Thing # 1

The lifelong learning habit that is the easiest for me is "Accept responsibility for your own learning."  At 26 years old I decided to go back to college.  I had to balance life as a wife, mother, and college student.  Even though this was a daunting task, I was determined to further my education.  I realized that my education was my responsibility.  No one else was going to tell me to go back to college and to further my education.  I graduated in 2006 with my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing (BSN). 

A few years later in 2008 I decided that I wanted to further my education even more.  I decided once again to go back to college.  I enrolled in Austin Peay State University once more.  This time I decided to pursue my Master’s of Art in Teaching (MAT) degree.  I am now only 6 credit hours short of this degree.  I should be ready to graduate in May of 2012. 

Even though I will be graduating, I know my commitment to my lifelong learning will continue to drive me.  My learning is my responsibility.  I fully embrace this responsibility.   This is a characteristic that I want to pass on to my own children and to my students.

The lifelong learning habit that is the most difficult for me is “View problems as challenges.”  I often get frustrated when problems arise that stand in the way of what I am trying to accomplish.  Too often I allow these problems to bring me down and even take away from what I am trying to do.  I have to get better about changing my prospective and viewing these problems as challenges designed for me to evaluate and conquer. 

From the web 2.0 tools in this class I want to learn new skills, programs, and ideas that will make me more proficient in integrating technology into my classroom.  Students are so technology savvy today and I need to be able to keep up with them and teach them in the ways that they learn. 

I found the process of setting up this blog relatively easy.  Blogger is very user friendly and made the process seamless.   Blogging does not come naturally to me, but the program made me feel very competent in my ability to complete this assignment.