intro letter

Hey everybody,
My name is Corina. I grew up in Escondido. I went to Miller Elementary, Del Dios Middle School, and then San Pasqual High School for part of my freshman year. I spent the next few years living in East San Diego, and attending Hoover High School. I moved back to Escondido toward the end of my senior year. I now live in Escondido with my boyfriend and our two kids. My daughter will start kindergarten in the fall and my son will be two next month.
Throughout my school career, I never used a computer, and even at Palomar College I did my papers on an old word processor, but I have grown more comfortable with computers, and using them now is unavoidable. Part of my computer drama is due to the fact that my computer usually only works for about half of the semester and then becomes possessed. After that I depend on the CSUSM library computers until I can figure out whether or not to start shopping for something new or try to fix my PC. I am excited to work on a Mac because I just started my student teaching and that is what they use in the classroom. The third-graders at Central know more about computers than I do, but the great thing is how much they are teaching me. I am a brat about technology and I resist it whenever possible. I still use a camera with film, I make my little brother put songs on my IPOD, and I would rather use the phone than email, but I’m getting over it.
I knew that I wanted to attend CSUSM before I ever read the mission statement. What really stands out to me is that the mission is to “prepare thoughtful educators”. I think that often we are so task oriented that it is easy to forget what we are really there for. We do need to make sure that kids can do the basics, such as reading and writing, but we also need to make sure that students learn how to go out into the world and make smart choices. Preparing teachers to be thoughtful educators will empower us to go beyond the basics in our classrooms, so that all children feel important and have the opportunity to grow and learn.