Blog Post #1

Something About Me

My name is Lindsey Estes and I am a sophomore planning to major in Elementary Special Education. I am twenty years old and have lived in Mobile, Alabama for the past eight years. Prior to this I lived in Titusville, Florida and moved to Mobile shortly after my parents divorced. I have thoroughly enjoyed living in Mobile and attended high school at one of the local high schools, Baker High School. Through high school I also had the privilege of representing the city as an Azalea Trail Maid. I had to carefully weigh my decision involving which educational institution I would attend in order to further my education. My decision became even more complicated when my mom got engaged and began to make plans to move to Lebanon, Ohio. I had to decide whether I wanted to be close to the place I called home or close to my mom, step dad, and four brothers. I was offered a number of wonderful scholarship opportunities, but prayerfully considered my options. I toured numerous institutions from Virginia, Ohio, Mississippi, and Alabama. My strong faith in the Lord and His plans for my life are what guided my decision for college. Through many months of prayers, I made my final decision to attend South Alabama on April 30, 2011 after touring the school one last time as a possible future student. I am thrilled with my decision to attend The University of South Alabama.

As the oldest child of five children and the oldest grandchild, I have always enjoyed being the big helper with the younger children. From the time I was twelve I have been babysitting children as young as two months old. Not only have I babysat, but I currently work at a local elementary school; as well as, substitute in several of the local schools. I enjoy tutoring students in all grades and subjects. I have a passion to work with special needs children, because of my exposure and experiences working with them. Special needs children hold a special place in my heart and I look forward to learning more ways in which to assist and educate them. One of my plans is to take a mission trip in the next few years to a special needs orphanage in Eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine. Special needs children have unique gifts.

Church and family are two of the most important things in my life. I am one of the Sunday School teachers for the High School Seniors Sunday School class at Dayspring Baptist Church. Teaching these students has truly blessed me in numerous ways. I enjoy going to church every Sunday and Wednesday. Family is also a large part of my life. I have been blessed with a large and amazing family. This weekend as we celebrated my Great Grandfather's life, over forty of my family members came in town to attend his memorial service and spend time with one another. No matter what activity is happening, my family is sure to make it truly entertaining. We are loud and goofy, but these are only a few reasons that I love my family. Life is so short and is not to be taken for granted. Family is who is there for you fro the beginning, no matter the circumstances.

Future Classroom

As students, many of us remember having our most favorite teacher or the teacher that we never really liked. I want to be the teacher that every student looks forward to having as a teacher and looks forward to coming to their classroom every day. I would like to teach fourth or fifth grade and focus on math. Many school in Mobile are implementing changing classes in the fourth and fifth grade in order to better prepare the students for middle and high school. I would enjoy teaching math and science in these classrooms. I will use a variety of teaching styles in order to accommodate a majority of the students that I am teaching. I will use hands on teaching as much as possible because I believe that at a younger age it is one of the better ways to use in teaching children. I look forward to learning to teach and become a teacher as the years go continue.

The ideal students for me will be a variety of students that are from a variety of backgrounds and have numerous different learning techniques. Not only will I have typical learning children, but I will also have students that have learning difficulties and challenges. I am a firm believer in inclusion of special needs students in the regular classroom if they are able to handle the typical classroom setting. For me the ideal school would be in the rural setting and I would have ample parent involvement in my classroom. My students will enjoy coming to school because I want to make learning fun and desirable no matter if school comes easy or not for them. My students will look forward to having me as a teacher.

I plan to use a number of tools in the classroom to assist in teaching the students in learning. I would love to help in getting whatever school district I am working for a grant for iPads that can float between the classrooms in each grade to use for educational purposes. I also plan to use an interactive whiteboard in my classroom. Flashcards will be an integral part of my students study time at home and in the classrooms. Another tool I will use is interactive teaching through field trips and science experiments. I plan to use many tools to incorporate my students’ desires in learning.

As a teacher, I want my classroom to appeal to the eye. Stimulating and bright classrooms are proven to have better overall performance and happiness from those in the room. I will take use of each bulletin board in the classroom; as well as, the classroom walls to display students’ work of all kinds. My classroom will also be very organized. I will have a clean and tidy desk in which everything has its place. The students will be taught organization from the very beginning. Art and classroom supplies will be stored in pull out drawers that are accessible for the stduetns when needed. The students will sit facing the front of the room or interactive whiteboard. Ideally my classroom will also have windows in order to allow natural light to flow into the classroom. I desire to have a fun and inviting classroom where my students enjoy learning.

Dr. Pausch and Time Management

I have personally never heard of Randy Pausch or his video on Time Management. I have always been taught that time management is of the upmost importance. My step dad has a saying he always says that I was reminded of when I watched this video. He always tells us “a failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” This is very correct and Dr. Pausch touches on this in his importance to plan and not rely on procrastination.

One of the things that I learned most from the video in the importance to plan is to not only plan, but break it down into smaller steps. Breaking down larger tasks into small ones makes it much more manageable and easier to complete. The task does not seem nearly as overwhelming. Dr. Pausch also points out that it is ok to change a plan, but this is impossible if you do not have a plan. I love to plan and be organized, but many times I have a very hard time changing plans if something does not work out. I am working on getting better on flexibility when planning. Dr. Pausch made very valid and interesting points about time management.