Day 1: Life Story and Day 2: Education

So, as I mentioned yesterday I am going to do the Blog Every Day in May Challenge.  I am not a big fan of multiple posts on one day so this is a two for one post.

My first prompt is to write the story of my life in 250 words or less.

I was born in the Washington D.C. area and lived a great childhood for nine years there.  When I was nine, my parents moved to the St. Louis area.  I became the oldest of five and I love my four other siblings. I learned to play the violin and piano. I participated in lots of music things, including a great choir throughout my high school  I graduated from high school and went on to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.  Moving at eighteen continued my division of thirds in where I lived.  I started my history teaching major early on and then later added an English teaching minor and Political Science teaching minor.  During college, I met my husband Brian.  We were married in 2008 about halfway through my college career. I ended up graduating with honors in 2010 and promptly started looking for a job.  I accepted a position at Cedar Ridge Academy as the Social Studies teacher.  I have since become the English teacher and lead teacher as well.  I have been in Roosevelt for three years now.  I have really gotten use to the smaller town life and I hope to be around this area for a little while longer.  But maybe in 2014 I will be destined to move and keep with my life in thirds.

My second prompt is to:

Educate us on something you know a lot about or are good at. Take any approach you'd like (serious and educational or funny and sarcastic)

To be honest, I have no idea what to write about here.  I educate on a regular basis so I should have lots of ideas. I guess that I am plumb out of ideas. I guess people at work would say that I am good at teaching because I explain things well.  So I will talk about that for a minute.  The idea that a concept can be hard to understand is something that students struggle with everyday.  I try to do the basics first--I pull on visuals and audio learning.  Sometimes that works and the problem is solved.  Other times, I pull in examples from their lives or what they are familiar with.  By relating it to something that they already understand it helps them to grasp it a little bit easier.  One thing that helps students too is actually applying what they are learning. They need action! So...relate it to things they know and let them practice!