Introduce Yourself

[Cyndi Danner-Kuhn]

Please tell us who you are, about your teaching, where you are from, how long you have taught, and share one link you think pre-service (future teachers) can't live without.

[Amy Brungardt]

Hi! As you can see, I am Amy, and a year away from student teaching! I plan to do this in the Fall of '09. I am also minoring in Spanish, which I hope will be helpful in the classroom someday. I first started out with enjoying the language, then realized how helpful knowing it can help a student and even the parent. I look forward to teaching and am ready - except I know I am really not. There is so much I still need to learn!

I have an awesome family and boyfriend who is supportive of me - especially when I am having a particularly tough time with classes. I am blessed even more than I know! I also have been able to join Mortar Board at FHSU in which I am thankful for the opportunity.

I was home schooled up until my freshman year in college. I am enjoying the experience. The most frequently asked question I am asked is: "So how come you want to be a teacher if you were home schooled?" Good question! My school was virtual so I saw my teachers on video. All I can say is I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember! I have taught so many times to my bed growing up. I enjoy watching children learn and knowing that I was a part of that. Also, I love to make a difference in a child's life for the better. I want them to know that I have faith in them to do well, that they are significant, and can pursue their dreams!

I have had wonderful teachers to learn from since elementary! One such teacher, ironically her name was Amy, who made learning fun and exciting for me. She was probably the pivoting point in my pursuing teaching. Since then, other great teachers have encouraged me to want to continue. Also, I love to be around children. That is most crucial I believe to become a teacher! The times I have taught, either through Sunday school or in my internships, I have thoroughly enjoyed it!

[Cyndi Danner-Kuhn]

You are clearly going to be an inspirational teacher someday soon. Children will be quite luck to have you as their teacher.

[Emily Baker]

Hello everyone! My name is Emily, and I am from a small town in Southwestern Kansas. I grew up on a farm and have loved every minute of it. I love the outdoor life and being around people and animals all the time. I recently became engaged in May, and my fiance is a farmer/rancher...he's such a wonderful person and I am so blessed to have him in my life!
I am also a year away from student teaching. It seems crazy that I only have 2 semesters of FHSU left. I really have enjoyed it, and feel that I have learned so much! I love being around children-I work in an elementary school in Hays during lunch and the after school program. I also tutor three students in math once a week. As you can see, I value my time with children, and I am looking forward to having my own classroom to teach in.
With every day that I spend around children, the more I am inspired to be a teacher. I endure many struggles while babysitting my three-year-old niece and five-year-old nephew, but I believe that they all make me stronger. I know that these experiences will prepare me for the life as a teacher more than any books can. My love for children is strong, and I hope that I can pass on my love for learning to my future students. As a child, I always loved to read. I was the one who held a flashlight under the covers during the night and read my book. I still love to read, and this is one of the most important aspects of learning that I will strive to show my students. Books can bring children to an imaginary world, a world filled with adventures and experiences. Reading broadens a child's knowledge in so many different ways.
I think it is so important for teachers to share that mutual bond for a love of learning with their students. If students see that their teachers' heart is not into it, then they also will not be motivated to learn. Enthusiasm is the key to helping students learn and to helping them to realize that they are cared for.
Once again, I am so excited to begin teaching. I know that I will strive to make a difference in all of my students' lives. I have so many wonderful idols to look up to in the future; those including my mom, and my sister.

[KEvin Hoff]

I am getting a little confused here trying to navigate my way through these sites and post the comments that I need to . I introduced myself once on this site already but I am not able to see where it posted so I will try agian. I am Kevin Hoff and I am on my finel two classes before I get to student teach in the Fall. I moved back home to Great Bend Kansas and I am going to do my student teaching here.

[carolyn Walker]

Hello! My name is Carolyn, I will be student teaching in the fall. I live in Minneola just south of Dodge City. I have three children ages 16, 14, and 10. My husband who encouraged me to become a teacher is a Superintendent of Minneola Schools. I have been substituting for a few years, and taking classes here and there. It has only been recently that I have become serious about getting my teaching degree. I want to make sure that I will be the best teacher for my future students.

My summer is full this year with taking two classes and being there for my kids. We are busy with baseball, softball, track, racing mini sprint cars, and practice for a musical. Church camps, basketball, and volleyball camps are in there also. Just writing all that out wore me out, sounds like a lot but it makes for an enjoyable summer. My older son is now practicing for a musical this summer and we are looking forward to watching in July. We also are getting ready for the 4-H fair coming up at the end of July. Our calendar was full before we even started summer vacation from school.

[Hunter Ward]

My name is Hunter Ward and I am from Southwest Kansas. This is my 5th year here at Fort Hays State and it's been a great experience. I love to hunt, travel as much as possible, and play all kinds of sports. I have no clue where I want to student teach at in the Spring, but I'm kind of leaning towards going abroad if possible. I have a wonderful family and a close group of great friends. I can't really say that one particular person inspired me to become a teacher, it was more of a collective effort. The one teacher that does however stand out in my mind was my High School Math teacher. I hate Math to this day and have always struggled greatly with it. She refused to give up on me and pushed me to do better. She was a wonderful teacher and I hope to have the same connection with my students some day.

