Hello Friends!
My name is Mikayla Chandler, I am a Junior here at the University of Oklahoma, and I am studying Secondary Language Arts Education. My go-to fun fact? I wrestled for 8 wonderful years of my life on an all-boys wrestling team. The years I spent wrestling were some of the most formative years of my life. If I was not studying to become a teacher right now, I would be training for the 2020 Olympics. The coolest thing about my major? I get to do what I love for the rest of my life. I cannot wait to teach English (hopefully on the high school level) to the next generation of young adults. I think it is beyond cool that I get the opportunity to become a teacher, I cannot think of anything I would rather be doing. Last semester I was enrolled in 18 hours while working nearly full-time, so I guess I am not really sure what class is my favorite, they all made me cry regularly. My favorite class was honestly probably my Young Adult Literature class, taught by Dr. Baines. It taught me a lot about how to be an effective English teacher. My biggest accomplishment last semester was hands down getting my 4.0, I finally got my straight-A semester, and it was certainly my most overworked, hectic, and mentally taxing. I think it was an accomplishment for me to just get through the semester, I experienced so much personal growth that I would not take it back, however. As a future English teacher, I could write a novel about my favorite books. Some of my favorites are Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih, and Looking For Alaska by John Green. I have a pretty diverse taste in books, but my favorite genre is probably a psychological thriller. The best book that I recently read is probably The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (ohhhhhhhhmyyyyygoshhhhhhh). My favorite band, without question, Is Pink Floyd. I am addicted to Pink Floyd, and it has a tendency to get me in trouble because it gets me sort of out of touch with modern pop music. My favorite songs are always changing, but currently, it is "Us and Them" by Pink Floyd. My short term goal? Become a teacher! Long term goal? Be the best gosh darn teacher to ever set foot in the classroom! My big dream goals? I would love to work my way into the political sector of education. I would love to make a greater impact on public schools through an elected position. I LOVE dogs, sooo much. I have a beautiful American pit bull terrier/chocolate lab mix. One day she wandered up to my parent's house and she never left. While visiting, I fell in love with her and could not bring myself to taking her to the shelter. After testing out a few names, Verona was the one that stuck. Verona being the name of the dark roast coffee at Starbucks, a real city in Italy, and where Romeo and Juliet takes place. If I had extra time for hobbies and extracurriculars, aside from using it to sleep all day, I would use that day to take my dog on a hike in the mountains somewhere. Overall, I love reading books, spending time with my dog, and thinking of ways to become the world's greatest teacher.
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| A corny photo of me, BIG cheesing last Fourth of July |
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| My personal image of my best friend, Verona. |
Hi Mikayla!
ReplyDeleteTeaching is such an admirable career. I think you will be an amazing teacher due to your passion and dedication. We will need teachers like you to help shape our future generations, especially in places like Oklahoma where they are undervalued.
I love reading psychological thrillers as well, in my Introduction post I mentioned a trilogy by Justin Cronin that you may like. It's like World War Z meets I Am Legend.
You have a beautiful dog!! If you'd like to see cute pictures and videos of my goofy pack, check out my introduction post as well.
Best of luck this semester, hopefully it can be another 4.0 for you!!
Hi Mikayla!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to meet you! I'm a senior in mechanical engineering here at OU. I admire that you already know what you want to do with your degree and how you want to begin a teaching career! I think education is extremely important to shaping young minds and providing them with the necessary tools to be successful in life! I also love dogs; my family has eight dogs that are all rescued strays that people abandoned in the nearby woods. I wish you the best this semester and hope you finish out your collegiate studies on a high note!
Hola Mikayla! It was really nice to get to know a little bit about you through your introduction. You sound so passionate about your major and future career, and I really love that. If you continue to be so passionate about teaching I am 100% sure you will achieve your goal of becoming the best darn teacher out there. I was very impressed by your wrestling fun-fact, and even more impressed that you might have been an olympic athlete. I hope you still try to wrestle in your free time! I was very nice to meet you and Verona, and I hope to learn more about you throughout the semester!
ReplyDeleteHi Mikayla! I thinks that is amazing how you are already so dedicated to becoming a great teacher. Teaching is such an incredible profession that never gets its just deserts. I'm incredibly impressed that you were able to get a 4.0 while taking 18 hours and working nearly full-time. I work full-time and can barely handle six hours! You mentioned that you want to teach high school English. Is there a particular grade or level that you think you'd prefer to teach? Are there any personal favorite books that you are going to try to sneak in to your curriculum?
ReplyDeleteHi Mikayla! Great job on your 4.0 semester! Its awesome you want to be a teacher! From your intro I can tell you want to help, teach, and be something good for your future students. I can tell if I ever have kids I would want them to be in hands of someone who cares so much about what they are doing. Verona is such an awesome name! She is absolutely adorable! I have a great Dane myself named belle. My family also has a German shepherd named Sam and bearded dragon named drogon. I definitely have to check out your favorite books! One of my goals this year is to read more because I use to love reading and I just kinda slowly stopped completely. Great job on your post and best wishes this semester and all your future endeavors!
