My Intro Letter

Hey everyone! So my name is Brooke Ellis, and I am currently a senior at CSUSM. I was born in Shawnee, Kansas but I moved out to California when I was 18 months old. Call me Dorothy if you want--I used to get called that all the time in elementary school! I attended Richland Elementary School from Kindergarden to 5th grade. I went to Woodland Park Middle School for grades 6-8. After that, I attended San Marcos High School (Go Knights!). After Graduation, I went to UCSB and came home after a couple of months. Because I was considered a "lower-division transfer", I had to attend Palomar Community College until my junior year when I was ready to transfer. I transferred over to CSUSM, where I will be graduating from in May of 2009. I will most likely take a year off before entering the credential program, and once I complete the program I plan on teaching high school English.

In regards to my experience with technology, I am most certainly a PC person. However, all the cool things I've seen tonight (especially the Photo Booth) may transition me into a Mac person. I go on the internet on a daily basis to check my e-mail, MySpace, and Facebook. (I know, so typical!) I use my laptop for pretty much everything, and on it I use the new Microsoft Office 2007, which has been a difficult transition for me. I think once I learn how to utilize all the tools, I will feel more comfortable. I guess practice makes perfect!

I feel that the Mission Statement of the College of Education is a very powerful one. The part that stands out the most to me is the "commitment to student-centered education." I think this is something that has been forgotten in modern education--we are there for the students! I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to sit in a class with a teacher that thinks we are enrolled to learn about them and how hard their life is. As students, we are hear to receive the best education available to us, not to hear a live diary of a professor who is entirely too desperate for friends! As teachers, we have to remember that if we do not keep our students interested in the material we are teaching, we can never get through to them. I know that maintaining a classroom that is student-centered will be a main goal of mine in my career, and hopefully it will be with others as well. I would not say that the statement necessarily influenced my decision to apply as much as it reinforced why I want to apply and why I want to teach.