What I Like

    There are many issues that are going on around the world. I am very interested in a few.  Over the past coupe of years I have learned more and more about sex slavery.  I am so upset that slavery is still a thing.  However I only ever knew about sex slavery and not the other forms of human trafficking.  I now have learned about more forms of human trafficking and am very interested in the topic.  I also love to learn about education especially when it comes to woman.  I believe women around the world should have the ability to get an education.  The other subjects I have liked reading about has been the Ukraine conflict with Russia, Syrian Crisis, and child soldiers in Africa.
    I am interested to learn about many different areas of the world.  The areas I have learned a lot about have been the Navajo Nation, Northern Europe, and the Mediterranean area of Europe. I also know a lot about all different areas of the United States like the south, north east, midwest, and so on.
    My skills vary a lot.  I love to write and read.  I have 3 other blogs besides this one.  I also love to play music.  I can play 3 different instruments.  I play the piano, clarinet, and the bass clarinet.  I am currently working on the trumpet.  I can also sew.  Besides sewing I can knit and crochet.  I like to learn so I am currently learning to speak Dutch, but it is a slow process.
    Since my skills vary how I incorporate the arts into lessons.  I like to use a lot of different modes of art in lessons.  I like to use music especially when I am teaching about different cultures.  I also love to use dance as an expression of emotions and learning about cultures.  I use a lot of visual arts like painting, drawing, photography, and more.  I think lessons are better with the arts.

What Happened to Ukraine?

   

   

     Over the past few years the news has moved on from one story to another.  Even though the news has moved on from story to story it does not mean that the conflicts the stories talk about just disappear.  One of the major conflicts that the news picked up on and left was the Russian-Ukraine Conflict.  This conflict started in 2014 with Crimea's annexation, but the news story picked up when Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down.  However this news only lasted a little while before it no longer was shown on the Nightly News. This is the way for all news.
     Last summer I went to Russia and met a woman who had a friend from Ukraine.  She filled me in on the horror that was happening in the country and how no one knows about it.  There were other news stories to report on.  The summer of 2015 was the summer that Greece went completely bankrupt and the Syrian Crisis went full force.  The reporters had many more things to report on and Ukraine was not the story.
     Recently I have been thinking about the Russian-Ukraine Conflict and wondering if what I heard was really true and if the conflict was still going on.  In the article I was shocked to hear of the amount of people dead and the amount of people displaced.  If you want to read this article and see for yourself click on this link.

Snapshot of Me

 

My name is Taylor Chism.  I am a recent graduate of Indiana University and now working to become an elementary teacher.   I came into college with no clue what I wanted to do.  I was registered for classes as a pre-nursing student at the University of Kentucky.  I liked those classes and school, but nursing was not for me. I transferred a few times and changed my major until I found my right fit and a place I could call home.  I started Indiana University my junior year and began my journey being an elementary education major.  I found the classes more interesting than nursing, and I finally felt like I made the right decision.  The classes were just as challenging as nursing, but in a different way.  Instead of doing all tests, I was now working on papers and projects.  Each and every one of my classes helped shape my educational experience at Indiana University.  Some of them helped me realize what subjects I was not a huge fan of, and some classes showed me what I might want to consider doing for a Masters.  I even received a reward from one of my classes.  I love to travel so the geography was not very difficult for me.  I found out that I had the best grade in that class for the whole semester out of all the people taking the course. That award was one of my highest achievements in college besides graduating. I thought that college would be impossible when coming out of high school, but I learned fast that it is not that hard.  I also learned that in order to be successful I had to be organized, on top of things, and plan things out.  I loved my college experience and would not change anything. 

            I have already mentioned that I love to travel.  I have traveled all over the United States and also to Europe and Asia.  As I have traveled I have learned about many different global issues, but also issues facing not only this country, but others as well.  I have learned a lot from being able to see other countries, and one of my goals as a teacher is to make students more knowledgeable about the world around them. In my own classroom I like to bring the outside world into the classroom by taking the time to talk about current affairs.  Depending on the age level depends on what I will talk about.  I understand my students might hear things that has happened around the world.  I want to explain to them the issues, and have them ask questions.  I want to ensure that they are not scared, but informed.  With younger kids I really watch what I talk to them about, but with older kids there is more stories that can be covered.  I also like for students to journal about their thoughts.  After talking to the class, sometimes it is nice to have them write down their feelings and thoughts about what we have talked about.  I might even introduce a video if the video is age appropriate.  Every time I bring a new concept up I try to connect it to the students.  I sometimes talk about kids their age to get them to see in that perceptive, or I try to relate the place that I am talking about to their home and community.  The last thing I do is explain why it is important to learn about these issues.  I want them to know that in order to be good global citizens we have to know what it happening in the world.  I am a social studies concentration and believe that global awareness is extremely important and that kids need to know about the world they live in.  The world is a wonderful teaching tool.