My student profile

This is profgirrrl's meme from some time ago. I've been intending to do it forever, but just now finally getting around to caring about my blog again.

Kindergarten: I went to town to go to school. I lived in a very rural community and the local rural school did not have a kindergarten class, so my dad drove me 20 minutes to town everyday for afternoon kindergarten. I was a pro at this kindergarten stuff after 2 years of preschool. However, I did run into a bit of mess when my teacher suggested that perhaps I was 'special ed' because I was extremely withdrawn and refused to participate in "reading circle". After a one on one with the school counselor, it was then discovered that I was just bored as hell and could care less about Tip and Jane. While the class was pointing out letters and the teacher read the book and talked about how the alphabet we were studying made up the words she was reading to us, I was lost in my own world thinking about what I would do with my imaginary friend when I got out of school and got home. I had already read the entire book cover to cover during playtime, it was a stupid story. I had better books at home.

Elementary School: I attended classes in a two room country school house. I had the same teacher for grades 1 -3 and the principal was my teacher in grades 4-6. There were 6 people in my class. Pretty uneventful, really. My only distinct memories are of being only the person in grade 5 band (therefore getting private music lessons from the school district) and loving the days when the art teacher came to school. We always did some pretty interesting projects that kept me occupied.

Junior High: Whoa! Going from a class size of 6 to 100 was a big change. I got a locker and thought it was pretty cool to decorate it. Best memory: 8th grade English reading A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, I love that book and I had the best English teacher ever. I was a reader and she always had great book suggestions. I was tracked into advanced math and did well there. I was also a band geek.

High School: Band geekiness continued and there were more nerd activites as well: my most favorite--> DEBATE! I loved it and spent all my time with friends from the debate team. I discovered that homework is really overrated and didn't see much need for completing anything that wasn't interesting. I was able to get at least B's in most classes using this method of homework selection and completion. Senior year, I really started slacking...2 art classes, band, debate, and teacher's assistant--had to take English and my teacher hated me. Geez, she was boring....and the only papers that got A's were ones that were a regurgitation of exactly what she said. So, I stopped reading the assigned book and just wrote my paper from her notes (A's all the way); I got into trouble if I read the book and wrote down my thoughts (nothing better than a B-). I could not wait to get out of there....my mom thought I should go to the junior college but I applied for every scholorship possible and got money to go to a big state U.

College: Social world opened up for me. I found out that boys thought I was cute. I made the full circle of frat parties, weekend keggers, and football games. Can't say that I went to class much and I sure didn't know how to study. My GPA reflects this, although it's remarkably OK for someone who did as little as I did. I spent a summer abroad and fell in love with learning languages. I am good standardized test taker, so grad school was the obvious choice to avoid the real world.

Grad School (Round 1): After 2 different grad programs, I ended up with an MA in a language and literature. Hhhhmmm...now what does one do with that??? No clue....so I applied for fellowships to spend a year abroad and think about it. That year abroad was in so many ways the best experience I have ever had (someone who knows me IRL is laughing out loud as she reads that statement). I learned a lot about who I am and what my needs and wants are. I ignored those needs and wants, however, and came back to the US and got a teaching certificate.

Grad School Interlude: I was a teacher.....what was I thinking??? (I am a good teacher, however, K-12 setting is not for me).

Grad School (Round 2): Back for the PhD......and eventually through some twists and turns, *Statgirl* emerged.