Thursday, January 17, 2013

Blog Post #1

About Me

My name is Ashton DeMouy. I am twenty years old and I attend the University of South Alabama. I moved to Mobile when I was in the third grade from Pascagoula, Mississippi. I am majoring in Special Education and have a deep passion for helping and teaching the special needs. I have volunteered for almost six years with special needs children. I worked in my high-school's special education program my sophomore, junior and senior year. I got to help teach many of the kids one on one and also I got to help all of the teachers and students everyday with things in the classroom. I grew up with a down syndrome neighbor who is such an inspiration to everyone she comes in contact with. She pushes herself to be the very best every single day and lives with her disabilities as if they are non-existent.

I have faced and overcome many challenges in the past 10 years. My family's house was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. We had to tear down our house and start from scratch when I was in the eighth grade. We lived in a FEMA camper for three years in my front yard. I feel like if my family and I have conquered this, we can take on anything. I've always wanted to teach since I was little. I am in the second class of sign language here at South. I enjoy learning new things, such as sign, and I think Im pretty good at it. I also babysit a five year old autistic boy, who is my absolute heart. I know I am going to make a great teacher because I am not afraid of the challenges that face me in my coming years and also because I am so excited to teach these future students and help them learn something new every single day!


My Future Classroom

When I become a teacher, I will be very organized and I will use a lot of technology in the classroom. I've learned, by volunteer work, that children with special needs usually learn better if they can be very hands on with the subject. David, the little boy I babysit, learns a lot faster on his iPad then when he is just sitting with paper and a pencil writing things down and answering questions. I also am a very hands on learner. I, myself, do better when I am seeing how things are working and I am actually doing the "experiment" then just studying and taking a quiz or a test. I feel like I can relate to the students in that sense.

I hope by the time I am a teacher all the students will have their own iPads or tablets instead of paper and pencils. I think that would help reduce the amount of paper used in the classroom and also will help those children who are mute or cannot speak ask questions and communicate in the classroom. I will teach using many different methods, such as: demonstration and some lecturing. I do not learn very well from lecturing so I don't plan on using tons of lecturing.

I am going to be teaching secondary level special education. In my classroom I will have the students split up into different groups. There would be 3 groups. They would be 1. highly functioning and those who are the most independent 2. the kids who need some one on one work but can still do most of their work on their own and 3. the lowest functioning students who need the most attention. I would hopefully be working with two or three other teachers and we would rotate the groups from class to class so the students still feel like they are in high-school and make them feel as normal as possible.

I will be a dedicated teacher and I plan on mastering in Special Education. I also plan on teaching English and Comprehension. I know I will make a great teacher to the students because I wont treat them as if they have disabilities, but as if they were normal children and will not baby them. I plan on having a very vibrant room and display the children's work and artwork around the room. I am very excited to start teaching my future students.

Time Management

Dr. Pausch talks about planning your days out then your weeks then your semester. He also says that when you make a to-do list to make sure you narrow things down and to always start with the "ugliest" task first. That makes sense because I always feel more accomplished when I have done the hardest thing on my list and less stressed when it is out of the way. Pausch says to ask yourself WHY are you doing something. WHY will you succeed and what will happen when you DO NOT do something on your list.

2 comments:

  1. "...families house..." family's house (possessive). Families is the plural of family.

    "I feel like if my family and I have concurred this, we can take on anything. " Do you mean conquered, not concurred?

    Welcome to EDM310.

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  2. Hello Ashton, my name is Tonya Fendley. I am very impressed with the amount of experience you've had with special needs children. I have two nephews who have down syndrome and they have both graduated from high school thanks to people like you who have a desire to help special needs children discover their strengths and excel in a learning environment.

    I am sorry to hear your family went through such a devastating experience during hurricane Katrina but how wonderful to hear you have overcome those obstacles and are moving toward reaching your goal of becoming a Special Education teacher.

    I wish you great success as you pursue a very challenging yet very rewarding career.

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