EDU 414 Free Write - The Best Spring Break!

Previously I had posted about my plans for my Spring Break.  I went to the Bahamas for five nights and six days and I was nervous about going.  I thought of just about everything that could go wrong and I blogged about it.  Now I am here to write about how all of those worries and fears were for no reason.  I got back from the Bahamas two days ago and all I want to do is go back.  Coming home was like a culture shock because I was having such an amazing time there that being back in the 203 was just not as good.  I would have loved to stay for the entire break because it was one of the best vacation I have ever taken.  I ended up becoming closer to the girls I went with and surprisingly there wasn't any drama.  This was a shock to me because four girls constantly together for six days is just asking for trouble.  Luckily we all got along really well and I would definitely go on vacation with them again.  The plane rides were quick and easy and our luggage managed to get there and back on the right plane.  The weather was beautiful.  It was at least 80degrees everyday, but there was always a nice breeze so it was never too hot.  Our hotel wasn't a five star, but it didn't have bed bugs either.  We spent the majority of our time at our hotel's beach/pool, but we also went to a public beach and Atlantis for a day.  Atlantis was amazing! It is such a huge resort, the aquarium was great, the water park was a blast, and I even swam with the dolphins.  The public beach was called cabbage beach and it had huge waves and sand that was so soft and clean.  We also went on a booze cruise to a private beach called sandy toes which was absolutely beautiful.  The package deal that we purchased allowed us to have free food and drinks at our hotel.  We basically didn't need to spend any money unless we wanted to which was nice.  Every night we took cabs to different clubs around that island.  One of the clubs was actually in the movie "Into the Blue".  We made a ton of friends from all different states.  I now know people from Tennessee, Texas, New Jersey, DC, and Massachusetts.  Overall, it was a very relaxing vacation and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  I can't wait for Spring Break next year!  

EDU 307 - Free Write - A letter to one of best teachers I have ever had

Dear ___________,

            You were my professor for Psychology 100 last spring.  You were by far the best teacher I ever had and I wanted to write this letter to you to express my gratitude.  When I took my first college level psychology class at Stonehill College, I received a grade in the lower B range, and I did not learn anything.  The professor that I had was awful.  The lectures that the professor gave were both confusing and boring. The writing assignments and tests were all extremely difficult because I felt that I was not learning anything in class. After my final in that class, I was so thankful I would never have to take another psychology course again.

Then I transferred to Southern Connecticut State University my sophomore year and I found out that I would have to retake PSY100.  My psychology credit from Stonehill College transferred in as PSY210 so once again I was going to have to take that awful psychology class. I went on ratemyprofessor.com because if I had to retake the class, I was going to at least try to take it with a good professor.  I originally signed up to take the class with Bev Lavin.  She had a great review and everyone seemed to love her and her class.  On the first day of my PSY 100 class, her name was not the name written on the board.  The name written on the board was yours, and I am so grateful now that there was a change in professors.   

The main reason why I consider you to be the best teacher I have ever had is because I still remember almost everything you taught me.  The way you conducted your lectures was amazing. I learned more in your class every Tuesday and Thursday than I did in a lot of my college classes so far.  You made everything so simple.  Every single big idea, psychologist, theory, etc in psychology you put into words that I could not only comprehend, but that I could remember.  We were responsible for reading the textbook, which I did, but I did not always understand what I read.  Some of the concepts in the textbook were complicated and confusing.  It made it very hard to relate to.  By going to your class though, everything was put into perspective.

Not only did you make all of the psychology concepts so simple, you also made them very relatable.  You would use your children and other life experiences as examples.  Also, in class you had us come up with our own examples.  When I am able to relate something to my own life, I am able to remember it more easily.  I was able to recall many psychology concepts or experiments because I had a real life example to relate them to.  In addition to examples, you had us do in class activities to help us understand different concepts.  We did these activities in groups so we could learn more from our peers and individually.  One activity I can clearly remember was when you were teaching us about short term and long term memory.  First you gave us a phone number aloud and we had to write down what we remembered.  This had to do with our short term memory because we can remember seven (plus or minus 2) objects.  When you listed more than nine numbers, no one could remember them all. Then you had us write down as many states as we possibly could.  The people who were able to write all fifty states did so using a mnemonic device.  They learned a song back in elementary school which helped move the names of the fifty states from their short term memory into their long term memory.  By using these types of activities and examples in class, the majority of the information you taught is now in my long term memory.

