As a Student, Teacher, and Human

     The conversation is poetry. While some students in class are giggling with excitement, I am internally rolling my eyes at the thought. Don't get me wrong- I was a beatnik in high school; I had my fair share of diaries and journals, but they all sit collecting dust somewhere amongst a cabinet full of memorabilia junk at my mom's house. The truth is that poetry and I were toxic lovers. When I was at my most vulnerable, the paper would call to me, begging me to be the canvas upon which I laid out the worst of the worst. At the time I would call it poetry, but now all I call it is *sighs* cringe. And, I am sorry to the true tortured poets reading this, drag me to death! Call me uneducated and cold, I know, I know. But my willful days of writing poetry are over....That is, so I thought.     When Professor Overman warned us that we would be sharing our poems in front of everyone, I could not believe it. Writing poetry is one thing, but reading it out loud in front of people who

  Hi everyone! My name is Adela Perez and I am currently a Senior at CSUN while simultaneously student teaching at a nearby middle school. The jump between teaching 13 year olds then interacting with like-minded peers can be jarring, but nonetheless, I feel that I gain a richness in experience in both of these settings. The conversation of technology in the classroom continues to come up, and with good reason. Is technology in the classroom harmful and detrimental to the learning and academic achievement of students? Or are the modern day devices worth implementing into our teaching practices to alleviate old and dated ways of learning? Personally, I have had some positive experiences with technology in the classroom, specifically at the university level. Hyflex courses, for example, are designed to utilize platforms, such as Zoom, to grant students the flexibility to learn from home. As a busy mom, it is these types of applications that make me grateful for technology in the classroom