Monday, January 25, 2010

Introduction (NETS I)


Hello everyone! This is my dog Gaby and me. I love her; she is like my baby. :) I am Chelsea Johnson. I am originally from Edwards AFB, CA but moved to Holloman AFB, NM and then to Dixon,CA. I went to Kindergarten at Edwards AFB and then for 1st through half of 4th grade I went to school at Holloman AFB. For the rest of my schooling, I attended schools in Dixon, CA. I started college at UC San Diego with a major in Marine Biology and then realized that Marine Biology wasn't what I thought it was and didn't want to spend that amount of time in school to be doing something I didn't love. That's when I decided to switch majors. After my first year I moved back home to Carlsbad and started attending MiraCosta College where I spent two years getting the majority of my GE's done. Now this is my second semester at CSUSM and I love it.

I am pretty good with technology overall. I can typically figure out how to work things and fumble my way around until I understand it well enough for the things I specifically need that tool for. I used to be a PC person but got my Macbook last year and won't ever go back! I depend on technology a lot throughout my daily life from my cell phone, computer, TV, exercise equipment, etc. I currently don't have any form of Word and Mac's Iwork on my computer. I use textedit (or notepad equivalent from PC) and then send the assignment to myself and go to my mom's computer where she has Microsoft Office 07. And obviously the schools computers have Microsoft 07.

The main part of the Mission Statement that sticks out to me is the last sentence. I feel very strongly that teaching should be student centered. Teaching isn't just another job. As teachers we have to realize that children will look to us as role models and we need to be focused on them. They all need to feel comfortable as well and that is why it's important to me to include diversity in ways things are taught as well as cultures we focus on, etc. Teaching is a job that especially focuses on collaboration and without teachers working together the students are the ones that suffer. Professionalism and shared governance are also important to me, but the three first points are the ones that really stood out. No, the Mission Statement wasn't a factor in my decision to apply here. The main reasons I decided to come here were because CSUSM is known for it's teaching credentialing program but I wasn't focused on the Mission Statement- I actually don't remember even reading it before coming to school here, location(close to home), and cost.