The last reason why I believe that you are the best teacher I have ever had is because I always felt 100% ready for every test in your class.  Not only was I able to remember all of the theories, experiments, terms, etc from the examples, but you made us a study guide for every test.  Most of the teachers that I have had in college will give out study guides, but never go over them.  They pass them out and it is your job as a student to work on them and email the professor any questions.  You are the one and only professor that would actually give us class time to fill in the study guides.  Then you would go over the study guide with us before the end of class.  This way we left class with a study guide that was not only filled out, but filled out with all of the correct information.  I was able to use the study guide to really review and prepare for the exam.  Every test that I took in your class I received no lower than a 90%.  Before the test, I knew exactly what I needed to study, and during the test I could remember all of the information we learned.

After taking your class, I decided to minor in psychology.  By having you as my teacher, I went from hating psychology and thinking it was the worst subject ever, to loving psychology and realizing that I could actually do well in it.  Since your class, I have taken three more psychology classes and I have really enjoyed each one.  I never knew how interesting psychology could be and how much of an impact it would have on me studying to be an elementary school teacher.  I do have to say that even though I have enjoyed the other classes, no teacher has had as big of an impact as you.  You are an amazing teacher and I am so happy that I was able to take at least one class with you during my time at Southern.  You truly are one of the best teachers that I have ever had.

                                                                                                            Sincerely,

                                                                                                             Lauren 

EDU 307 Free Write - Where did my imagination go?

For My EDU 307 class we need to write an original piece of work. I chose to write two short children's books. When I was younger, I would have been able to come up with two very imaginative and detailed stories very quickly. It would have been no problem to write my own story. It may not have been as good of quality as far as spelling and the plot line, but it would have been very creative. However, the other day when I was sitting in class trying to brainstorm a story, I could not come up with an idea for the life of me. I was going to switch topics and do a memoir or something else, but I decided that I should be able to come up with a story and I should stick to it. So currently, I am still in the process of writing the story, but it made me think, what happened to my imagination? What happened to pretend play? Why is it so difficult to do such simple things now at the age of twenty one, when I could do it with such ease at the age of five? Does your brain just get rid of those abilities or store them away? I am very good at reading and understanding stories now, but I have a lot of difficulty making up my own.   I thought it would be so much easier than it actually is. I am currently being challenged to write a children's book.  And as far as pretend play goes, I don't normally whip out my old barbies and play with them for hours like I used to. I guess as adults you just grow out of the love you used to have for your toys. It reminds me of Toy Story 3 when Andy gives away all of his toys to a younger girl because he is going away to college. It is just crazy to think that at one point in my life all I wanted for Christmas was a new barbie or baby doll and now I want an iPhone. Sometimes I wish that I was five again just so I could have my imagination back.

EDU 307 - Topic of Choice - Bahama Mama (before)

For the first time in my life, I am actually going somewhere for spring break. I am going with three of my friends from my sorority. We are going to an all inclusive resort in the Bahamas. I have traveled outside of the country before, but the three other girls I am going with have not. This will be the second time that I will be traveling by myself. I am a little bit nervous only because I hope everything goes as planned. Since we booked it through a student travel agency, there is no plan b, there is only a plan a. If plan a doesn't happen, then I don't know who to call or what will do. To put it in more simple terms, if everything doesn't go exactly as planned, we are screwed. We each had to pay for the trip in December and if anything goes wrong there are no refunds. I am trusting our travel agent that he booked everything correctly and he didn't get us seats on the plane next to the bathroom. With this agency, you know where you are departing from and what time, but that is about all of the information you get. I am not sure if this was a good idea to go through them instead of just booking the trip ourselves, but I guess we will see. 

I have talked to a few people who have gone on this kind of trip before, and they said that it was fun. They said that I should bring my own set of sheets, shower shoes, and Clorox wipes for the room, but it is fun. They said that I probably won't get to sleep because everyone is drunk and loud, but it was fun. The reviews I read when people were having issues with their rooms or whatever the employees response is "just go get drunk and have fun". This is the kind of thing that makes me nervous. I am sure that I will have fun, but I am under the impression that everyone I talked to only had fun because they were completely smashed the entire time. Now don't get me wrong, I like to have a good time, but I am not some out of control party animal. The people I am going with however are closer to out of control party animals. They are a little more enthusiastic when it comes to drinking and having fun. I have this slight feeling that I am going to have to play "mom" and make sure that everyone gets back okay and holding their hair as needed. This is not exactly the spring break I signed up for.

I guess we will just have to wait and see how it goes. Hopefully I have a great time and an amazing spring break. Stay tuned for the after I get back from this great trip post...