Intro Letter

Hey, I’m Stephanie. I was born in Minneapolis, MN. However, I grew up in Murrieta, which is about 45 minutes north of San Marcos. Which, as a kid, was a small, not too exciting, white, middle-class city. The most excitement you find in Murrieta is a fight between two drunken white guys fighting over a girl in the parking lot of the bowling alley on a Friday night. I lovingly refer to Murrieta as “Yuppie central.” I began school at Rail Ranch Elementary in Murrieta in second grade. Before that I went to first grade in Oceanside. My kindergarten year, I went to school at Austin Elementary in Austin, Texas (right outside of Houston). I went to Shivela Middle School and graduated from Murrieta Valley High School (although I participated in independent study during my junior and senior year). And that is my childhood in the most basic of nutshells.

I am a creature of habit and therefore am a PC person. I never had macs around as a kid. At my office there are 3 mac machines in the entire building. However, I barely know how to use them since no one has ever taken the time to formally teach me. (I’m an audio learner and don’t like to read manuals to get the info I need. I would rather have someone show me.) I use technology every day since I work in the Human Resources department at the San Marcos Unified School District. My entire day is spent on the computer since our employee database is completely electronic. I use computers at home every day as well. I will admit that I check my email way too much and spend far too much time on the Internet. I love to surf the web, shop on the web, and pay all of my bills online. It’s so much easier than addressing an envelope and paying postage. I am completely dependent upon technology and computers to function day to day. Even in high school, all of my work was done on the computer. I think having a laptop PC is a great tool in college because one is able to absorb much more information that handwriting.

The mission statement of the college of education is does play a role in my decision to apply to CSUSM’s CoE. The mission statement seems to share a lot of the same ideas and values that I hold as a future educator. One thing that seemed to jump out at me in the mission statement is the emphasis of improving education for students by improving teachers themselves. I feel that as educators, we must continue to improve ourselves and build upon our bachelor’s degrees. To me, bachelor’s degrees are only stepping-stones to higher educational goals. My belief that the continual building upon one’s educational base is reflected in the statement that the college exemplifies, “…reflective teaching, life-long learning, innovative research, and ongoing service.” I also feel that the focus of the college on diversity is important. Especially since we live in California, this focus on diversity could not be more important. Our classrooms are filled with children from many different cultural backgrounds. The overall improvement of the education relies on the ability of teachers to continue to grow, learn, and adapt to continually changing times. The understanding of the inner workings of a multicultural classroom are just as important, although. If an educator does not understand his or her students, how can they be an effective educator?