First of all, I would like to echo people's sentiments about how great it was to hear your poems in class. Thank you for sharing part of yourself with us. I love the dynamics of our group and I feel lucky to be here with you all.

After leaving Zaher's class today I realize a common theme in my thought process in this program is the role of a teacher in society, and how that will look for me in my classroom. As we are constantly coming in contact with new and important information I find myself continually reevaluating what my responsibility will be to my students, the community and society at large. There is so much that goes into making a skilled and adept teacher that will meet the standards this program sets for us and that I am creating for myself. Everyday I add things to my 'the teacher I aspire to be' list and am surprised that I hadn't thought of them in that way before because they seem so essential. I am so grateful to be exposed to all of this new and relevant information and I hope to take advantage of the freedom to create my own teaching philosophy that is inspired by what I am learning and what I believe the role of an educator should be. I can't wait to put my ideas and beliefs into practice and to see how they evolve as I gain more classroom experience.