Personal information
1. What is your first name? Please use your preferred name, nick name, etc. Do you have preferred pronouns?
My first name is Kaitlin (you actually might not have known that since my title is “Miss Peffer’s Blog”). You can call me Kaitlin; I would prefer that.
A long time ago back in high school–I say this because I am old now–everyone on the swim team called me “kpeff” for my first initial and the first syllable of my last name. Some kids did not even know my first name because I was so often called by my nickname. Even a few teachers called me kpeff. It was a little strange, however I did not dislike it. Although, I was a little excited to shake this nickname in college until one day someone from club swim team remarked, “Hey, do you know what would be a good nickname for you? Kpeff!” I suppose this is my destiny.
2. Where are you from?
I am from here! Specifically, I grew up in Twinsburg, Ohio. I attended St. Rita’s Catholic School in Solon, Ohio, for ten years before switching to public school. I graduated in the class of 2013 from Twinsburg High School before going on to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. It was a huge adjustment moving into Reds territory. However, I eventually moved back up to Cleveland for my beloved Indians.
4. What are you into; what makes you special? Share a few “unique” aspects about yourself that would help our classroom community get to know you a bit. Are you on an athletic team? Sing in the choir? Are you trying out for a play? Painting? What are you planning on doing this semester in your life that is noteworthy?
Very recently–within the past few months–I took up running when I agreed to run a half marathon. The race is in April and I still do not consider myself a “runner”. However, I tolerate it a little more each day. It does improve my overall mood and happiness. My only New Year’s Resolution is to be happy and healthy this year. In order to do this, I have decided I want to do at least one race per month; I ran my third ever 5k race on January 4th to start off 2020. I am currently contemplating registering for another 5k race near Hofbrauhaus downtown in February.
Learning Style and more:
5. Being as specific as you can, what must be in place for you to feel comfortable taking intellectual and creative risks in a course?
To be candid, I was blessed with ADHD. I have never been open about it before, however in my 20s I see how wonderful it can be. I am no longer ashamed of the negative stigmas surrounding mental disorders and learning disabilities. Similarly to my glasses, it is just another thing that I need to take into account when I learn. I like guidance from my teachers and professors. I try to set deadlines for myself and keep post-its on the wall as reminders. I took online classes for the first time ever in grad school, and I honestly did not benefit from those courses. I like to see things and hear things and manipulate things in person. I like to read books on paper and hold a pen in my hand. That is not to say that I dislike digital technology. I do love WordPress; I used to keep a personal blog in undergraduate. I am very much looking forward to this class in the hopes that it will improve my blogging and technology skills.
What have you been reading?
6. I want to know what matters most to you about education. To this end, please share with the class an essay that is essential to your interests/concerns as a pre-service teacher. (Include the reference to the essay [chapter, article, website] and a few sentences about its significance to you).
Education has always been a huge value to me in my life because my parents have consistently placed a great importance upon it. School always comes first, no matter what. This semester, I am doing my pre-student teaching at Beachwood High School with ninth and eleventh graders. I am excited to see their classroom interactions with the texts and with each other. I’m not sure if I will be able to tackle the tough questions like Orwell’s, “why are humans so stupid when it seems they should be smarter?” These giant quests to search for purpose in life remind me of the questions that Stephen Hawking tackled in his Brief History of Time. In his book, Hawking writes, “… if we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist.”
We may look at history and think, gosh that is too bad we did not answer the question soon enough. We did not find a cure for AIDs, and because of that, we lost Freddie Mercury. We couldn’t cure Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and we lost Hawking. As educators, I do not anticipate teaching my students the answers to these massive questions. However, I do believe that I could be teaching the one who figures it out eventually.
About Dr. Shutkin:
7. Write down a question or two that you would like to ask me about myself or the class.
If you could teach any class and make the curriculum to be anything that you wanted, what would it be?
Where is your favorite place to vacation?
Miss Peffer's Blog 