Desirae Hakel

TEAC 259
Learning, Teaching and Technology Autobiography
Growing up in a parochial school there were a multitude of activities that
promoted my learning ability. Not only was my learning ability promoted, but also as the
years went on and I got older and went through high school, I was able to adapt to the
strict, yet successful learning environment. Graduating from a parochial school and
stepping out into a whole new world at a public collegiate university, my eyes were
opened and my opportunities and experiences were widened. Looking back on it, I
wouldnt have traded my schooling history for anything because it deepened my thinking
and learning strategies and logics.
I remember all the way back to preschool I was tested to see how far I could count
to-up to one hundred. In first grade, playing a game called Around the World with
math multiplication cards constantly challenged me. I would go up against someone else
and whoever thought the fastest and said the answer the quickest got to move onto the
next round. In third grade my class did math multiplication tests that gave us 28
problems and whoever got the most in two minutes was able to move on to the next level.
While in third grade I was reading at a fourth grade level due to our librarian always
encouraging me to try more difficult books. Also in third grade, my computer teacher
introduced our class to a computer game called Type to Learn where we had to type
a certain number of words per minute to move on to the next level. When fourth grade
rolled around a late work policy was presented. If we didnt have our names on our paper
or turned them in late we got ten points taken off. Luckily, the one time I forgot my name

our teacher gave everyone a break because there were a lot of us who had forgotten. This
taught me to be a little more disciplined, but also helped me realize I will catch a break
every now and then. In fifth grade my class took a field trip to Star Base where we did
flight simulators where we had to make a rocket out of straws and paper. A kid in the
other class went the day before me and told me all about how he made his, so I replicated
mine to look like his. That day I definitely learned to use my resources sufficiently. When
sixth grade rolled around, the smart board and blackboard came into existence at my
school. Astonished and amused, I was thoroughly impressed and ready to learn since they
were new and fascinating. This was also the year when almost every student was in band.
Out of the 45 of us, there were only 10 of us that werent in band. We never had too
much homework, so one of my best friends and I became creative and thought of the
game bowling chess-when in doubt, we bowled it out.
High school is when technology hit even harder. Parent Connect and blackboard
were used even more often. Throughout my years of high school, in Spanish class we had
to do what was called conjuguemos, which was an online site to help us with our Spanish
vocab words and verbs. Freshmen year we had to do a project in geometry that related to
rides at Worlds of Fun, like finding their circumference, the radius, the volume, etc. and
if we got above an 80% we were able to go to Worlds of Fun with our grade for a set
day. Throughout my four years during science classes we dissected a baby pig, a rat, and
a sheeps brain. During the years we also were tested on using microscopes to define
what type of tissue was what. When I took Food and Nutrition, we had to make ten
different courses throughout the year using an oven, microwave, blender and all the other
appliances used in the kitchen. Lastly, senior year we did a marriage project where we

were randomly paired with another person and had to fill out a multitude of papers that
had to do with the wedding, jobs, finances and much more. The ultimate goal of this
project was to see how we could work with another human and to see that the marriage
life wasnt all sunshine and rainbows.
Finally, throughout college thus far I have used power points and slide shows with
almost every teacher and was introduced to the iClicker as well. In the class I use the
iClicker, we are required to raise a virtual child to learn some key factors of having a
kid are. In my TEAC 259 class Ive learned about a couple new technology apps, such as
flipboard, the one button studio, and how to code. All these past experiences give me
hope for my future in teaching.
Four years from now I hope to be in a classroom teaching Family Issues, Child
Development, and/or Parenting. In Family Issues I hope to give my students a
chance to engage in different activities related to who has family issues by using
clickers to show that everyone, for the most part, will have family issues. I want to
work in a low-income school, and I know I shouldnt be making assumptions, but the
chances of most people having issues within their family are probably high. I would
love to have a smart board so I could put polls up and make use of the clickers. I
desire to get them into a program or on website of some sort (maybe Ill make my
own webpage on flipboard to have sites and facts up for them) or articles of some
sort so they can write an essay about how it reflects things they may be going
through. I want to get on a personal level with my students and show them that I do
care, because a lot of teachers dont seem to sometimes. If they have major family

