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Hi! My name is Geoff West. I live in Mandan, ND with my wife Torrea and my 2 year old son Griffey. I am originally from Lompoc, CA but came to North Dakota to receive my diploma at the University of Mary while playing basketball as well.

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My family always comes first. I love spending time with them. We are a very active family that likes playing sports, mainly basketball, football, baseball. We like the spending time outdoors, especially hunting and fishing. We like to travel and visit places that we haven't been before.

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I am taking this course to develop my own personal philosophy of teaching. I am also taking this course to learn how to develop effective lesson plans and assessments to provide a positive learning experience for my students.

Plus it is a requirement for a MAT student.

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I am looking forward to the different strategies and styles that can be used to implement a successful lesson plan. I want to give my students the best opportunity to learn and learning these strategies can help to achieve that.

My biggest concern, and it has been since I started coming back to school to complete the MAT program is my time. As i have previously talked about I have a family and love to spend time with them. But I also have to provide for them as well, so I work close to 50 hours a week. I work construction as a heavy equipment operator and I also coach 7th grade basketball during the winter. Finding time and the balance of family, work, and school is very difficult.