Second Post: Response & Review

Viewing other's blogs

I decided to view Brittlyn's blog and I absolutely loved it!!! http://brittlynscontentarealiteracyblog.blogspot.com/
I enjoyed learning more about her and realizing that we have a few things in common. I can tell her passion for children by simply reading the first paragraph of her blog.  And mostly that she likes football and tries to keep up with it as much as her fiancé (just like me except mine is a boyfriend - of 6 years, not a fiancé...but close enough lol).  I also read that she is super organized.  My goal is to always be super organized. BUT until then, I just strive to be.  The only difference is her disliking of math. I love it. Lastly, I stole a few ideas from her blog! Hope she doesn't mind! ;)

I also chose to comment on Whitney's blog http://whitneysasser23.blogspot.com/.  One thing that she talked about immediately was her love for her family and that stood out to me because I feel the same way! Then she mentioned her doggy and it reminded me that I forgot to mention mine!!! Shame on me! I love my Acey Poo (his name is Ace lol).  Here he is!

Then I agreed with her on loving music and dance. I can't sing or dance but I love both of them all the same.  (I always said I'm a dancer at heart!) LOOOOOOVE Friends with Benefits! One of my new favorites! And on to the education part....I also love math BUT I would prefer to be a lower ed teacher where I would like to teach kindergarten or first grade. If I had to teach upper, I would rather teach math than any other subject.

Knipper & Duggan's "Writing to learn across the curriculum" Article

What ideas do you think are most important from the chapter/article? Why?
As I began to read this article, one thing clicked for me that I probably should have realized a long time ago.  There was a line of the first page that made me understand what the title of our class "Content Area Literacy" is.  I didn't put two and two together to realize that this class is for us to study how to incorporate literacy into the content areas like math, science, social studies, etc. So the first thing that I would say was important FOR ME in this article was helping me understand the purpose of this class.


After I came to that realization, so many doors opened up and so many things click.  We have been hearing about incorporating literacy for the last few semesters now and it's good to learn so more detailed ways to do so from the perspective of the content area and not just from the perspective of literacy.


The role of assessment in writing is another importance for me. Many times we get used to simply using one way to assess students, a test, or using informal assessments that cannot be used for writing. So reading about how important rubrics and checklists are and how they must be done well to be effective.  One thing that stood out to me and was relevant even to me as a college student was the line that said, "a checklist gives students goals for writing as well as the characteristics of a good finished product." This is important for many students because they are well aware of what they are supposed to do without having too many constraints on their creativity.


Many of the strategies were ones that I had heard of or were similar to strategies  that I have heard of before.  The one that stood out the most to me and that I feel would be good to foster the creativity and self expression of all students because nobody's would be the same.

First Post! Just a glimpse into my world ;)

I am Alexandria Moore, but I prefer Alex.

I came to college in August of 2008 with the mindset of graduating 4 years later as a registered nurse.  But, things changed a bit toward the beginning of my junior year.  I was in my best friend's dorm room talking about helping her tutor her younger cousin who was having some trouble in school when God spoke to me through her.  She simply said, "Why aren't you an education major?"  I had to sit there for a moment trying to come up with the best reason as to why education wasn't my career path and I could come up with nothing more than the fact that my family said I was too smart to do something like education when I could go into the medical field and make three times what I was make as a teacher.  That's when I realized that teaching was where my heart was and I've been at it full force since then.

Prior to my first observation in Intermediate Block courses, I thought I wanted to teach third grade.  That way, the students' weren't too young with the inability to express their needs and they weren't too old where they thought they were already grown.  Doing my first observation definitely changed my mind.  Ideally, I would love to teach kindergarten but anything K-2 would sit well with me.

I am extremely excited about teaching math, language arts and just simple things about life to my students.  I am more nervous science. It has ALWAYS been my worst subject.  My main focus is to make a difference in my students life.  One thing that I have realized throughout this process is that is not so much about the subject area content that you know, but more about the rapport that you have with your students, parents, peers and administrators.  The content will come to you.

A little more about me personally...I was born and raised here in Hattiesburg, MS and decided to come to Southern Miss because it was close to home. I lived with my great aunt for the first 11 years of my life.  My mom was a teenage mother but I was spoiled with my aunt so I didn't leave. :) I am the oldest of 2. I have a younger brother.  I'm very much a home body and would rather have a small gathering with the people that I know well than to go out into large crowds.  With that being said, I love to have movie nights where my favorite movies are romantic comedies.  I love rainy nights where I can read romantic novels.  If you can't already tell, I'm a sucker for love! (1 Corinthians 13:8).

Syllabus
I jotted down some notes to elaborate on while I read the syllabus so my thoughts may seem all over the place but here goes.

The very first thing that stood out to me was the statement that "literacy is the core of teaching and learning."  I have heard many things about teaching but I've never heard this one.  It makes so much sense in the manner that without literacy, all other subjects and areas of learning are virtually impossible.  I have always realized that literacy was demanded in the classroom but I never paid attention as to why.

I think this class is about transferring our mindsets from elementary ed to begin able to teach higher grade levels.  I think it is a behind the scenes look into what we do as a teacher. I think it is a theory based class and looking into the logistics and history of teaching literacy.

It was interesting for me to realize that USM was a normal college for teacher preparation.  I knew this but it never really clicked to me that I was in the program from which this school was founded upon. Makes things a bit more interesting and me as a student desire to do better.

I love the respect level shown from Dr. Bishop as a professor in saying that when class is over we should be dismissed and on the same token, we should be on time.  Many times in this major, I have said our professor do not always practice what they preach to us as teacher candidates but this is a step into the opposite direction and it gains much respect for Dr. Bishop from the students. I also loved the explicitness and conciseness of the syllabus. It was straight forward and gave a concrete set of expectations from us as students which makes it extremely easy to look forward into the semester and more solid for us as students.

I absolutely love the opportunity to "pen pal" with student from Elizabethtown.  I will say that I fear of project already but I'm sure it won't be as bad as I am taking it to be.

The multi genre project sounds interesting and is something that I have never done but I'm sure it will be a fulfilling challenge nonetheless.

I was extremely excited when I read that Hawkins would be the school for our SLP if we choose to go that route.  I have many family members before me that have gone to Hawkins (when it was middle school grade level) and now younger family members that attend. I know that it is a school in desperate need of great people with great hearts not only to teach there but also to simply help out.  I think schools like Hawkins are the ones that do not get a great deal of attention because of the background and history given to it but at the same time, because of that history and the background of many of the students, it needs great teachers.  In essence, it would be an honor for me to go there to help out because it is where I'm from and it would be extremely rewarding to give back to my community.

Lastly, I love how we will be involved in the assessment of our blogfolio.  It will give us, as we have been learning, a sense of ownership and involvement in our learning process.

Questions
How do we upload the technology based blogs?
Does Dr. Bishop not read emails on the weekends?
What days will our weekly posts be due?
Will we have a specific guiding question to write on each week or will it be just up to us to chose one and use all of them by the end of the semester?
For our SLP, can we switch between the different times to go to Hawkins throughout the weeks or are we to choose one and be obligated for that specific time each week?