College Interests

For this week's assignment, I took a survey on collegeboard.com about the type of college I want to attend. It asked questions such as whether I would prefer a 4-year or 2-year school, or a private or public school. Next, I had to find 3 colleges that I would apply to from the list and look at their degree program. Then I had to make my own criteria for the type of college I wish to attend. Finally I had to find scholarships that I could apply to. The purpose of this assignment is to start the college search process.

List of Colleges and Doctoral Degree Programs

• Washington University in St. Louis (Saint Louis, MO): www.wustl.edu
• Northwestern University (Evanston, IL): www.northwestern.edu
• University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA): www.upenn.edu

My Criteria for a Quality Program

• Doctoral Program offered
• Emphasis on Mathematics and Sciences
• Small classes where student and teachers get to know each other
• Offers students many different opportunities to follow what they are passionate about
• Many scholarships offered
• Low acceptance rate
• Accepts AP scores
• Beautiful, safe, and well-kept campus

Universities that Follow My Criteria

• The 3 colleges that I listed above
• Most Top Schools in the Nation
• MIT
• Georgia Tech

Additional Entrance Requirements for Mathematics

• Previous study in mathematics
• Taken high-level mathematics courses (such as Calculus)
• Supervised student teaching experience
• Licensure in the state that you planning on teaching in

My Criteria for a Quality Ranking and Educational Program

• Medium to large size
• Should be in location that is not too rural or too cities
• Should offer athletic opportunities and other extracurricular activities to students
• Student body should represent different cultures from around the world
• Most funding should go to research projects

Ranking for Program

• Washington University in St. Louis: 14th Overall Best University in the Nation, Top 10% in Best                                                               Universities in the World
• Northwestern University: 12th Overall Best University in the Nation, 12th in Research Universities
• University of Pennsylvania: 7th Overall Best University in the Nation, 7th in Research Universities

Associations Related to Field of Study

• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
• American Mathematical Society
• Mathematical Association of America

Potential Scholarships

• Coca-Cola Scholars Program
• Tommy Aaron/ Charlie Aaron Foundation Scholarship
• Gail Ingram Scholarship
• Northeast Georgia School Superintendent's Scholarship

My Sentence

My sentence: "My name is Austin, and I inspired ideas and educated great minds."

What Is a Mentorship?

The following link is a blog by Tim Elmore: http://growingleaders.com/blog/

Tim Elmore blogs about how unprepared college students are for the workforce. After a friend of his gave six college students a twelve-week interview, the friend admitted that he wanted to dismiss them after a month. Elmore then gives suggestions about how a student should handle a mentorship/internship. He advises that an internship should be treated as a twelve-week interview. An intern is constantly being observed, and because an internship can lead to great career opportunities, it should be treated like an actual job. He also writes that the qualities that make an intern stand out are a great work ethic, a great attitude, responsibility, and a hunger to learn.

Unlike a normal internship, my mentorship is a year-long interview. This mentorship is something that will make me stand out when applying to colleges, and it will also give me a chance to create references when applying for jobs. If I want to stand out to my mentor, I need to show all the qualities that Tim Elmore wrote about in his blog. I have begun this by telling my mentor that I would do anything for her that she wants me to do. We have also set up a weekly lesson that I give to the math class where I give them a brain teaser to work on and then we go over it. Since this is a year-long experience, I need to grow and enhance my qualities every week to continue to stand out. To do this, I have to ask questions and get myself involved in the class opposed to waiting for her to give me work to do.

Debt

Debt is a huge and easy problem to get into when you begin making money, while getting out of debt is an even bigger problem to deal with. The following quote by Dave Ramsey describes how to get out of debt in a simple way:

"We do not break the bad habit of debt through earning more money, but rather we break any habit by replacing it with a better one."

Debt is created through habits of poor money management. The best habit to replace spending more money than is needed is to create a budget. A budget is a strict guide on what a person's income should be used on, whether its on groceries, on gas, on an emergency fund, or on savings. A budget is only an effective way for getting out of debt if a person follows their budget as close as possible.
I worry about getting into debt when I get older. I have seen family members go through bankruptcy and it is something I want nothing to do with. Because of that, money will be important factor when I determine my life's path. Teacher do not make much money, but they make enough to survive and enjoy life. Although I would want to make enough money in my future career to live comfortably and luxuriously, I would rather live off of minimum wage and wake up every morning to a job that I love to do.

