Intro Post

When I first came to SNHU I thought the campus was gorgeous. It was secluded from the city, yet close enough to it to feel like part of it when I wanted to. It seemed like it had a very mountain-type feel to it as well, which I really liked. I was told the class sizes were smaller, but that there was a decent student population size so I could get to know a lot more people. Everything about SNHU seemed really nice and a good fit for me. When I came to SNHU I was undecided as to what i wanted to do with my life. This means I didn't have a real major picked out. I knew however, that whatever I was going to do with my life, I wanted to help people. That led me to taking an intro to psychology class. I thoroughly enjoyed the content of the course and all of the things we were learning about so I figured it would be a good major to declare. Throughout the semester I thought more about my career path and somewhere during that time I decided that I would really like to become  guidance counselor (preferably for the high school level).

In a meeting with my advisor later into my first semester her and I were discussing ways to help me achieve this ultimate goal. I didn't really know which way was the best so she suggested definitely taking up a minor in education. I thought this was a great idea! I also declared a dual minor in sociology as well to help me achieve this goal. I ended up in EDU 235 specifically because it was required of me, but more importantly because it seems like teaching is moving towards more use of technology. Because of this movement, I figured it would be very important to learn about the use of technology in the classroom.

Television and Me

Although it is widely believed that television is not good for us, I believe that anything is fine in moderation! It isn't the only thing I do with my life of course, but I'm a big fan of hanging out and watching a good show or a movie. I have a lot of favorite TV shows. Some of them I was a big fan of are Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, How I Met Your Mother, Criminal Minds, and The Office. The Office is probably my favorite comedy show of all time. It's absolutely legendary. When it comes to movies, I don't really think I have a favorite. I definitely prefer comedic movies though. I like to laugh! I pretty much will give any film a try though! I like to buy movies and watch them later at night, it's like a reward to me for getting all of my daily tasks done. When I lived at home, over half of our DVD collection was made up of movies that I bought (mostly from the $5 bin at Walmart). There are surprisingly a lot of good movies in there! TV and movies are one of those things that if you don't overuse it, it can be awesome!

Music and Me

Music is absolutely the biggest thing in my life. I remember when I realized just how much music meant to me. I was about 11 years old and i got an iPod for Christmas (not because I really wanted the iPod but because it was the "thing" to ask for that year). At first I was only slightly into it, but then I found some music I really liked on the Radio. After I downloaded a few songs I really liked, I couldn't get enough!! Over the next years I would just keep looking for music to listen to and love and my library has gotten huge!

I even decided to take up playing the guitar when i was about 13 because I just wanted more! Since then I've just been learning as much as I could and i even started singing and playing (at least seriously) when I was about 17. I also know how to play the ukulele, the mandolin, a little bass guitar,  and a little bit of piano! Now not only do I love listening to music, I love writing it too! I have been doing that for about 2 years. I've started performing at places that will take me over the last year or so! Music is my life in every way and I don't really know what I would do without it.

Technology and Me

My experience with technology was very limited before this class. Of course, like most people, I have a smart phone and I'd like to think I am pretty decent at operating it. When it comes to Google though or anything else regarding computers I am virtually useless. I can basically search on the internet and use Microsoft Word but thats about my limit. I also just recently got a Tablet from Verizon and I'm surprisingly even worse at operating that! I'm getting better but very slowly.

It is important to improve my technology use ability because that is the direction that education is heading so if I plan to work in schools, it is absolutely imperative that I get better at it. In my future, I plan to become a guidance counselor, preferably at the high school level. I could possibly use technology as a means to help a student calm down by maybe doing stress relief exercises on an iPad or a computer. Another way I could use technology is that I may be able to use one of those devices to possibly help out students that have troubles focusing or need alternative instruction. Teaching with technology opens many new doors, so I am definitely interested and motivated to learn how to use it better!