Life is Funny, except when it's really not

Musings of a wacky American Muslim, with an obsession for all things literary, Asian pop culture and gummi candy as she lives life embracing both the funny and the not-so-funny.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Striving to Become the Greatest English Teacher to Ever Live (GETTEL)!

Can we say "yay" for high goals and expectations and a teeny bit of conceit? Yes, I believe I am capable of becoming an amazing English Teacher. So, mote it be.

Today, I introduce to you WORDLE!
It is essentially a site that generates “word clouds” from text that you provide, giving greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text (totally not my words, as if it weren't obvious. Wordle's own description of their site).

I've been writing a personal vision statement for one of my teach courses, essentially addressing what kind of classroom I hope to create, what kind of learning I hope to take place and what kind of teacher I hope to be.

I copied and pasted my entire 9 page paper into Wordle and VOILE!

Click for larger image, doofuses! *said affectionately* :)

Cool, huh? So, evidently my students are very important to me. I mean it's even there twice, nope make that THREE times! So is learning (or learn). Dreams is pretty noticeable. Nice. "Must" is obvious too. Does that mean I'm going to be the Nazi-Tyrant type of teacher? Pfftt..yeah right! Five-feet-four, weighing 100 lbs soaking wet (if she's lucky) me be a Tyrant? No way!

I plan on using this image for a video I'm creating to illustrate my personal vision. However, I'll probably won't use this exact one. I'll go back and copy and paste most vital parts of my paper, that way I'll get an image more in line with my true vision of teaching.

Since you can't tell what kind of teacher I may be based on this. Below is my course description for an imaginary course and the ending of my personal vision. Prepared to be awed...AWED I tell you! :)

Course Description (9th grade English):


This is your first English course of your high school career. My mission is to foster a love for literature that will sustain you through your entire education. Why is English important? It’s not only because you need to be able to read difficult novels and write amazing essays. English or more specifically Literature allows us to visit worlds we only dream of. It allows us to understand others and their points of view. It helps us to better understand ourselves. Through Literature, you can fall in love with your enemy, fight an epic battle to the death, or suffer the bitter taste of betrayal. A big idea in this course is that Literature is timeless and reflects human nature and values. People haven’t changed much over the course of history, their issues and beliefs still apply to us and hence by reading we can come to further understanding of ourselves, our peers and our society.


Personal Vision Excerpt:

I am teaching to support my students and help them achieve their dreams, whatever those may be. And not the dreams of their parents, or friends, or society, but those secret dreams, hidden in the deepest depths of their young hearts. Those special kind of dreams that are fragile and easily crushed by an insensitive teacher, parent, friend or society. And if those dreams are already crushed by the time they get to me, it’ll be up to me to gently and carefully find all the pieces and tape them back together and then work to strengthen the heart they’re hidden in so the dreams are never crushed again!


Nice, eh? C'mon admit it. That's what the comment section is for...to INFLATE my ego! haha ^___^


Until my next nutty post,
      Tuma
Life is Funny

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