Blog Post #1

About Me
Hello! My name is Taylor Davis, I am 20 years old, and I am from the little town of Grand Bay, Al. I still live with my parents and I am very thankful for them. I graduated from Alma Bryant High School in 2010 and immediately began school at USA the following fall. I am currently a junior majoring in Elementary/Special Education. As of now the majority of my time is taken up with school but when I'm not in class or studying I enjoy spending time with my family. I have the greatest parents on earth, an adorable niece and nephew, one crazy brother, and a hilarious and supportive boyfriend. We all love to spend time together and always have a blast. My mom is my best friend and we love to shop together and to crafts that we find on Pinterest. (Yes, I am a junkie!) I also love music and love to sing. One of my passions is helping others and I strive to make a difference in my little world. That's one of the reasons why I want to teach.

I have never imagined myself in any other profession. When I was little I would round up all of the neighborhood girls to play school. Of course I had to be the teacher! Recently, I became a substitute teacher with the Mobile County Public School System and that definitely confirmed my calling. I love being in the school and interacting with students. I fully believe that I belong in the classroom! I am so excited for EDM 310, even though it sounds like a lot of hard work. I think the tools and techniques that we learn in the class will be very beneficial to our future as teachers.

Randy Pausch Video
While watching Dr. Pausch's video on Time Management I couldn't help but wonder what his life was all about. After watching the video, I continued to watch other videos about Dr. Pausch and the speeches that he made. Randy Pausch was a professor, suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer, who decided to make the most out of life. He was a family man, someone who was very devoted to his job, and he seemed like someone you would want to be around.

In Dr. Pausch's video on time management he discussed some simple, yet important tips to managing time wisely. He continued to tell students and listeners that it was mandatory to set goals and to avoid wasting time. He said that time and money go hand in hand, as do time and experience. When you invest your time wisely into something you will always end up with a better outcome. Dr. Pausch said to ask yourself questions such as, "Why am I doing this?", "What is the goal?", and "What happens if I choose not to do it?". He stressed the importance of planning ahead and said, "failing to plan is planning to fail." Your plans can always be changed but it is better to plan in advance so you will have a better idea of what is to come. He said, in essence, to take baby steps and get one thing done at a time. Do not overload yourself but instead take your time.

I found Dr. Pausch's video to be very informative and relevant. Just since starting college I have found out that my time management skills were not the best and that I had to figure out a way to be responsible and manage my time wisely. In high school, the work always came very easy to me. I always made straight A's and did not find the work to be very challenging. When I started college I realized that the material wasn't necessarily harder, but that the work load was. I had to learn to prioritize and get work finished at a more efficient rate. I find Dr. Pausch's idea of breaking things down into small steps and getting finished with the hardest thing first very relevant to my own time management ideas. I've discovered that if you do a larger or more difficult challenge first then the other, more simple things will not seem as strenuous. I greatly appreciated Dr. Pausch's video on time management and his overall outlook on life.