Here's to teaching!

Well, apparently blogging just isn't in my blood. I know that's the truth because the only reason I am here today is to fulfill an assignment for an online class! I'm supposed to write about my teaching philosophy, but here's the thing....I'm not even sure what mine is! I'll start with my life philosophy, how's that?

MAKE A DIFFERENCE 

This has been my life goal since before I can remember, and I think that's what really led me to become a teacher. As a teacher, you have so much control in what you put into the minds of your students and who they become. That's a pretty big responsibility! You aren't just giving them answers to tests, you're giving them keys and answers to life and success. I often get a disgruntled look when I tell people that I am going to become a teacher. In fact one of my close family members once said to me, "Kellie, you're so smart! The smartest kids in the class aren't supposed to become teachers!"  

I guess I just think of it differently, and I don't exactly know where this idea came from because I really only had a handful of decent teachers throughout the years. I guess I know how they impacted my life, and I want to do that for someone else. 

Being a teacher gives you a first hand experience to touch someone else's life. I love being personal with people and learning more about them. I love reading, sharing, and writing. I really want to have an interactive and lively classroom. I want my students to discover more than the four walls of my room; I want them to discover who they are deep inside and who their peers are. I want to create a classroom where empathy, compassion, understanding, kindness, and critical thinking abound. Some may think that's a lot to ask, but someday I will get there. 

I chose English as my content area because I truly believe that by actively reading and expressing yourself through writing you can become a more well-rounded person. You learn so much about other people, cultures, ways of the world, and all of those help you discover who you are and who you want to be. Of all the students in my classes going into different content areas, I consider myself the luckiest to be going into English. Words change people, and those people change the world.

 So I guess that's it, my teaching philosophy. I suppose it's to make a difference in the lives of my students and to allow them to change my life forever. 

I can't wait. 

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/06/ultimate-guide-to-use-of-blogs-in.html

http://edublogs.org/10-ways-to-use-your-edublog-to-teach/

http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/teaching-with-blogs-30108.html

Be yourself and be okay with it!

Tomorrow
is a blank page
just waiting
to be filled....

All you have to do
is be yourself
and live the story
that no one else can live--
the story
of your own unique life.
Be proud.
Be confident.
And most of all, be happy.

So, here goes round two...three.. four.. two hundred-sixty nine... at this blogging thing. I am terrible at it, but I so terribly want to be good at it, so here goes!

I want to begin with explaining a few things. First of all, the name of my blog came from the poem, "Roses Only" by Marianne Moore. I love this poem because, in essence, it isn't just our petals that makes us beautiful, but our thorns as well. There is no rose that doesn't have thorns--we don't have to be perfect because nobody is. This is something that I have a hard time with. Naturally the poem goes so much deeper than that, and that last part really isn't even part of what the poem means, but if I did an entire analysis on the poem I could be here for a while. However, my professor would be so very pleased if I did. That leads me to my next point. Secondly, I have a hard time remembering how to be myself. For that reason I have a hard time doing small things for example, like having a blog, writing a book, creating anything, sharing my opinion in classes etc. I feel like what I create or have to say isn't "right" or really worth anything, or the way that I think is wrong or different and won't make sense to anyone. I'm terrified of writing and letting people read what I have to say. I don't know why this is something that I struggle with, but I've had an epiphany today, and I think that, that fear has been lifted from my shoulders. I'm choosing to not be afraid and ashamed of who I am. Who I am matters. Who you are matters. This leads me to my next point. Third, the poem/quote above came from a card I got when I graduated from Snow College with my associates degree. My oldest sister, Stephanie gave it to me. I found that card today, and it only affirmed how okay it is to be you. Fourth, I have always wanted to write a book-yes an actual book/novel. I am an English major so naturally that would happen, right? (Disclaimer: Yes, I am an English major, but that does not mean that everything in my posts will be grammatically correct. Sometimes when I get to typing I just go and don't think about commas, semi-colons, and all that. I try, but I am human.) However, every time I try to write, it always turns depressing; I feel like there isn't anything that I have experienced that is worth sharing through a story. I feel completely incapable. I also feel silly, but then today when I was walking on campus and I remembered how in 5th grade and around those years in school I was a writing fool! I had notebooks FILLED with stories about crazy things. "Chinese flying piranha's" and "tic-tac eating whales" -- my imagination was unlimited! I want that freedom and power back. I think blogging will help me sort my thoughts and help me with self-expression. The more I write, the more clear things become. I hope that this will benefit me. Fourth and final detail for the night/morning, (It is nearly 1 a.m) I always set a lot of goals, but I have a hard time with the follow through. I get really excited about things in the beginning and then..... they just fade out because I get lazy. I'd rather watch Grey's Anatomy than work on the blanket that I wanted to crochet. So, I am going to just share in this post a few of my goals that I am starting so maybe I will feel more accountable to work on them. Ready? Here they are:

1. Do better at being a diligent student. Basically put more effort into my school work and stop being a "senior."
2. Serve others! I have been so selfish lately, and I realize that giving service and helping lift others burdens is how we help ourselves and achieve ultimate happiness. Following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ will lead us to where we all want to be. 
3. Crochet a blanket! --I can do it. Creativity!
4. Apply for the teaching English program in Italy for next summer. (So many times I have been offered to travel for leadership conferences or have gotten applications filled out for traveling abroad but never do I actually go through with it. This time I am. No questions asked.)
5. BLOG! I really need to write every day. That's a lot for right now, but let's just put down that I need to do it and see what happens. 
6. Write a book- bit by bit. I want to create stories that mean something. I have started many and finished none. (I told you I had a problem.)
7. BE positive. :)

Okay, I could write forever so I am going to stop for now. That's my introduction. No fear, only faith. Remember to always be yourself- everyone else is already taken. Believe in yourself, believe that you can. If you don't believe in yourself than who will?

Let's do this! 

...Just my bunch of goonies. Minus Hannah and Amylee. This is my family.

Roses Only

You do not seem to realize that beauty is a liability rather
than
an asset - that in view of the fact that spirit creates form
we are justified in supposing
that you must have brains. For you, a symbol of the
unit, stiff and sharp,
conscious of surpassing by dint of native superiority and
liking for everything
self-dependent, anything an

ambitious civilization might produce: for you, unaided, to
attempt through sheer
reserve, to confuse presumptions resulting from
observation, is idle. You cannot make us
think you a delightful happen-so. But rose, if you are
brilliant, it
is not because your petals are the without-which-nothing
of pre-eminence. Would you not, minus
thorns, be a what-is-this, a mere
peculiarity? They are not proof against a worm, the
elements, or mildew;
but what about the predatory hand? What is brilliance
without co-ordination? Guarding the
infinitesimal pieces of your mind, compelling audience to
the remark that it is better to be forgotten than to be re-
membered too violently,
your thorns are the best part of you. 

-Marianne Moore