John Morton Blum

This week in I-Quest we were given an assignment to find a famous person dead/alive in our field to research. Since I am studying to become a history teacher i thought who better then John Morton Blum. His was a famous historian at Yale University, the author of many historical novels, and an expert in 1920's America. I chose him because he stood out to me. He doesnt necessarily study the field of history i want to teach but he knew how to work his audience and his students. People looked up to him and he inspires me to strive for my goal of becoming a history professor. I want to know his background and where he came from. What drove him to become a historian and how he touched the lives of people around him. He just recently died on October 17, 2011, yet he left behind a wonderful reputation. I want to be able to leave that kind of past behind after i teach. That all anyone can ask for after chasing their dream.

Feeling Accomplished

   This month as a class we all set individual goals for ourselves that reflected on what we wanted to get done to help us take another step forward in our internship. My goals included finding more hours to meet with my mentor, finish a college online class strictly for history, find a professor to work with for second semester, and participate more in my internship. As of right now i have fully achieved three out of the four of my goals. I now meet with Mr. Busboom 2-3 out of the five days a week. I have also spoken with him on how i can participate more and we have set up a lesson that i will teach his class this week. I have also finished my online history course which allowed me to get all the knowledge i need to become a successful history teacher in the future. I still have yet to find a professor for second semester, but i have not yet stopped my search. I still am setting goals as i continue to move forward in this class and i have to full accomplish them by the end of this month!

Character Counts!

In class we were introduced to Character Counts. It is a program that allows a teacher to form a greater bond with his/hers students by electing them to one of the six pillars. The pillars include Trustworthiness, Fairness, Caring, Citizenship, Responsibility, and Respect. Last year i was lucky enough to have received the award for Citizenship from my math teacher. It came to me as a surprise and was such a great honor to uphold. Not only was i recognized for helping other students in the class, but i also was thanked for all the hard work i put into her class by staying after school for help and doing peer tutoring.

In my own opinion i believe having respect is the most valuable of the six pillars. Not only respect for yourself but respect for your mentor. Your mentor did not choose you, you chose them, meaning they did not have to agree, and are now taking time out of their day to help you. If you choose to show no respect for your mentor or their profession it tells them that you don't care. They come everyday that you set up a meeting with them and give you their respect so all we can do is return the favor.

Have respect for your fellow classmates. They are doing what they love just as you are. This is a class where people can express themselves and not hide who they are or what they love to do. If we, as their peers do not respect that then there is no telling if the respect from them will be returned. Are work environment needs to have support from everyone and the only way we can gain support is through respect.

Lastly, respect for yourself is a huge factor when participating and getting involved in what you love to do. This is your change to show everyone what you've been wanting to do. I believe your passions are what drive you. If we hold back and do not allow others to see that side of us, how will we know if we have support or respect from them. That is why i feel respect is the most important pillar.

How's It Going?

Welcome back to another week of blogs all about teaching! For I-Quest this year i decided to work with one of my favorite teachers, Mr, Busboom,in the subject i actually want to teach. I have only been for the past two weeks and so far my experience has been minimal. Its hard for me to really grasp how he teaches due to the class not being exactly the class i want to teach. On the other hand i like the environment and how his class flows. He has influenced me a lot in the past year and half that i have known him. I have realized that teaching history is definitely something i have my heart set on. What i struggling with in the duration i'm their, is i feel like i'm not necessarily doing anything.I mostly just sit there and listen in on his classes. I feel weird about participating because my fellow  peers are in the class. I am not quite sure what i should or even want to be doing. I think that is something i need to work on and talk with him about.Other then that, i love working with Mr. Busboom and im hoping it will become more successful for the both of us as the year progresses.

Goals

 Goals in life fluctuate at a constant rate. There is no telling when or how you will achieve your goals or not. We tend to set new goals every year with the exception or life-long goals. This year I have set specific goals that I hope I can strive to achieve. The first goal is shook work. I am going to try and get my grades up and have an academically successful year. This is the last year of my high school career so I am hoping to do it big. The stress of college next year is extremely stressful to think about. I am hoping by my newly improved grade I will become more successful. My second goal is to be more respectful to my friends and family. After a long period of time you tend to forget how to appreciate what people do for you. I know you may think my goals are pretty typical for a seventeen your old, but they mean a lot to be. This year will show the best of my abilities. 

Welcome to My Blog!

Welcome to the blog all about teaching. My name is Katie Bent and I have decided to take teaching to the next level. Before I get started I thought id talk a little bit about myself. I am seventeen years old and I am a senior this year at San Ramon Valley High School; i am also involved in other extra-curricular activities outside of school. This year I joined a class where I can work with someone in the teaching profession and get a better feel for it and see if teaching is truly the career choice for me. I am extremely excited to begin work with just a few of the extraordinary history teacher we have on the SRVHS campus. It it my mission this semester to keep my mind wide open and allow the journey to take its course.  

Yours Truly,

Katie Bent