Reflections

Inspired by the National Geographic website, I decided to incoporate pictures, interesting new stories, and a page of my personal recomendations. They are not neccesarily the most relevant options for me to choose for my website, but I think they are interesting. When you go on my website you could learn something you didn't before. I think they add a bit of fun and intrigue to my website. I could have chosen education videos that were relevant to technology, but I wanted to add something that teaches viewers, inpires them, or enlighten them.

How do you think this video is relevant to Secondary Social Studies and English education?

It is relevant because the speaker talks about the characteristics of generations, and all the characteristics include short attention span, materialistic, narcissistic, and not easily impressed. The speaker talks about the history and current phenomenon of the culture surrounding technology and teenagers.

What does the term ‘recognition’ refer to in the video and how could this concept be important in teaching and learning?

When people see themselves, they reevaluate what they think of themselves after seeing themselves and their behavior. The video says we live in a world of instant replay, first there is cognition, then recognition. This could be important in teaching and learning by using recognition as a form of assessment.

My Teaching Philosophy

My goal as a teacher is to inspire, mold, and cultivate. I want to inspire my students to be active members in their own lives. This means that they know what they want for themselves and will not tolerate other people trying to control their lives. It is my philosophy that we are given one life and it should not be wasted living a life that someone planned for you.

Also, I want to cultivate a love of reading and discovery. Too many times I have had teachers who assign the reading and teach it in a way that made me not enjoy reading. I want to teach my students to be curious people who seek out answers for themselves, rather than for the class. I will do this by urging students to ask open-ended questions and to question everything. Thinking out loud is completely acceptable in my classroom, ignorance is not.

Students will be asked to think critically and analytically, to not only interpret the reading, but it's connections to their lives and the lives of others. We will study unconventional material side-by-side with the required texts to inspire the students to think beyond the the norm. My hope is that students will come to love learning and will carry that love for the rest of their lives.

This is really awesome and everyone should see this at som epoint in their lives...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C86oH5RwyJg

My Favorites

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ywu_o_0dms

"These are a few of my favorite things" (rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens were excluded from this list for lack of relevance). I will most likely use some of my favorite books, movies, or music to facilitate me in the classroom to teach students certain concepts.

My favorite books are Go Ask Alice, Where the Red Fern Grows, Into the Wild, Angus Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, Someone Like You, Lord of the Flies, anything by Earnest Hemmingway and just about anything that's really funny or sad, or provokes some sort of critical or internal thinking. I like reading for purpose; everytime I read the same book more than once I read it looking for different things. The first time I read Where the Red Fern Grows I read for content, the second time I read for understanding. I am now reading it for the third time; this time I am readign for personal insight. More than books, I love reading short stories. My favorite short stories are those written by Ernest Hemmingway and David Sedaris. I also really like the The Magic Treehouse's Tonight on the Titanic.

My favorite movies are Into the Wild, Lord of Dogtown, The Jungle Book, Peter Pan, and The Sandlot. The reason I love these movies is because they all taught me to not take myself too seriously. I think if these movies in my everyday life; I think of concepts used in the movies and apply them to my own life, like when I am in a difficult situation. For example, both Into the Wild and The Jungle Book taught me to not cherish my possesions, just "the bear neccesities!" (P.S. John Lennon just spoke to me through song! I was about to turn to my friend [whilest listening to John Lennon's Imagine] and ask what another word for personal possesions was when John Lennon sofly sang "Imagine there's no possessions." And that was exactly the word I was looking for, as I stated before "...taught me not to cherich my possesions (!!) . Way to go John Lennon!)

Clearly, I like John Lennon. Which, if that leads you to believe I like the Beatles, you would be correct. Congratulations. I also worship Van Morrison, Led Zeppelin, James Taylor, The Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan, The White Stripes, De La Soul, and Ray Lamontagne.

My Current Courses

Last semester I was an elementary education major. I feel that last semester was a complete waste for me (with the exception of my Rhetoric class which changed my life) because last semester I was an elementary education major. Now, I am a secondary English education major. My classes were Children's Literature and the Expressive Arts, Concepts of the Self, Rhetoric, Child Psychology, and Art History.
This semester my classes are more fitting more my intended career goals. I am taking Integrating Technology (which is why I am making this blog, otherwise it would not exist), Rhetoric 2, Concepts of Community, Students with Special Needs, and American Literature (AKA the best class Champlain College offers).

My Resume

Work Experience:
I worked at a summer camp for one season. The campers ranged in ages from first grade to twelth grade. My job was to supervise the campers while they engaged in activities such as the ropes course, sports, arts and crafts, and nature activities. The primary concern was to make sure the campers were safe.
I am currently working at the Greater Burlington YMCA as a teaching assistant in a preschool, which is where I got this awful cold that has restricted me to my bed, which is where I am right now at noon on a Monday. Despite the regular sickness, I love my job at the YMCA. My job there is to provide extra support for the teachers that are there all day with the students. I also play with students, read books to them, and make sure they are treating each other nicely.

Field Experience:
Presently, I working in a sixth grade ELL (English Language Learners) classroom to gain field experience. The classroom consists of students who are learning Enlgish for the first time. I facilitate in the learning process mostly by helping the students spell words and construct sentences.

Volunteer Experience:
Through 4-H I gave alot back to not only my local community, but my national community. My proudest volunteer project that I did in 4-H was organizing an auction to benefit the Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort. I was one of the younger members of my 4-H club at the time, but I helped with the bake sale and distribution of merchandise.
Last year, my friend and I set up a Horse show, bake, and silent auction to raise money for Heifer International. She took over the horse show since her family conducts them on a regular basis, and I single-handedly organized the bake sale and silent auction. I lost an entire night of sleep baking food and spent over $100 putting gas in my car to go to local businesses to get items for the silent auction. Despite the hard work, I love doing what I can to lessen the troubles of people in need.
My favorite volunteer project was the one I did with VOSCA. VOSCA stands for Volunteers of South Carolina. It is a local volunteer group composed of Cambridge, high school seniors. Every year during Spring Break, the group goes to South Carolina and helps rebuild homes for poor families. The experience I had with VOSCA was the best experience I ever had.

About Me

Hello! My name is Ashley McCuin, and I am a student at Champlain College with the intentions of becoming a high school English teacher. The purpose of this website is to promote myself to future employers as someone who can go into a school and influence it's students to be independent, creative, and critical thinkers. First, here is a little bit about me...

I was born and raised in Cambridge, NY, which is a small farming town. I happily contributed to the faming aspect of my community by rasing goats. I was involved in many activities in high school, such as National Honor Society, field hockey, student council (which I was dismissed from for being "too opinionated"), and band. An interesting act about my band career is that I was the only one in my graduating class that was in band. Outside of high school I was an active member of the community. I was a member of 4-H and participated in a local volunteer organization called VOSCA.

Some random knowledge about me... I religiously listen to music on a regular basis, and I love to read books. I am in love with Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, De La Soul, and Norah Jones. If there was one place where I would live for the rest of my life it would be on a beach somewhere, far away from society. I'm extremely passionate about going to Africa and possibly joining the Peace Corps. I hope to write a book someday. I play the clarinet and pretend to play the guitar. Christopher McCandless is my Deity and before I leave this world I am going to follow his trail to the Magic Bus.