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I think I was pretty able to detail out a lot of my thought process on what I included inside and outside of the box because I made two videos, so I essentially have more than ten minutes of dialogue and explanation, haha. I really really liked this assignment, as I think it's a good way to look at yourself and the things/memories in your life that have been influential. It's an extremely good exercise for self reflection, and it's also an incredible way to get to know someone else, if you are given the opportunity to view their Box and explanations. I found it really hard to choose the objects to put in my box, because I actually have so many things that I think would have been reflective and revealing of myself as a human and educator. Pretty much anything laying around my house could elicit some sort of information about how I view the world and myself in it, if you tried hard enough! It's too bad we weren't able to share these in person. It would have been a really cool activity to get to see everyone's box and hear them talking about what they included and why. I definitely think this is something high schoolers would be into, and I think it's a great mid-year project, after the students have established some amount of trust and relationships, but it could still be beneficial to dive deeper into community-building to allow that trust and relationships to grow and mature. Thanks for this opportunity to share and learn from each other! I miss everyone in the cohort so very much <3

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This was an interesting experience for me because it brought up a lot of thoughts and feelings around why I decided to change careers and whether I think I'm still on the right path. It also dredged up emotions, both good and bad about  my exterior strength and my interior fragility, though I imagine I'm not the only one struggling with those competing dualities.
As the new teaching year ramps up and I find myself pulled in multiple directions, I am quickly realizing that only a fraction of the teacher's real work takes place in a classroom - and that's not some clever aside about remote learning - because without reaching the whole student (and that includes their family) the chance of academic success is far lesser. We have begun home visits, picking up food boxes and helping families pay for their internet so the student isn't immediately at an impossible disadvantage with remote learning. Some students needs clothes and others need a desk. Some just need another adult to chat too having been stuck at home for 7 months in often not ideal or plain awful circumstances.
All of the emotions around this were revealed during the yaya box project, which while initially raw and painful can now be reviewed as useful in my development as a better teacher and a better human being. For that, I am grateful for this assignment.

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Thanks for the great feedback! The goal for me as I progress in this process of growth towards professional teaching is self love and acceptance. It's a tough road to lead a class towards a successful year filled with learning, but I feel that the first step in that process is that of a strong leader who go where the class needs to go with confidence. Although my experience at this moment has been limited with students, I feel that I'm getting closer to understanding exactly what it means to me to be a quality teacher. Teaching is such a dynamic profession. This truly excites me in that there are so many opportunities for growth, not just for the classroom, or for how you teach, but for the teacher themselves. This really excites me to be a teacher, and to be better at what I do!

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Well, the objects in my Yaya box are objects that tend to find their way into my hands just about every day. The mask, the mouse, and the books pretty much account for everything I do between waking up and falling asleep, with the exception of going for a walk, but the shoes wouldn't have fit in the box. I hope that my love for these things does come through in my teaching. Putting it all in a box like this and having to talk through it was an interesting exercise. Obviously I got something out of it, especially out of talking about race, because I had to do it a couple times before I had it under 10 mins. I remain excited about distance learning, and I hope that some of that excitement finds its way over to the students. Making this box helped me to articulate some of that excitement.

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Thank you for your feedback, Melissa & Eddie, as you both noted, i'm keen to share my personal experiences with my students in hopes of either inspiring them to follow their dreams just as I have or to broaden their minds to future possibilities. I place a lot of emphasis on the importance of teacher-student relations as I know first-hand the difference it makes in the classroom. I view teaching as an ongoing balancing act between educating and socially emotionally connecting with my students. My ultimate goal as a language instructor is to motivate my students to continue learning and enduring the language journey. Experience is the best teacher and I feel it's important that my students learn to embrace everything that life offers, in and outside of the classroom.

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This was a very interesting exercise for me. Even though I've spent countless hours thinking about and reflecting on my personal beliefs and identity as a teacher throughout our program, it was surprisingly hard to put it into this format. Trying to sum up these ideas and how they relate to my own personal life and personality was a great exercise. It made me realize how much my interests and beliefs about education are shaped by my own school experiences and what kind of school experiences I want to give students as an educator. There were teachers in my life who gave me the gift of curiosity and the desire to pursue my interests despite the obstacles, and I appreciate that so much. In my box I put a piece of a music creation device that has taken me long to understand and has kind of a steep learning curve, but learning it has been a fun journey and has given me a deep appreciation for music. If I didn't have a love of learning, I might have given up on this and never gained that appreciation. If I can provide that love of learning for my students to allow them to discover new interests and appreciations despite the obstacles, then I think I would have done my job well. I also included in my box something that reminds me of my mother who has given me nothing but love, kindness, and respect, and has always treated others this way as well. She is one of my biggest role models for this reason and I aspire to be that way to others. I would like to be a role model in that way for my students. I want to treat them with kindness, love, and respect in hopes of inspiring them to do the same for others. This reflection along with the reflecting I did to create my YaYa box are a solid reminder of why I want to be in this profession and of the things I want to accomplish as an educator.

