Freewrite: April 1, 2011

Today is Friday! Finally! This week kind of went by slowly, so I'm glad it's over. All of the local scholarships were due yesterday by 3 PM, and I turned mine in around 8 AM, so my stress was gone for all of yesterday, which was nice considering I had our Regional FTA meeting to go to. There were a total of 8 students from WHS that went, and I thought that was a lot, but when we got there, I think the biggest number I heard was 24! And they weren't big schools or school districts like Springfield... however, I don't think all of them were there because they want to be teachers when they grow up. I think they just wanted to miss school. I don't blame them, but if you are going to go somewhere and listen to people speak just so you can miss school, at least be quiet so that other people who actually WANT to be there can hear what's going on. For instance, Dr. Medlin was our keynote speaker. He did a fantastic job, but the whole time he was speaking, there were about four girls in the row behind me who talked the ENTIRE TIME! I really wanted to turn around and ask them if they were the keynote speaker (or just tell them to shut up), but I decided I would be the mature future teacher and just sit there. I wish people would realize that even if it isn't what you want to do, other people may be really interested in it, so they should at least show some respect and allow learning to occur for those who want to be there. And if you are just going to talk, stay at school. Don't waste Dr. Medlin's time by talking while he's speaking for twenty minutes. That's just stupid and immature. Also, when the director of teaching placement opportunites at Missouri State University is speaking about how best to get a teaching job, and one of the things she points out is how you would look to others, and says, for instance if you are paying attention right now instead of talking, and how that would give you a smaller chance of getting one of those few teaching jobs and you are STILL TALKING, ugh. Pay attention and learn something, or go home. I don't want to be your coworker if you can't even pay attention in a meeting. Gosh. WORD COUNT: 410

Freewrite: March 30, 2011

[FIRST- I hate slow computers.] Anyways- I've been thinking a lot recently about college and exactly what I want to do with my life... I thought I had decided, but now I'm not so sure (again). I think I've probably changed my mind at least 10 times during high school... with more than half of those changes in the last year or two. I think I want to be a teacher. Yesterday I was in my FTA class with my fourth graders and I needed to take some pictures to give to Mrs. Hall, so we played "Stump the Teacher" and I helped them get started with relearning how to put words in order. It made me realize how much I truly enjoy it. I also found out that I am definitely going to be able to go on the Jeff City trip with them and even have my own little group to chaperone and supervise! I'm so excited! It will be like being a teacher and I can't wait:) WORD COUNT: 170

Freewrite: November 22, 2010

Times in my life where I have felt joy:

• The days when my siblings were born
• When my cousin got married
• The day I found out my cousin was pregnant with her first daughter, Cylee
• The day I found out she was pregnant with her second daughter, Gabee
• The days each of them were born
• The day Gabee got to come home
• The days I got to see Gabee at the hospital and at home for the first time
• The day I made percussion in sixth grade
• The day I made drumline
• The day when I found out I would be the only girl in drumline for the 2010- 2011 season
• The day I was asked out by Cameron
• The day Cameron told me loved me
• The first time we kissed
• When our family got our dog, Polar, and our dog, Jesse 9 years later
• The day we got Jenna back
• Everytime I get to see Cylee interact with everyone
• Watching Cylee grow up
• Seeing Gabee grow bigger and stronger everyday
• Getting to work on Black Friday!
• Getting a job besides in Willard
• Getting accepted to MSU
• Getting a $5,000 scholarship to MSU
• Realizing I want to teach
• Cadet teaching at Willard North
• Realizing that teaching makes me really happy
• Figuring out that all I really want is the typical dream- college, marriage, house, kids, dog, etc. :)

WORD COUNT: 254

Freewrite: November 03, 2010

So, today, I'm going to talk about the English project I'm considering doing next semester. We have to do these big research paper project things, and I'm not very good at deciding topics/themes/purposes so I'm going to try to work on that. We are supposed to choose something that is important to us and that we want to write about and work on. Some things I'm really passionate about are teaching, kids, photography, and reading. Somehow, I'd like to put all of these together into one. I love taking pictures, so I was thinking about making a collage-type thing of my 4th grade class over at Willard North. I want to do an individual profile of each child with pictures of them doing their favorite things. I would also like to write about each child and their interests and views on things adults think are important. Something about how to solve big problems in the world (poverty, sickness, etc.) and maybe some goofy questions like their favorite things and about their friends and other things like that so that people can get to know them. Obviously I will have to have their parents' permission for this, and I'm fine with that. I am just not sure how to make this into a research paper. I would love to somehow just write about each of the kids, but at the same time, I don't think that is enough for a 10-page plus paper. I think it would also be cool to do something with teaching. I'm not sure what yet, but I really enjoy working with the kids, and I really enjoy seeing their faces light up. I would love to incorporate that in there as well. Maybe I could do something with teaching styles and learning methods? I think it would be interesting to research the different ways kids learn and how different teaching styles can affect that because I think learning about how your class learns is important so that you can teach as efficiently as possible. I think I could possibly incorporate that into my profiles somehow. This is a good start :)

WORD COUNT: 355

Freewrite: October 20, 2010

I'm not really sure what to write about today... I guess I will talk about the scholarship I am considering applying for in the next few months and the career I am choosing. I want to be an elementary teacher here in Willard, MO. I love it here. The people are great and I love the small town atmosphere. I love knowing people and having people wave at you when you drive down back country roads. It just makes me happy. I also love kids. I want to teach fourth grade, something that I have really enjoyed while Cadet Teaching with FTA. I love that they are independent, yet still need my help when trying to figure things out. They are also old enough to be responsible and hold a conversation. I love seeing their faces when they figure things out or learn something new. I also love how easily amused they are. They can easily make my day when I go over to Willard North. Anyways, about the scholarship. There is something called the TEACH grant. It's from the US Government and it is up to $4,000 per year for 4 years. I can easily get it because of my GPA, however, it requires you to teach at a school that provides education to low-income families. I wasn't sure Willard qualified, however, the last time I checked, they do. I have to check with MSU (my school of choice) to see if they accept this scholarship, and I need to check with our counseling center to make sure that I can get this. It will really help in allowing me to live on campus for a year or two :)

WORD COUNT: 281