Olivia Faulkner: Math Enthusiast / BA MC

Territories:
Fears: the ocean, sharks (sorry Bay)

Annoyance: stupidity, rudeness, my brother

Accomplishments: having a poem published
Confusions: what nonsense people consider socially acceptable these days
Sorrows: the great amount of divorce that has happened in my family
Dreams: travel, study abroad, design my own house, become a teacher.
Idiosyncrasies: I don't know if this counts but Josh likes to think of me as, "I am woman, hear me roar."
Risks: future risk would be going to study abroad I guess

Beloved Possessions: Now: memories ? Then: stuffed animals (except for the ones that talk. those are freaky.)

Problems: probably this "I am woman, hear me roar" thing.

I really like math. In the future, I have decided I'm going to aspire to be a math teacher. Or a Spanish teacher. I haven't really decided. However, I know I'm going to teach in high school, and I am leaning towards math. My favorite thing to tutor kids in is math. I like the fact that it's formulaic, I like the fact that there is ONLY one answer, yet a variety of ways to come up with the answer, and I like the same that "it's the same in every country."

To justify my decision to teach in a high school environment, I have really enjoyed almost all the teachers I've come to meet in my high school career. I feel like when you're in high school, you are allowed to have that different relationship with the teacher. You can make weird jokes and not feel inappropriate, you can come to them for advice, and you can really come to feel like you're actually making a new friend. Sure, it's weird on the first day, and sure, you're going to find ones you hate, but who doesn't? Not all people are meant to get along, and that's okay.

But one can't really deny that there are some teachers who you feel like you know on a personal level. There are some teachers that you feel like you could come to and ask for a favor and they would grant it to you, understandingly. And you can't deny that it's a great feeling when you can come to that conclusion.

More than that, I really don't agree with the way that education has been limited. Logsdon's Ted Talks make me think, "Holy crap, that's so true. Why aren't we giving these kids the same opportunity?"

In the words of Mr. Pope, "I DON'T KNOW!" But "it makes my heart burrow like a mole."

In thinking about these things, I want to be a teacher because I want to change the way that people look at education. I think we should be catering to these kids as much as is reasonable, resonable being anything that doesn't including raising each and every kid that is in the class.

I'm aware, though, that some kids don't know respect, and that they can't be blamed for this. It isn't their fault their parents gave them everything they ever wanted in order to get them to stop crying. So in order to shoo some kids away from me, my list of rules will be composed of things I feel are common sense.

• *If you are in my freshman class, know the difference between their, there, and they're (and other words like them)
• If you are in any of my classes, you had better know how to read.
• If you are in high school, you shouldn't in any way expect someone to just do your work for you.
• If I assign you homework, you had better expect me to check it, and to be frustrated with you if you don't remember, or just plain don't do it.
• If I don't, you have my permission to be angry with me.
• For math specifically:
• Know your multiplication tables.
• Know how to divide.
•  Realize when I act like math is cool, I totally see you in the back laughing at me for being such a nerd. I know who I am, and I'm okay with that person.
• *If you don't, I feel I should have permission to send you back to kindergarten.

I guess my last point to this is that I really feel like people should be, and for that matter, want to be educated. When it comes to things you can learn in your life,