2. Think about the best class you’ve ever had. What made that class special?  A class at Hamline with Nancy McGinley Myers about Diversity.  She opened my mind to new ideas and how to create equality in the classroom.

3.  What is one expectation you have for this class? I would like to develop my burning questions for my Capstone and be passionate about it.  

This is me doing some mission work in Nuevo Progreso, Tamaulipas México.  I'm the tall person on the right in the back.

2. This is a great question because right away the lens of "as a student" or "as a teacher" influences the answer (of course it's important to note that in any "best class" all of the humans play both roles at different times). Any great class features the majority of participants engaged, dedicated, and respectful. Another key quality is some measure of intellectual discomfort (as much as the students' maturity level allows) as true discovery takes place

3.  My expectation for this class is to be challenged to implement a change in my classroom that is both measurable and within the broader context of best practice research.

2.    I have had a lot of good classes that were generally made special by the students and the atmosphere create by the professor.  One good class was a Japanese history course that I took in college.  Through this class I became fascinated by Asian history and culture which has then greatly influenced much of my adult life (I live in China and am considering moving to Japan). Yet, the class that I consider the best was a social studies class in high school.  This class was made special by the teacher who was the type of teacher I inspire to be.  He infused the class with his love of history and took learning to a new level.  He had us reenact the French revolution, putting Louis XVI on trial and he transformed the classroom into a medieval monastery to discuss the reformation and also into a civil war hospital tent.  

3.    One of my expectations for this class is to prepare and assist me in research and writing for my thesis.   I am a little intimidated and nervous about this project so I am ultimately hoping that this class will ease the way into the project. 

I think that I am firmly rooted in the middle of being an extrovert and an introvert.  The more I have gotten to know myself, I have found out that it is equally important for me to spend time decompressing by myself away from others as it is for me to socialize in a group of people.  Working in the field of education, I find that I am more extroverted during my time at work with students or park visitors, but highly value time with only myself or my husband and my dog when I get home.  Often spending time with people throughout the day is very rewarding, but also exhausting, and I am just becoming better at realizing that I need some introverted time to recharge my batteries.

The best class I have ever taken was an Ornithology course during my undergraduate at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.  For many reasons, I found this course fulfilling and worthwhile; I was very interested in the subject matter, the professor and TAs were very enthusiastic about birds and instilled this passion in their students, and part of our course each week involved spending time out in the greater Twin Cities metro area observing and recording the behaviors of birds.  With the element of being out in the field, I not only enjoyed the excuse to spend more time outside for my studies, but I also think that I was better able to learn the material than I would have if we had just stayed within the classroom. 

At the conclusion of this course, I have the expectation that I will have a much more solid framework to which I can complete my capstone project.  At this time, I have a general idea of the project I would like to complete, but I want my work to be as useful as effective as possible.  I hope that this course will give me honest feedback from instructors and peers in which I can best implement a curriculum for Yellowstone National Park’s education office.