issues at home I want to relate to them to reassure them they know at least one
person is going to help them out.
For Child Development I would like to have a virtual child website where they
raise a child. Id do half of the semester with a virtual child and then throw it back to
using a sack of flour because the students will actually have to be careful with the
flour. Id have them work with a partner of my choice to teach them to cooperate
with one another, even though they may have differences, itd teach them to
overcome problems out of love of the child. Obviously we would need to go through
a book and curriculum, but maybe instead of just taking notes (which we would do
some of) but acting out scenarios of how the child develops.
With parenting, it goes back to the low-income school topic-maybe a lot of them
dont have the best parents-but I dont want them to only see and know of bad
parents. Im going to strive to be a good role model and to help them better
understand not everything is bad in the world; to be the change they wish to see.
For this class I would have them do a paper at the beginning of the year on their
relationship with their parents and how they want to be similar and different,
because even high-income students have issues with parents, too. At the end of the
year, I would have them talk about what they learned and how it will better impact
their future parenting. Id try to get them to do some type of child care mentoring
once a week for their class to help and teach them how to become better parents,
or at least better brothers and sisters, since they will be young. There are, however,
several girls in high schools that often go through teen pregnancy.

I want a good and safe environment for my students. By the time I am well in to
teaching, Im sure technology will be extremely advanced, but I want to make sure
they know not to have technology control their lives. Id do a challenge with my
students to not use their phones for a week or so-or at least make it limited-and
then write about it to see how life changing it was. Maybe some fail miserably, but
its a step closer to not having them turn into robots.
In the past/present and in the future, the clickers related. I use them now and
sometimes find them annoying because there are days I dont want to go to class,
but I also see why they are beneficial and help students actually attend the class.
Without participation, the students grades would greatly decline. There was also a
connection with having a smart board and even though it gets boring when teachers
go through slide after slide for notes, I want to make sure I make mine interesting
for my students so they will learn to engage and thats where the clickers will then
come in. I dont know if I would necessarily do participation points since they have
to be at school, but I would do fun facts for extra credit or something related.
I discussed how I want my students to engage in different activities, and looking
back at my experience, I engaged in several different activities that helped shape my
knowledge today. Even though some things seem lame or can seem unreasonable, it
helps to look back at it and realize how appreciative to be.
Another connection was having a virtual child. Im currently using one in a class
and would like to use it for my future classes. To elaborate, Id make it harder or
simpler (depending on the student) by going old school and using the flour package
to make them actually take care of the child and not just go through questions.

Lastly, in preschool, my class and I got together with an eighth grader to make
ginger bread houses and I looked up to the 8th graders immensely, so for parenting I
want my students to hang out with younger children so the they can have mentors
and role models to look up too. I firmly believe this will teach the older kids how to
treat younger kids and to take care of them well.
Throughout my past education, I went through a fairly strict education. All my
life Ive heard how much harder the parochial schools are compared to public
schools, not calling the public schools kids less intelligent by any means, but the
parochial schools have always been much tighter and much stricter with their
education. Especially throughout high school, I always remember talking to my
friends from some Lincoln public schools about how little homework they had and
how much time they had in class to do things. While at my catholic school in
Lincoln, sometimes we got time to do our homework, but it was challenging and a
lot of us always got together to do it. We often helped each other with the math and
science classes because they were especially difficult, as well as Spanish, French and
other upper level classes.
As a teacher, I want my students to learn and be in love with learning. Ive had
some teachers who give projects that are long, but meaningful, and while all
teachers probably think their projects are meaningful, sometimes students dont get
the point. If Im in a low-income, public school the kids arent going to be used to
getting a lot of work. While I dont necessarily want them to have a ton of work
making them hate learning, I want them to do enjoyable projects and entertaining
assignments, but still make them work for their grade. Im going to be aware of what

Im doing by giving the students the opportunity to review the class every month.
As a first year teacher its going to be especially difficult for me to know exactly what
to do all the time. With realizing all the new technologies Ive had throughout my
time as a student, even starting in preschool its crazy how much things will
continue to grow and to see how I can use technologies in the near future.