other good ones

What we become depends on what we read after all the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is the collection of books.

Thomas Carlyle


If you can't be naturally outstanding, be aggressively average.


Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. ~Benjamin Franklin


;o)

i love quotes

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't." - William Shakespeare, Hamlet (II, ii, 206)

Love that quote.

Civics Education

If money is all that a man makes, then he will be poor. Poor in happiness and poor in all that makes life worth living."

--Herbert N. Casson

Today in methods (our last day!) we had a guest speaker, Meg Heubeck, from the Youth Leadership Initiate at the Center for Politics at UVA.  She showed us some really cool civics stuff to do with students, like the Budget Hero game that lets students mess with the nation's budget in a simulation and then see what the outcome would be.  Students would love that because it's a game, so they're going to get competitive and try to win, but of course there are no winners, just learners.  Their website: www.youthleaders.net has great resources for teachers too, like lesson plans for free and an e-Congress.  Students write bills, submit them, they form virtual committees with other students from across the country, read and vote on bills from around the country, then vote on the bills that make it to the virtual House.  I would have loved that as a student.  If I teach US History or Civics, I'm definitely going to use that.  And maybe I'll use some of their lesson plans too, no sense in re-inventing the wheel.

Off to finish some lesson plans to turn in tomorrow.  Woo Persian Empire!

quote of the day

The boss drives people; the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority; the leader on good will. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says 'I'; the leader says 'we.' The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss says 'go'; the leader says 'let's go!'"

--H. Gordon Selfridge,
American-British retail magnate

alternative paths to teaching

My grandma loves to send me articles from the newspaper or magazines that she thinks I'll be interested.  I just got a new one in the mail today, about how alternative paths to the teaching profession are gaining ground, mainly mentioning Teach for America.  The New York State Board of Regents is deciding whether to allow TFA to create a master's program, which the article states would make traditional education schools "extraneous."

My view: go ahead and let the TFA make a master's program as long as it meets certain requirements, like time in the classroom.  I think having that option will make education programs really self-assess and hopefully become better.  Gma told me that her education program (in the 60s) was full of fluff, just like I feel mine is now.  I want to know more about how to teach to diverse students, not the fact that diversity exists.  I want to know how to connect activities to different types of content, not just how to do the activity once.  I want to know more about the psych of my students and how it changes from middle school to high school.  I want to know where to expect my students to be academically if I'm teaching 6th grade and where they should be if I'm teaching 12th.  I want to know more about technology, how to use it, and how to incorporate it into my classroom.  I want to know how to teach someone to read, and when they're struggling at their grade level, how do I help bring them up to where they should be.  It drives me nuts that I feel like I need to learn all that on my own.  So if the Regents allow TFA to make a masters program, I hope that it will be the catalyst to make traditional schools for teachers better.

Things are happening

Some news from Harrisonburg courtesy of the Hburg Downtown Renaissance Blog:

• Union Station is opening on April 30 in former Wetsel building! The restaurant has been having a series of invitation-only soft openings in preparation for the big day.
• Shenandoah Bicycle Co. is expanding to include a smoothie bar featuring acai organic berry smoothies and various types of tea. They hope to open by May.
• Adona Music is now selling vinyls/CDs/comics and other goodies in the back of the store on South Main Street.
• A new full-service hair salon, Premier Design Studio has opened under the Water Street parking deck.
• You can now get beer and wine at Earth & Tea Cafe.
• MidTowne Market is re-opened for business! Best wishes to new owner Lauren Berry.

I'm really excited to check out the new Union Station restaurant.  Their website is:

http://www.unionstationdowntown.com/site/

Smooth Professional

A cool video promoting the Athletic Training profession made by JMU senior ATEP students, Pratik and Jared.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw3RHKTkBMk

Athletic Trainer, not "Trainer"

it's not goodbye, it's see you later

Today was my last Theta Chapter as Ritualist and as a collegian.  It's kind of bittersweet.  I love those women of Eta Rho, even if sometimes I'm not good at showing that.  We have some amazing sisters with amazing accomplishments.  Victoria has a 4.0 as a senior, Lauren writes for HerCampus, JB and Christa have founded clubs on campus, others are involved in multiple clubs.  I'm going to miss hanging out with all of them next year, but I know that it's time for me to move on.  I'm ready to be an alumna and help advise the chapter so that I'm still connected, but not as involved.  I won't have to go to every event and every chapter meeting, but I'll still have some interaction.  Today the NoVa Alumnae group came to chapter and it was really nice to see that all of them graduated after 2000 (meaning they're more our age) and they all seem really nice.  I can't wait to (*fingers crossed*) end up in Northern Va and get to meet more of their women and be involved in an alumnae chapter.  Granted I have to figure out the job thing, but I know I want to eventually be up there, at least for a bit.

