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| Autobiography | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dana Peterson | ||||||||||||||||||||
| College of Education | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Minnesota State University- Mankato | ||||||||||||||||||||
| February 3, 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born on May sixth, 1982, to Gerald and Susan Peterson, I was their second of three children. I grew up on a farm outside of Spicer, Minnesota for the next nineteen years of my life. I believe that this had made a major impact upon my life and helped to shape me into what I have become today. I see myself as a down-to-earth, naturalistic person with a compassion for others. After high school, I went to Ridgewater Community College, where I graduated after two years with an Associates Arts Degree. Pursing my education, I moved to Mankato, MN to attend Minnesota State University- Mankato. While here I plan to achieve a degree in Social Studies with a concentration in history, my Secondary Education degree, and a History degree. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| My hobbies and interests stemmed from many things I participated in while attending high school. Some example of these would be the following: volleyball, volunteering, outdoor activities, swimming, and numerous judging events, competitions, and offices through FFA. I have always enjoyed outdoor activities such as canoeing, hiking, horseback riding, and camping. Of course I am also very interested in the study of history. I became interested in history at a young age, due to my father's influence. He was also very interested in history, so the two of us would watch documentaries and old western movies together. My parents would also take all of us on trips to museums and national monuments to enrich our minds. Another one of my hobbies is traveling. I have made it a goal to always try to experience new things, and traveling to different places is one of the best ways of doing that. Each time I go somewhere, I try to get a sense of the differences and similarities between cultures. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| I had a very good experience with schooling. I believe that I had some great teachers that really got me interested in many subjects. The best teacher I ever had was in fifth grade. She was the person I would always go to if I was having any problems. Even if I see her today, she | ||||||||||||||||||||
| still remembers my name. However, I did have a few teachers that I hope I will never be like also. By learning from their mistakes, I hope not to repeat them. I want to share my love of history with others by helping them to understand and respect our history. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| I first knew that I wanted to become a teacher after working as a swimming instructor for an entire summer. I was working with all different age groups for eight hours a day, four days a week. I had such a great experience with the kids, I knew that teaching was something that I could do as a career. Since then, I have taken every opportunity that I could to work more with kids and teaching. I have been on many clinicals visiting schools through my education classes, I am tutoring in a ALC study hall in a middle school, and I am a member of Public Achievement, where I help students understand democracy through helping the community. I also had a great opportunity to go to Mexico with the Social Studies department and teach at a school down there while living with a host family. The greatest experience, however, had to be as a camp counselor last summer at a Girl Scout camp. I had the opportunity to not only teach girls important skills, but I also got to know the kids very well and saw the differences in cognitive abilities among age groups. All of these experiences have only reassured me that I am doing something that I like and want to do. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| I hope that this autobiography has given you some insight about my history and experiences with teaching. I am looking forward to becoming a great teacher through my studies here at college and years to come of unique experiences as a teacher. | ||||||||||||||||||||