I will use this blog mostly for my teaching experiences but figured it would be good to tell about my college experiences too.
When I first decided to begin college, at 40 + years old, I looked around for an online college because I could not attend brick and mortar. I was working and raising my two sons. I found Grand Canyon University where I began my BA in Elementary Ed with a minor in English. I ended up leaving GCU and finishing my degree at Ashford University but went back to GCU for my MA in Elementary Ed with licensure.
Grand Canyon was an amazing college, the online platform was easy. I loved that it is a Christian college so there were moral values in our lessons too. However the school did have drawbacks, one of the biggest drawbacks for me were the group assignments. It is almost impossible to complete a group project online. Most of the time one person is doing all of the work and all get a grade. I also had some extremely poor professors. The straw that broke the camels back for me was a professor who was not involved in the class at all and this was the fourth or fifth kind of professor I'd had like that. All of that came along after I'd been involved in a group assignment where I'd done my part, submitted my share of the work paraphrased with citations. I was going out of town and let my team know that. While out of town I checked on our project and no one, not even the team captain, had done a thing. Some of the members submitted links to web sites but that was all. A day before the project was due my sister in law told me that I would have to step up and do it all. She helped me by typing for me as I did the research and such. It took 8 hours but we got it done. We got a 75% on the project but I told my professor I completed it all in one day and she gave me 100%. The professor had not been involved much until then and right after that I got another extremely uninvolved professor so, I changed schools.
I transferred to Ashford University. The enrollment department promised me that I would graduate the same time as with GCU with my license. They were partnered with a licensure school I could begin before my BA was complete. Well before that time the partnership ended and so when I graduated from Ashford it was only with a BA in Elementary Ed with minor in Psychology. I had to begin at the licensure school and most of my credits did not transfer over.
The licensure school was not a good one at all. Their course work was mediocre and I was not satisfied. Their practicum was full time which also was not part of what I had in mind. So, I looked around and GCU had a Master Program in which I could get my MA and license. This would jump me up in pay scale and I would learn so much more.
I loved my master program. I learned a lot about education and the focus was only on education. There was no longer group work and I had some amazing professors. The class discussion was a step up from the time I'd been at GCU prior. That might be because it is a MA program and the students are all higher learners.
I relieved my degree and license. I attended my ceremony which was such an inspirational experience. I would recommend GCU to anyone wishing to attend online or campus.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
The Beginning of My Dreams
I guess the way to start this blog is the beginning. I have written in previous blogs about my struggle to get a teaching job. Thankfully I was turned down by some schools where I live and a few where I do not live. That opened the door to the wonderful teaching job I did get. I did not really want to work 70 miles from home but it is well worth it.
When I first decided to become a teacher I wanted to teach kindergarten, as the years progressed I realized that I wanted to teach gifted education. This discovery was through my own gifted children and the fact that their needs are not truly met in public education in Colorado. School was a struggle for both of them and I decided I wanted to be a part of the change. My long term goal became teaching gifted ed. Of course I knew I had to teach regular ed for a while and that was fine. My long long term goal is to open a school for gifted children. I will most likely never reach that goal due to funding, but it is a dream of mine.
I began looking for a job after graduation from college. I was looking for a regular ed job and turned down for many. Then I decided to reach out to a school 70 miles away. There were two positions open and I applied for the regular ed position and the gifted position but figured I would not get that one. Luckily though I did and just have to get my endorsement before two years is up.
I was a big nervous about my new school, it is on the Navajo Reservation and well I wondered how well I would be accepted. My worries were quickly made moot when I found everyone at my school to be accepting and wonderful. The kids are respectful and well behaved. Of course they are kids but nothing like I'd experienced during my subbing days at home. The kids in my school make me smile and are very sweet
I actually service two schools, one of them is 15 miles north of the school where I spend most of my time. I also love the children at the other school. They are super sweet and I wish I could spend more time with them.
My job has been challenging because I am new to teaching and gifted is different. We don't have a set curriculum, we create out own. That has been the biggest challenge of all. There's some paper work too and which isn't so bad it is putting it all in the computer that can be rather difficult.
The schools I work at are in New Mexico where they really value the gifted students. They work hard meeting their needs which makes me happy.
So there it is, the start of my new blog about my teaching experience.
When I first decided to become a teacher I wanted to teach kindergarten, as the years progressed I realized that I wanted to teach gifted education. This discovery was through my own gifted children and the fact that their needs are not truly met in public education in Colorado. School was a struggle for both of them and I decided I wanted to be a part of the change. My long term goal became teaching gifted ed. Of course I knew I had to teach regular ed for a while and that was fine. My long long term goal is to open a school for gifted children. I will most likely never reach that goal due to funding, but it is a dream of mine.
I began looking for a job after graduation from college. I was looking for a regular ed job and turned down for many. Then I decided to reach out to a school 70 miles away. There were two positions open and I applied for the regular ed position and the gifted position but figured I would not get that one. Luckily though I did and just have to get my endorsement before two years is up.
I was a big nervous about my new school, it is on the Navajo Reservation and well I wondered how well I would be accepted. My worries were quickly made moot when I found everyone at my school to be accepting and wonderful. The kids are respectful and well behaved. Of course they are kids but nothing like I'd experienced during my subbing days at home. The kids in my school make me smile and are very sweet
I actually service two schools, one of them is 15 miles north of the school where I spend most of my time. I also love the children at the other school. They are super sweet and I wish I could spend more time with them.
My job has been challenging because I am new to teaching and gifted is different. We don't have a set curriculum, we create out own. That has been the biggest challenge of all. There's some paper work too and which isn't so bad it is putting it all in the computer that can be rather difficult.
The schools I work at are in New Mexico where they really value the gifted students. They work hard meeting their needs which makes me happy.
So there it is, the start of my new blog about my teaching experience.
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