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I'm attaching a link to my video... It was too big to upload directly 😅

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Thank you for your lovely response! This was an interesting assignment to do, I liked sharing both the outside and inside of the box. I think we are all still figuring out who are especially as an educator but the concepts that I included at least are very clear for me and doing this was a nice reminder. I also realized while creating the box and doing the narration that I do indeed try to include those aspects of my culture in my classroom and it is always wonderful to see how students react to being introduced to it.

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There are certain points where an assignment seems overly simple and a little basic to me if I can glean the point without actually doing it, and to be honest this yaya box assignment didn't excite me, right away at least. However, I find that my expectations are often proven wrong and I begin to get more into the assignment and start enjoying myself more. Creative somewhat simple assignments/projects like this do get thoughts moving as you're making decisions on what I wish to portray about myself and think about the differences between outside and inside in regard to my teaching values and influences. I actually found the most value in the outside of the box, considering who my role models are, how I wish to be seen, and what affects me outwardly. For some reason, the inside is easier to assess and consider, and perhaps because I'm just a more inward person. Overall, I think it's the simplicity in an assignment like this that brings out the greater value, and the 'less is more' maxim will definitely make its way into my lesson planning.

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The images on the two surfaces of my YaYa box were chosen for how they represent me as an educator. I think aspects that really stand out to me is the juxtaposition between the things that are immediately evident in my classroom, and the things that are less obvious. While this is true of me, it is also true of all my students, so this is a nice reminder to spend time getting to know them to see those more internal aspects. I don't know that I did a great job representing all my values, as a large portion of my identity as a teacher is focused in ways that were difficult to draw. Something I left out, but think it very central is my belief in math education and it's importance, value, thrill, and creativity. That I really try to address math trauma within my classroom, and give students a positive outlook on the subject for at least a year. Otherwise, my identity, and how I bring that with me when I show up in a classroom is spelled out fairly simply on my box.

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I really enjoyed this exercise (though I found the padlet and video component to be a small hurdle which gives me some insights into techniques I'll want to think about as I embark on student-teaching). My Ya Ya Box gave me the opportunity to discuss some personally held beliefs and interests -- ones that will surely set my classroom apart and will be a part of the environment I create. There is surely so much more than I could have fit into the box (and the time limit), but it was a great exercise to find objects that could reflect and symbolize major sensibilities, dispositions, and feelings. Mostly, I hope to include assignments like this in my classroom because I believe my students want to feel seen and heard. They will benefit from the practice of sharing their cultural perspectives and analyzing how those things were formed. One more aspect of this assignment that I learned from (and appreciated it) is that it has implicitly UDL frameworks to it: the box itself can be represented in many ways and is open to so many forms of verbal and non-verbal communication.

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In my box, I added a lot of items that pertain to hobbies of mine. I think when students know your hobbies, they are more likely to share their interests with you and one another because you were willing to be open. Writing is a hobbie of mine, which makes it enjoyable to teach writing to others. I do truly want to jazz students up about literature and convince them that reading is amazing and writing is a free outlet for any emotion. As a person, I think I am initially more reserved, and feel comfortable taking the role of the listener. In a classroom, at least in the beginning, I will need to break my initial response to create the welcoming, fun, and thoughtful classroom environment I envision. I think student teaching will help me build those skills to be an inviting teacher when students enter school in the Fall.

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Thank You for Watching:)

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Hi everyone! I am on a road trip so I have compiled a video of some of the highlights so far.

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(The Wifi at my partner’s was too slow to upload this last night, so here it is now!!)

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A bit awkwardly trimmed to enable the upload but you get the picture ;) Thanks for watching.

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Enjoy.

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Thank you for watching! Any feedback you have to give is appreciated. 

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Thank you for watching! Any feedback you have to give is appreciated. 

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Let me know if it wont work, I used Loom to record the video.

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Oh, the Places You'll Go!

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Please come on a journey of discovery as I introduce you to my YaYa Box.