ReplyDeleteHi Mikayla!
ReplyDeleteI must say I am jealous that you have such a cool go-to "fun fact" to use in all those ice-breaker situations. (I struggle to think of something every single time.) It is nice to hear you sound so excited to be a teacher because I know sometimes teachers can get tired of dealing with students all day! Taking 18 hours while also working sounds really, really difficult; it is so impressive you managed to do that and end with straight A's! Good luck this semester!
Wow, that is very cool about your wrestling adventure, Mikayla! That is the kind of thing your future students will be fascinated to know about you for sure! And I share your excitement about teaching: I originally set out to be a high school teacher, and only became a college instructor by accident (long story...), and many of the most inspiring people I see in education are K-12 teachers. Do you know about the Human Restoration Project? I think they are doing amazing work! And I am such a fan of Dr. Baines; I bet his YA class was fantastic. One of the best books I read over break was technically a YA book: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky... it has BRER RABBIT as a character, and since Brer Rabbit is a personal obsession (I spent all summer researching Brer Rabbit stories last summer!), it was so cool to see him in a beautiful new book like this.
ReplyDeleteAnd your Verona is such a beauty: with a name like that, she definitely needs to make an appearance in a story for this class sooner or later. Maybe in the Italian folktale unit! :-)
Hi Mikayla,
ReplyDeleteI want to be you when I grow up! No, seriously you are clearly so passionate about things you love and I admire that. As a parent to a 6 year old, I hope he gets to have teachers as dedicated and passionate as you seem to be. It really makes a difference in a child's life, especially in high school. I am a senior social work major and I hope to work with youth, and they can be a difficult population to work with/teach, so go us! Getting a 4.0 with 18 hours is remarkable, good job!
Hey Mikayla, congrats on the great semester! It's awesome that you found a way to handle a seemingly busy and hectic schedule but enjoying everything along the way. It seems like you're a very avid reader. That's something I haven't kept up with as much this year as I have in the past. I'll need to get back in gear with my reading!
ReplyDeleteHi Mikayla!
ReplyDelete1. Verona is so stinking cute! I literally showed her picture to my puppy Savannah and made sure that she saw the other cute puppy!
2. It's so cool that you wrestled! I went to Northern Michigan University for 3 years and they have an OTS there for greco-roman wrestling. Have you considered joining a program like that so you could wrestle and pursue a degree? It could be fun, but Marquette is SO cold.
3. It's awesome that you got a 4.0! That's so impressive and I know I don't know you but I'm super proud of you! Keep up the AMAZING work!
-Tricia
Hi Mikayla!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this detailed introduction to your life. I think it's so cool that you were on the wrestling team! I've always heard of girls being on the football team, but I've honestly never heard of female wrestlers.
Also, you have great taste in books! My favorite book of all time is Pride and Prejudice. Have you read it? What do you think of it? Have you seen any of the tv/film adaptations and if so which is your favorite?
Hi Mikayla! I found so much of your introduction to be fascinating! I don’t know much about wrestling, but it sounds like you were quite prominent, and it certainly sounds impressive. My mother is a teacher and I think it goes without saying how important they are to the success of our society; so I’m giving you much gratitude in advance! Keep up the hard work, I’ve been in a similar work predicament as you and it’s certainly not fun. If you haven’t already heard maybe you check out the “Work Waiver Program” at OU to help? If you can show you’ve worked more than 25 hours a week for two paychecks they give you around $1500 a semester! I’ll shoot a link below. Best of luck Mikayla!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ou.edu/scholarships/ou/WATW
Hi Mikayla! Your past as a wrestler is so cool!! That sounds like such a fun time. It’s also cool that you want to be a teacher. It sounds like you’re very passionate about it, which is great! Teachers have such a unique way to be impactful on young people and children, I know you’ll do a great job! Congrats on your 4.0! I also got my first one last semester too. Definitely not easy. Best of luck to you this semester!
ReplyDeleteHi Mikayla! You seem honestly like a really cool person. You being a wrestler in the past and an aspiring English teacher now makes you my personal hero. My favorite teacher of all time from high school was my freshman year English teacher (hey, there, Mrs. Gross), and she was the one who sparked a love of reading for me. I'm currently hoarding books on my Kindle for my two-year service in the Peace Corps. I loved The Handmaid's Tale, but I was so freaked out by it that I haven't gotten to The Testaments yet. I really admire your goals to enter into the political realm of education; I think Oklahoma is a great example of why this country definitely needs to look into how we run our educational system. I look forward to seeing you fight the power on that front someday! Also Verona is gorgeous, and please tell her I would die for her. Good luck this semester!
ReplyDeleteHello Mikayla,
ReplyDeleteBeing a wrestler in the past just amazes me. That is so cool that you would have been training for the Olympics. It is very neat that you are wanting to become an english teacher especially for high school students. It is good that you already know what you want to do with your degree. Even though I went to high school I would not have the patience to teach high school. Also the picture of your dog is so cute.