it through modeling. As she scaffolded the hand motions, I gained more confidence. I became a quick study and made garlands for all the Christmas Trees in the Intensive Care Unit in 1991.
I quickly became bored with crocheting because it only involved 1 needle. Later that year I taught myself how to knit from instructions at the library. Now I'm a very advanced knitter. I submit a few links to a few recent projects I've completed:
Jame Marcia's Four Identity Statuses
Focus on Identity Achievement: Identity achievement is a stage that James Marcia purports that a person makes decisions, life choices that effect career and ideology freely at this stage.
I would consider the first big life decision I made that was completely separate from my parents was my decision to join Teach for America. It was very controversial because it wasn't a career they would have assumed that I would have pursued. I made a lot of other smaller decisions before that during high school, like going to community college my senior year of high school, and during college, like studying abroad; however none of them had as many widespread consequences as joining TFA did. I was able to move to the city which fulfilled a goal of mine.
I would consider the first big life decision I made that was completely separate from my parents was my decision to join Teach for America. It was very controversial because it wasn't a career they would have assumed that I would have pursued. I made a lot of other smaller decisions before that during high school, like going to community college my senior year of high school, and during college, like studying abroad; however none of them had as many widespread consequences as joining TFA did. I was able to move to the city which fulfilled a goal of mine.
Diversity - Socioeconomic
Some goats while I was home on Winter Break.
I come from a very unique set of socioeconomic circumstances and I broke the mold. I was born in a farm family that have been farming in Central Pennyslvania for eight generations. Less than 2% of the US population are farmers today and this number is expected to drop when the next census data is complete. I bring these perspectives right into the biology classroom.
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Here's a picture of my family farm.
I grew up different from my peers because I would go home and have obligations to my 4-H fair projects. I started out around age 8 with sheep. In fact my first market lamb was named Jamaal. Later I started developing a herd of ewes. My last several years of high school I started a herd of market goats that my parents maintain until today.
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