I was really touched that Laura (my grand little) had a note to read for me.  I wasn't sure that I would be included in the Senior recognition since I had a little of that last year, but it was really nice to hear that I've made a difference in at least one person's life.  But just as I told her, it's not goodbye, it's see you later.

Paradoxical Commandments

The Paradoxical Commandments by Dr. Kent M. Keith.

• People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
• If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
• If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
• The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
• Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
• The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
• People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
• What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
• People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
• Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

All the more reason to live with the Standard of Love.

Roommates

Part of being in college is living with other people. Don't get me wrong, I love my roommates, most of the time, but there are some times that I just want to scream. And having lived here the longest, (4 years now) I feel that I have some right to make some rules around here. The following is what I would like to see:
-If you're going to cook, make sure to have time to clean after. If you don't have time to clean up, don't cook.
-If you eat in the family room, don't have crumbs, if you do, vacuum.
-If you spill something, wipe it up immediately, not 3 days later
-If you use a dish, put it straight in the dishwasher, don't leave it in the sink.
-If you fill the dishwasher, start it
-If the dishwasher is done, clear it out
-Clear your stuff out of the living room so others can use it
-Clean your room.

Is that too much to ask?

Ramblings

I was reading through the Launch Team website for Wesley and came across Ramblings (http://www.thelaunchteam.org/discussion-forum/post/1024072) and found this:

"I struggle with the divinity of Jesus. Mostly because of church. I could absolutely believe that Jesus died for everyone's sins - but I feel like traditional Christianity has twisted that into the belief that he only died for you if you come to accept him as "your personal lord and savior" - as a church going Christian. Part of me believes that's bullshit."

Thank you for putting into words something I agree with. One of the panelists last night talked about how your sins are written across a chalkboard like a list, but when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior those sins get wiped off, not just crossed off. I think they get wiped off anyways, you don't have to be the perfect "lord and savior" type of Christian to have that happen. It's called God's grace and i think it's something a lot of people forget about. I think they also forget about Jesus loving everyone, and if he loved everyone, wouldn't he wipe off the sins for EVERYONE? Not just the "savior" types?

Asian names

We're studying the Cold War in my Comparative Empires class and they keep referring to Ho Chi Minh as Ho. So my question is, do Asians give their family name first (Ho) and their given name second (Chi Minh), the opposite of how we do it? Random, but I'm curious.

Lessons from Tonight

I went to Greek IV tonight for a panel discussion on the topic of relationships, marriage and sex. While the panelists were very conservative and I didn't agree with most of their views, I did learn a few things that might be helpful to remember for the future:

*You can't fix people that you are in a relationship with, therefore be careful who you chose to date because you're not going to be able to change things.
*Because of above...be careful who you fall in love with
*Look for the emotional relationship first before the physical because once you have emotional intimacy, physical will follow (most of the time)
* Make sure you know your own values, and then find someone who they match with to help make things work in the long run (ie marriage). Just saying we're both Democrats is not what this means...do you treat money the same way (similar spending habits, budgeting, etc), were you raised similarly, what does your parents' relationship look like and how does it compare to his, how do you believe children should be raised, who is expected to do what...there are many other things to think about of course, and each person's list is different and will evolve over time, but that's a general start.

Granted I'm not in a relationship, nor am I looking for one right now. School takes up too much time to be able to devote to someone else. And I haven't met anyone lately that would qualify. But things for the future...

The Beginning

I've thought about creating a blog for a while, but haven't really had the time to do so. Not that I have the time now. But I want somewhere to share things that I've learned or want to learn more about, or things that are driving me crazy, or things that I'm really happy about, and I'm not sure that twitter or facebook are the place to do it. So I've created this.

Welcome to my life. Things are in the process of changing. Change scares me. I'm not sure if Athletic Training, something that I spent 2+ years of my life learning about, is the right profession for me, or if it is my passion. There are several reasons why:
1. I have to work all next week, and I'm dreading it...so will I be dreading it for the rest of my life?
2. I don't miss going into clinicals, or having to orient my schedule around a team and a coach, or having no life for fun outside
3. I'm a person that needs sleep, and I have anxiety (thanks to being female and from my family, all of us girls struggle with this) and I'm not sure that I can teach and do AT at the same time and not go crazy
4. that whole not liking needles things is kind of an issue, and crazy amounts of blood can be a problem too
but what i'm worried about is whether I'll be able to find a job with just teaching (not both, which I know I can find a job in) especially because my degree is in AT, even tho I've also completed all the courses for ISS (interdisciplinary social sciences), and i've completed ISS but not history (meaning I took 6 upper level history classes, not 12), and I'll be getting an MAT. I'm not sure of the differences between an MAT and an MEd...something to look up.

so do i just continue with the plan, or do i change and maybe decide to stay in school for another year (gasp) to take more history classes (to meet that 12 that everyone else takes)...we'll see. meanwhile, stress levels are rising.