My name is Nicole Gehrman. I am currently a senior at UWM. I'm a Middle Childhood-Early Education major in the School of Education program. I am currently entering my 3rd block of the program. I also have two minors in science and social studies. I'm originally from St. Paul, Minnesota and was raised in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Some interesting things about me include that I ran for the White Bear Cross-Country team for 7 years. I have the same birthday as Ghandi and George Harrison is my favorite Beatle.
I signed up for this course because the title Irish Tradition caught my attention. I'm very interested in learning about different cultures. I nanny for a family from India and I have enjoyed learning about their customs and traditions. I am looking forward to learning about Ireland. I visited London last year and desperately wanted to travel over to Ireland. However, money and time didn't allow it. Hopefully I can visit in the future, I've heard Ireland is a beautiful country.
My favorite novel is Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. I read the book when I was in high school and I believe that it inspired me to pursue my teaching career. I also enjoy novels written by Nicholas Sparks, Dan Brown, Jodi Picoult, Phillippa Gregory, among others. I typically choose books that engage me into the story and help me escape from my daily life. I hope to gain a new perspective on life everytime I read and a new way of thinking in ways I didn't imagine before.
I have taken the required English courses at UWM as well as an African American Women's literature course with Rikki Clark. I greatly enjoyed the class and I feel that I gained a lot of insight from the course. I believe that an online literature course may actually be easier to have critical discussion about the novels we read. On an online course we are all required to participate and present our opinions. In regular courses not everyone chooses to participate. Therefore, more perspectives and ideas will be shared during our online discussions. I have read many types of literature. I have always enjoyed reading, some of my favorite novels include; Until They Bring the Streetcars Back, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Catcher in the Rye, and The Great Gatsby (the author F. Scott Fitzgerald is from St. Paul!)
To be compeletey honest I don't really have that much background knowledge about Irish tradition. I know that Irish Tradtion includes celebrating St. Patrick's day. I also know that there have been religious controversies in Ireland. I have heard the tales about leprechauns and the luck of the Irish!
Other internet sources that I belong to include; facebook, myspace and twitter. The whole blog thing is very new to me.
The Tower Bridge in London, England is a place that I have been to. I went in March 2009 and fell in love with the city. The bridge holds a lot of history.
A website that I frequently visit is www.trakstar.com. The site offers a lot of teaching lesson ideas for teachers and introduction to curriculum topics. As an education major I use this website a lot.
I love this youtube video because it is so funny. Growing up in Minnesota, Herb Brooks was a local hero. For those of you who don't know him, he was the hockey coach for the University of Minnesota for many years and he also was the coach for team USA in the 1980 Olympics. The little kid in the video is imitating Herb Brook's speech from the movie Miracle. They movie is about how Herb Brooks led the USA hockey team to win the gold in the 1980 Olympics.
Hey Nicole,
ReplyDeleteI give you credit for running in cross country for 7 years. I hate running long distances. I ran track in high school, but only did hurdles, sprints, and relays. I tried out for cross country once, but I couldn't keep up after a car accident injury.
I love your picture of the Tower Bridge in London. I've been there too and have several pictures similar to this one. I too loved going on tours in London and hearing all about the history. Did you get a chance to visit the London Tower near the Tower Bridge? I was so amazed to see the royal family jewels, the Beefeaters, and the site of all the executions. It just all seemed so surreal to me. Also, I seemed to be unable to get enough pictures of Big Ben. I wish we had a "tube" here because that made travel so easy. I can't wait to go back myself. You will definitely have to go to Ireland when you go back. It was beautiful!!
I'm totally in love with watching funny Youtube videos and I've seen the one you are talking about. I actually ended up posting it on my Facebook page because I was so impressed. The kid does such a spot on impersonation and you can tell he has the whole speech memorized. I watched an interview with the dad and he said that the kid can not read yet so he is obviously not reading any cue cards. He also said that the kid pretty much did it on his own since the dad didn't really push him to do it. I just think it is amazing.
hey i used to run too in high school, distance track! that's great that you're going to be a teacher ... my boyfriend is in the graduate education program over at alverno, for elementary education as well.
