Blog Assignment #1

About Me
My name is Emily Barnes. I am 21 years old. I was born in Gulfport, MS but I have lived in Fayette, AL pretty much my whole life. I have one sister that is 13 and in the 8th grade. She is a majorette for the middle school. I have moved all over Fayette County and lived in Biloxi for 6 months while my mom was married to my sister's dad. I graduated number 9 in my high school in 2010 and was in Phi Theta Kappa while I was at Bevill. I transferred from Bevill and ended up here.

My cousin, Jill, went to South last year and I had recently gone through a really bad break up and wanted to be as far from Fayette as I could. She told me I should come visit and see if I liked the college. My mom and grandparents weren't thrilled with how far from home it was but I knew I needed to get away. I told them that I would pray about it and if I was supposed to be at South then I would know as soon as I walked on campus. Sure enough, I got here for USA Day during the spring last year and absolutely fell in love. I knew this was home. I called my mom right away and told her this is where I needed to be. I got all the paperwork filled out and everything was set. I attended Orientation and I moved on campus in August.

I am in Kappa Delta Sorority and Silver Wings. I also help out with JagTV. I love horses. I have been riding since I was 6 years old and I started horse showing when I was 7. If I could, that's all I would do all day everyday. It's my life. I have a horse named Clue. I got him right after I turned 15. It was the best birthday present ever. I taught him how to jump and get lead changes. He taught me to have patience; LOTS of patience. He is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me. I like to swim and go camping, too. I love playing sports. I play tennis and softball. I played on a flag football team at Bevill. I like to read and watch movies, too. I have to admit it though, I am a nerd. I like to play video games. Black Ops is my favorite. I can play the trumpet and piano, but that's not my favorite thing to do. I like to stay active and be outside.

When I was little, I played teacher. I started out just lining my dolls up and talking to them. As I got older, I sat pencils out in front of them and pretended like they were taking notes and tests. When I was in 4th grade, my teacher gave me her teacher edition books of our old textbooks. That pretty much made my year. I got a podium and a marker board for Christmas. Instead of going to the mall to get toys and cool stuff, I went to the teacher store and bought teaching supplies. I have always wanted to be a teacher. It's something I think I will be really good at doing. I love being with kids and being a teacher just makes sense. I want to be that teacher that makes a difference in a kids life. Not a big difference, but just someone they remember and actually teach them something.

Imaginary Classroom
I am a visual and do it yourself learner. I will have games for the kids to play to learn their math or reading skills. They will be able to comprehend simple math and reading words. I'll probably start each day with a question or something pertaining to the day's teaching. Just to get their minds focused and ready to learn. I'll have the basic spelling and vocabulary tests at the end of the week, along with a few bonus words. I am a big fan of flash cards, so I'll use them throughout the week to help teach.

I'll be teaching somewhere around 1st - 3rd graders. They learn by repetition. They like to do activities throughout the day to learn, too. They learn by coloring and cutting and pasting. I'll show them videos and then get them to do the same as the video. I'll have rewards for the ones that show they know and understand what I'm teaching.

The tools I will use are flashcards, videos, powerpoints, songs, books, and games. The students will get in groups or have partners and have a certain task they must complete. I'll give homework, too. I'll let them write it on the board and help the rest of the class understand it.

My classroom will be colorful. It will keep kids interested in learning. I will have some kind of calendar that the kids can use to help learn the days of the week, months, and countdown to summer. I will have cute name tags on the desks or tables. I will have disciplinary incentives for the kids. If they get so many gold stars by their name then they get a prize out of the treasure chest at the end of the month. I will have a line leader and a caboose for when we go outside of the classroom. And I will definitely have class outside every now and then.

Randy Pausch and Time Management
In Dr Pausch's video, "Time Management," I learned that I'm not the only one that procrastinates. I learned that others have that problem, too. I also learned that I was not the only child to ask my mother, "Why?" after she told me to do something. Now I realize that it's actually ok to ask why and what happens if I chose just not to do it. I learned that it's better to do the right things adequately than do the wrong things beautifully.

Dr Pausch said, "Good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement." That couldn't be more true. I've learned that we are probably going to make some bad decisions but it'll only help us out in the future. We'll make better choices based on our experience. After all, "You can't fake experience." I learned that not planning at all is planning to fail. I have a problem with not planning everything for the week. I think if I did actually have a plan, then I wouldn't forget everything I have to do all the time.

Dr. Randy Pausch died when he was 47 years old of metastasized pancreatic cancer. He was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon. His last lecture was more for his family as a video memory for them. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.