Ethics

Ethics are what individually define us as humans. Ethics are what a person believes in, and it is what makes each person different from another.
Morality and ethics are different things. Morality is the realization of good and bad, and a large part of someone's ethics is based off of it. Ethics is what someone believes to be right versus wrong in different situations, whether morally good or not. A person continually learns about their ethics, and they are characterized by what a person is exposed to throughout their life. They can be created in school, through religion, in the workplace, and from the culture someone is exposed to. A person's ethics should stay the same throughout most of their life, but they should also be able to change and evolve. What makes a person more ethical is if they stick to what they believe is right to do, no matter the situation, and experience a change in heart when they find a wrong in their beliefs and learn from their mistakes. People cannot follow different codes of ethics at one time. In doing so would be be unethical, for a person would not stick to what they see as ethical and would only act in they way that they think others would see as right.
One ethical dilemma that I believe that I would face as a math teacher is teaching while a student does not understand what is being taught. It is wrong for a teacher to move on with a unit without everyone in the class understanding what was just taught. This may be a problem because some students, no matter their intelligence level, are bad at math and take more time to learn something. Teachers cannot completely slow down the pace at which they are teaching for a few students and fit everything that is needed to be taught into a year. What makes someone a great teacher is either preventing this situation from happening often or allowing as many individual tutoring opportunities as possible for students who do not understand. I plan on being known as a great teacher, and I will solve this ethical dilemma first by learning how to teach from great teachers, then by being very descriptive in my teaching, and finally by giving as many opportunities to help my students as I possibly can.

"Perfectly Polished" Meeting #1

Last Friday morning (August 16th), all of the Honors Mentorship students attended a "Perfectly Polished" lesson taught by Debra Lassiter. She taught us the importance of first impressions. The things that she taught us are important for when we begin our mentorships and when we begin working in the future.
Over the entire lesson, the subject that stood out to me the most was appropriate conversation skills. We learned how to properly begin a conversation with introductions. When we were practicing introductions, I was able to have good posture, have good eye contact, smile, and shake another person's hand correctly. However, I was not able say the words we were taught to use without stumbling or making "sounds" (words like"um"). I found out that speaking is something that I have trouble with and really need to work on.
A very helpful and interesting tip that we were taught was what to do when you cannot find something to talk about with someone else. She told us that we should learn how to talk about a topic for each letter of the alphabet. For example, a conversation starter with the letter F could be football. A few topics could be something you know little about, and you can learn about them throughout a conversation. I have not created my topic list, but I do plan on creating this useful tool sometime soon.
The most important aspect of a conversation that I learned was what to do with your hands while you are talking. I have always wondered what to do with my hands while I talk and that it was okay to hold your hands in front of your body. It turns out I was wrong. The correct thing to do with your hands during a conversation is to keep them by your side. It is okay to use your hands while you talk but not most of the time. Not being able to use my hands a lot may conflict with what I learn during my mentorship. I have been taught by very good teachers who teach with their hands, and I would agree that it is one of the best ways to engage students and help them learn. The teachers that taught like that always seemed like the best teachers. I will have to learn to be able to be good at using my hands when teaching while also being good at not using my hands during conversations.
The "Perfectly Polished" lesson taught me a lot about great communication skills. It showed me that I have a lot of work to do when it comes to professional conversations. The meeting was very helpful, and I am interested to see what the next one will be like.

My Mission Statement and My Goals for This Year

My Mission Statement: To become a success by being the best that I can be in everything I do each and every day, and to expand the knowledge of others around me.

The dream job that I wish to have in the future is one as a mathematics professor. This year I will be mentoring with my seventh grade math teacher. Through this experience I hope to find out if I would really enjoy and love what I want to do when I get older. I will find out if I am a natural at teaching, if it is something I need to work on, or if it is something I am not cut out to do. By being involved in the Honors Mentorship Program, I hope to gain useful career experience at an early age, and it should make me stand out as an applicant when I apply to colleges and internships.
I have to get very actively involved right away if I want to get the most out of this program. I need to treat this opportunity as an actual job as if I am a student teacher. My mentor has told me that she trusts me with her class, and I just have to listen to her and observe her if I want to learn how to be a successful and effective teacher. If I do all these things, then I should receive the type of experience that I am hoping for.