ReplyDeletei'm in the same boat with you as far as not knowing too much about irish culture or literature. i'm hoping that won't be to my detriment. i too like learning about new cultures and peoples, so this should be a good experience. i believe the literature of a people is a very powerful window into their collective psyche.
anyways, its nice to cyber-meet you and i look forward to hearing more from you this semester! be well.
I believe that people who are born to teach are saints! I come from a long line of teachers- my mom teachers montessori, my sister teaches 1st grade ESL, etc. Do you know yet what grade you want to teach, or subject matter? A great deal of friends teach high school English and sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one not interested in high school kids, or English. :)
ReplyDeleteOther cultures can be so fascinating, and I think it's fantastic you've had an opportunity to nanny in such an environment. The closest I've come to cultural diversity was helping my parents run Vacation Bible School at a Spanish speaking church a few summers ago.
Thanks for sharing your picture from London- it's nice to see the world through someone else's eyes.
Happy Semester ;)
Hey Nicole!
ReplyDeleteI'm also an Elementary Education major (as you saw on my blog!) but I'm not as far as you yet. I wish I could say I could be helpful as far as sharing lesson plans and such, but I'm still working away at general ed classes, so I'm far from the mindset, as sad as that is. I can't wait to get to that point though!
I am impressed that you ran cross country for so long. I was never involved in any sports in high school and that was something I regretted a lot once I joined the Army! That physical training and discipline would have made it a much easier transition :P I've always felt that I could learn to love running some day; we'll see if it happens. As of now, It's far from my favorite thing.
My American Literature course last year was with Rikki Clark. How did you like her class? I think it was a good starter course for me as far as literature goes, and I really picked up a lot from it. Your taste in novels seems to be pretty similar to mine (although I couldn't think of anything to pinpoint as I was writing my blog) I am a huge fan of Dan Brown's novels- they really draw me in and make me think, which I like.
It's really neat that you were able to make it to London. That's also on my list of places to go- among so many others. I had at one point planned on a trip there last summer, but ended up going to New York instead. It wasn't quite the same thing, but still a great trip!
Hello again!
ReplyDeleteSo apparently these posts need to be 250 words long … I’m not sure where that directive was given, but it’s what I’ve gathered from reading everyone else’s response posts. My apologies for short-changing you!
I too have read, and very much enjoyed, Mitch Albom’s “Tuesdays with Morrie.” I read it in high school and it really had an impact on how I think about things … about life in general. I especially liked when Morrie talked about having gratitude and humility in being cared for during the end of one’s life, relating it to the experience of an infant. I thought that was a beautiful way of looking at things … and definitely different from how I imagine most of us would experience those same circumstances. Anyway, I feel I got a lot out of that book, so I’m happy to hear that you’ve read and enjoyed it as well.
Well I look forward to hearing from you more throughout this class … I think that having these book discussions online will be a really cool experience! Be well.
Hi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I haven't had an opportunity yet to officially welcome you to the class. My little one suddenly decided to come two weeks early (!), so I've been hurriedly playing catch up for the past couple of days.
I'm so jealous that you've been to London. Although I've traveled through Ireland and Europe extensively, I've never been able to get to England primarily because of the high cost. I'm hoping that one day I will be able to visit and see all the places I've read so much about. I would love to see a Shakespeare play, walk the streets that Charles Dickens walked, visit the room where George Elliot wrote Middlemarch, and just experience all that wonderful history. I would love to see the Tower of London and see where Ann Bolyen was imprisoned. I noticed that you read Phillipa Gregory. I'm a huge fan of her historical fiction. She's someone I read when I want to "escape" and take a break from "serious" literature for a while.
Welcome to the class, and I look forward to working with you this semester!