I love learning and I love history. History can teach us so much about ourselves and how the world has evolved socially, culturally, economically and politically. When I say I love to learn, I mean it. I love the learning process. Learning does not happen the same way for every student, nor does it always happen the same way for me. I feel that learning needs to be experienced. In history, there are a lot of facts and dates that are important, but to me, it goes beyond the timeline and reaches to the thoughts and minds of the people that lived the experiences. I feel very passionately that to understand ourselves and our future, we need to understand our past. I hope that together we can form a community that adds to our past and builds a better tomorrow.
A few of my favorite things:
I am a mother of three (five including my fur babies)
My kids are my everything. Life would not be complete without them.
Spending time with my family
The family unit is something that I hold very dear to my heart. Families make us who we are. I come from a big family and growing up my parents and siblings, and the experiences that I had with them, truly shaped who I was at the time and continue to shape who I am today. Being able to spend time with family helps to build values and makes us stronger.
Growth in life
Life is a journey. We never stop growing and learning. I love that I can continue to learn from experiences and other people. It enriches my life and brings me joy.
Education
Going back to growth and the journey of life, being an educator helps me to grow and is part of my journey. I begin each year with the hope that I can learn just as much from my students as I hope they learn from me. Education, if embraced, can be a life long process. Being teachable is a skill, not a trait. Just when we think we have it figured out, life tends to throw us for a whirl wind and knocks us down. If we learn from our mistakes or the mistakes of others, we become educated.
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Class Goals
My goals are aligned with the schools goals. At Lake Mountain our mission states that we strive for "Inspiring and Empowering Student Excellence". Our vision is for "Excellence in Communication, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Creativity, Character, and Citizenship." And our values are for students to develop "Courage, Commitment, and Community".
Inspiring and Empowering Student Excellence in the Classroom
One of the ways that I try to inspire and empower students in my classroom is to have empathy for fellow humans. In my classroom this is achieved through respect. In my classroom this goes beyond following instructions, keeping hands to ones self, raising your hand, using appropriate language and actions, not distracting others, and cleaning up after oneself. While those are all expectations that I have for my classroom, respect is something that is very important in a history course. In here we learn about people and experiences. The people of the past should be respected.
We also learn about different cultures. Sometimes when we learn about a culture that is different from our own, we as humans instantly stereotype and/or judge. We call it weird or we are fearful of something we do not understand. A goal that I have for my students is to have a respect for the differences in our world.
By showing respect to others and their culture, we are showing respect to ourselves.
Having empathy and respect in a classroom setting is also a learned skill. We learn how to disagree in here. History is not just about facts and dates, it can be studied by analyzing events that took place and helping us to learn from the past. Students should be respectful of other students when comments are made. Being able to disagree and communicate is a life long skill.
The benefits of empathy can inspire students because when you build empathy you will notice that people around you will become more interested in what you are saying, people will be able to relate to you, you will receive positive feedback from others, and you will feel more positive about yourself. This can empower students to do amazing things.