Blog post 3

   Throughout my years as a student, I have never took the time to thoroughly analyze what exactly it is that makes a teacher "good." I have had many different teachers that I believed to be good and I know that I am going to try my best to be a great teacher. The first thing that all my favorite teachers have done is make me feel like they genuinely care about me and what my goals are. These teachers also have made me feel like they are my teammates in a sense rather than an opponent who is standing in the way of something I want to accomplish. This is probably the most important aspect for me because I do not feel like I'm constantly on edge stressing out. No one is capable of doing their best when they feel stressed out and a good teacher knows this. However, the teachers also made sure the students knew that he/she was in charge. There was a time and place for having fun and goofing off but not when the teacher was teaching new material.

People Watching (blogpost 2)

Descriptions

1. Girls walking with a lot of shopping bags from different stores.
2. Some people had one or two really full bags.
3. A lot of the girls who were shopping had a lot of jewelry.
4. Many of the people shopping were wandering in and out of the stores without buying anything.
5. Many people were eating large amounts of food.

Interpretations

1. The girls who had a lot of bags were buying clothes for themselves.
2. These shoppers placed all the clothes that they bought into one bag so they did not waste smaller bags. 
3. The girls had a lot of jewelry because they wanted to show off their bling.
4. People were looking for clothes that they would like to purchase later on when they had their funds straight. 
5. People were eating a lot of food because they were hungry and maybe it was the first meal they had to eat all day. 

"Parking lot"

• A lot of the girls who were shopping were rich; I thought this because they had bags from expensive clothing stores. 
• The girls who had a lot of jewelry were spoiled.
• People were wasting a lot of their food; I thought this because there was a lot of food that was thrown away in the trash can. 
• People who didn't buy anything were surprised at such high prices.
• People were stealing from the stores; It just seemed suspicious to me how many people would walk in and out so fast of different stores. 
• A lot of people were talking on their cell phones. 
• There were a lot of couples holding hands; a gesture showing affection for one another. 

The biggest lesson that I learned through this exercise is that it is very easy to judge a person or a situation. We (as future teachers) need to try and be open minded know matter what. Too often, people judge other people and try to stick them with a label that they will never be able to change. For example, during this exercise I thought that the girls who were wearing elaborate clothes and jewelry were spoiled and rich. I have no way of knowing if this is actually true or not unless I made the effort to try and get to know these women. Who knows, maybe they were actually some of the nicest people in the world. This exercise really drove home the point that you can not judge a book by it's cover. If more people (including myself) would just try and find good in people right off the bat instead of the bad, then the world would be a much better place. We need to take care of one another. Not judge one another.

The Real First Post!

1. My name is Josh Dasch and I am from Burton, OH. I am a junior here at John Carroll University. My goal is to one day teach high school biology as well as be a football coach. I have been playing football since I was in 6th grade. I started out playing for the Geauga Lions and then played 4 years of high school football at Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin High School. Now, I am apart of the John Carroll University football team. Needless to say, I love football as well as other sports. I enjoy fishing, riding quads, working on cars, working out, and helping others. The biggest thing that sets me apart from most people is that I am very consistent in my actions. I always strive to work hard and treat others the way I want to be treated.


2. In order for me to take risks in the classroom, I need to feel that I am able to connect with my professor and ask questions that receive adequate responses. Personally, I feel as though it is very hard to excel in any classroom if the professor is stuck in their ways and has one mindset. For example, a teacher who tries not to give students the benefit of the doubt is doing more harm than good for the students learning sake. This may cause the student to be very unconfident and timid during class time.
    Seeing that I have been a student for 15 years now, I feel it is time for me to start passing along the knowledge that I have gained over my years in the classroom. I strongly believe that knowledge is to be learned and then passed along so that others may succeed. Personally, I know that I learn best when I am interacting with my professor and when they consistently hold my attention. I see myself as much more of a kinesthetic learner, rather than an audio or visual learner. I definitely am one of the students who tries to answer questions in class because this allows me to stay in tune with what is being talked about. I also think attending class is very important because when students miss one class, they are playing catch-up the rest of the semester. "stay ready so there is no need to get ready."


3. There are many memories that have gathered in my brain seeing that I have been a student for the majority of my life thus far. There is no exact memory that I can recall upon at this point in time, however, there are a few lessons I have learned that will stick with me forever. The biggest of these lessons is to not depend on others when accomplishing your academic goals. The only people any student should ever heavily depend on are their professors and all the resources they have around them. This leads me to my next point and that is that now-a-days, the amount of resources that surround students is almost ridiculous. There are resources all over that can help anyone accomplish anything they want. The only thing that separates almost every student is the effort that they put into their work. In order to get a lot out of life, you need to put in a lot. The amount of effort students put forth in their studies is what concerns me about education today. Too many people have become complacent and think just doing enough to get by is good enough. The work ethic of students is definitely a big issue that I look to address when I become a teacher.




4. Will we be able to choose some of the institutions that we observe throughout the semester?