[Heather Stallbaumer]

Hi! My name is Heather Stallbaumer and I am from Hanover, KS. I was born, raised and my husband and I now reside in Hanover with our family. My husband and I have 5 kids from ages 7 to 11 months. We stay very busy!

I am teacher and director of our local preschool. I have taught there for the last 3 years. Before becoming the preschool teacher, I have substitute taught in all of the area schools for 4 years prior.

One link that I think is awesome that I think all future teachers need is http://www.4teachers.org/. This site has many useful tools that are very handy when needing to create rubrics, quizzes and assignments! I can't wait to have my own classroom where I'm able to incorporate all of this technology into the classroom!

[Jenny May Stewart]

Hi everyone! My name is Jenny May Stewart and I am a senior and will be student teaching in the spring! I live in Great Bend with my husband Jon and our 3 puppies, Sadie, Cooper, and Marley. I really enjoy hunting and fishing as well as girly stuff like shopping and hanging out with my girlfriends. I am orginally from Andover, KS. but we moved to Great Bend 3 years ago for my husbands fire fighting job. I have subbed in Great Bend for the last year and I love it! I can't wait to have my own classroom and hopefully coach one of these days.

[Jenny May Stewart]

I forgot to mention a website that I think is very useful for teachers and future teachers. It is the school express website and the reason I like it so much is because it lays everything out in a very easy to understand format and it has so many different resources within the one website.

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[Cyndi Danner-Kuhn]

can you share the URL for that site.

[Ginger Lewman]

Hi! This is the third(?) class I've "sat" in on with you Cyndi! I love that you do this!

I am the Director of the face2face Program of Turning Point Learning Center, a charter school in Emporia KS (USD253). We've been working with a fully-implemented PBL environment, with a 1:1 laptop component for 2 years. Next year, we're TRIPLING in numbers as the rest of the district enrollement drops, which tells me that people are looking for a change in the way education is traditionally being
"done."

I graduated with my BSE (Social Science) in '94 and my MS (Gifted Ed, Psychology) in '04 and have been delighted to be a part of this 2.0--next version of education change!

A link you cannot live without? If you are in Kansas, and I know that you are, you should jump into iConnect iLearn, a ning network dedicated to the next generation of learning! Here you'll see learners taking control of their own growth, just as all learners should be doing.

[Durff]

I'm mrsdurff. I am a PreK through 12th grade (ages 3 through 18) learner and media center specialist at a private Christian school in northern Maryland, USA. I learn along with wonderful people at BCA, where I am a fellow learner. Many of them are called students and I am often called a teacher, but these definitions are becoming more and more blurred! This will be my fourth year at this school. Prior to that, I was an English teacher in a computer lab teaching 8th grade study time, 9th grade public speaking & 10th grade debate. I also had a 9th grade class of advanced english. Before that I was a daily substitute. I taught in both capacities at Scotland School for Veterans' Children in Scotland, Pennsylvania. I have been teaching in various capacities and at various schools in rural southeastern Pennsylvania, USA for 15 years. I attended Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, USA, where I earned a B.A. in Elementary Education. I am a member of Phi Kappa Phi and earned a M.Ed. in Elementary Education from Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, USA.

This is our live, interactive webcast on the edtechtalk channel of the worldbridges network. We are four educators who produce a bimonthly webcast titled It's Elementary. We focus on web2.0 tools in the elementary classroom. The producers include Jose Rodriguez, third grade teacher in Los Angeles CA, Alice Mercer, a fifth grade teacher in Sacramento, CA, Maria Knee a Kindergarten teacher from Deerfield, NH, and myself. Please join us by logging into the chat room at EdTechTalk
and either ask for sound in the chat room, or listen to the stream at the listen page at edtechtalk.

Graduate of 2017
This is the Webcast Academy. The Academy is a hands on, collaborative training center for people interested in learning how to produce and host live, interactive webcasts. It is part of the Worldbridges Webcasting Network and was founded to help train those who would like to webcast on Worldbridges. This wonderful community is all thanks to Jeff Lebow and Dave Cormier. I was originally part of the class of 2.1. But now I am enjoying learning along with the class of 3.x, which is a totally awesome class. There are other webcasters presenting in the k12online conference from whom I learn so much!

Interviewed by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
This was a professional learning opportunity for educators in New Zealand and overseas. Here participants could explore examples of collaborative online learning and the application of Web 2.0 technologies in teaching and learning. I was interviewed by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach as part of her keynote at this conference.

I was a presenter in the K12Online2007 Conference, an international online conference. My presentation, Pushing the Envelope, went live on Wednesday, October 24, 2007. I also enjoyed participating in the live events in Elluminate. The highlight of the PreConference Keynote this year was David Warlick's chatroom. I am trying to get time to listen to all the presentations, but there were about 40 presentations chosen from 100 proposals.