I guess I am a nerd . . .
Monday, January 30, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Let me introduce myself . . .
One thing I have always loved about introductions like this is I am able to let people know who I am beyond what they think I am by looking at me. My name is Landryanne Butterfield and I am a senior in Social Studies Education at Utah State University. I graduated from Riverton High School in 2009. A lot of people tell me my name is unique, but for me, it is just who I am and therefore normal. However, I will explain where it came from. My father was a Dallas Cowboys fan in his younger years when Tom Landry was the coach. Because of circumstances at my birth, my dad got to name me: hence the Landry part. However, he wanted to name his first daughter after my mom and as her name is Maryanne, I had a lovely -anne attached to my name--not capitalized and not a separate middle name but part of me.
Ever since I was a little kid, I have loved reading--for fun. Textbooks bore the snot out of me and if I am forced to read about something because I have to write on it, I usually do not like it. But give me a Harry Potter book, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, or Ender's Game and I can read for hours and hours. While I am not an avid scrapbook-er, I like looking at pictures and reminiscing. So my scrapbooking consists of a photo album with pictures in slots and stuff written on the back. I just do not know what to do with the pictures. I love to play the board game Risk 2210 A.D. with my brothers and dad. I play softball when the weather is good or if I have some frustrations I need to take out. My favorite t.v. show are Doctor Who and Psych. I am 4 foot 12 inches and of Italian heritage. My favorite color is green and I love camping, four-wheeling, fishing, getting dirty, throwing snowballs, sledding, and a puddle jumping after a rainstorm. I am the oldest of five kids, and one of three in college.
As I said before, I am going into Social Studies education. During my early education, History and English were my two most favorite (and easiest) subjects. I caught onto the information quickly and loved it. This love spread to Geography and Psychology and the studies of human beings and their interactions to the world and each other. There was nothing more satisfying than to walk into a class and have a discussion about the First Amendment right of Freedom of Expression and the founding of the Constitution, or to learn about the spin of the Earth and how it affects our weather, or why the Middle Ages should not be called the Dark Ages, or why people are trained to do certain things a certain way. I had teachers who were so interesting to listen to, who seemed to know EVERYTHING. They loved what they did and made me want to love it too. And love it I did. I wanted to be a teacher because every time I helped a fellow student understand something they had not before, I was happy. I loved working with them. And every since I can remember, I wanted to teach. As a little girl I loved the idea of writing on a chalkboard, preparing tests, and grading papers. I dreamed of standing in front of a class and giving presentations that would be equal in glory to that of the Gettysburg Address or Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech. (I like to dream big!)
History to me is connecting the present to everything that has happened before so we can look with hope to the future. If we don't understand where we can from and how we got here, we have no way of knowing where we can go. If you look at the world the way it is today, there is little hope for the future. But if we look at how the world was and the problems they had, we can see that we too can overcome and carve a place for ourselves. To me, history is not a boring subject. It is as alive and real as it was for those who experienced it. History is who we are and who we will become. It is a million-billion years of stories and experiences. Who does not love a good story? Well, that is what I hope to teach my students. . . that history is a story and that they can be a part of it. Not: "This is boring! Why do we have to learn about dead people?"
Ever since I was a little kid, I have loved reading--for fun. Textbooks bore the snot out of me and if I am forced to read about something because I have to write on it, I usually do not like it. But give me a Harry Potter book, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, or Ender's Game and I can read for hours and hours. While I am not an avid scrapbook-er, I like looking at pictures and reminiscing. So my scrapbooking consists of a photo album with pictures in slots and stuff written on the back. I just do not know what to do with the pictures. I love to play the board game Risk 2210 A.D. with my brothers and dad. I play softball when the weather is good or if I have some frustrations I need to take out. My favorite t.v. show are Doctor Who and Psych. I am 4 foot 12 inches and of Italian heritage. My favorite color is green and I love camping, four-wheeling, fishing, getting dirty, throwing snowballs, sledding, and a puddle jumping after a rainstorm. I am the oldest of five kids, and one of three in college.
As I said before, I am going into Social Studies education. During my early education, History and English were my two most favorite (and easiest) subjects. I caught onto the information quickly and loved it. This love spread to Geography and Psychology and the studies of human beings and their interactions to the world and each other. There was nothing more satisfying than to walk into a class and have a discussion about the First Amendment right of Freedom of Expression and the founding of the Constitution, or to learn about the spin of the Earth and how it affects our weather, or why the Middle Ages should not be called the Dark Ages, or why people are trained to do certain things a certain way. I had teachers who were so interesting to listen to, who seemed to know EVERYTHING. They loved what they did and made me want to love it too. And love it I did. I wanted to be a teacher because every time I helped a fellow student understand something they had not before, I was happy. I loved working with them. And every since I can remember, I wanted to teach. As a little girl I loved the idea of writing on a chalkboard, preparing tests, and grading papers. I dreamed of standing in front of a class and giving presentations that would be equal in glory to that of the Gettysburg Address or Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech. (I like to dream big!)
History to me is connecting the present to everything that has happened before so we can look with hope to the future. If we don't understand where we can from and how we got here, we have no way of knowing where we can go. If you look at the world the way it is today, there is little hope for the future. But if we look at how the world was and the problems they had, we can see that we too can overcome and carve a place for ourselves. To me, history is not a boring subject. It is as alive and real as it was for those who experienced it. History is who we are and who we will become. It is a million-billion years of stories and experiences. Who does not love a good story? Well, that is what I hope to teach my students. . . that history is a story and that they can be a part of it. Not: "This is boring! Why do we have to learn about dead people?"
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