Self-introductions

[cgao]

Hi everyone! We are looking forward to meeting and getting to know you in person over the next few months, but please use this thread to introduce yourself for now.

Please upload a photo of yourself if possible. Go to "my account," then click on the edit tab, and upload a photo at the bottom. Make sure you click save!

[Heidi Kwalk]

Hello everyone, I am a 4th/5th grade combo teacher in Orange County. This is my 18th year of teaching, all of it in either 4th or 5th grade classroom. I love teaching multiple subjects but love social studies/history in particular. I have attended many workshops/seminars related to US history, but this is my first seminar on the history of E. Asia. I am excited and eager to learn and look forward to discussing and sharing ideas with fellow teachers. Thank you, USC US-China Institute for this opportunity!

[Dennis O'Connell]

Hello!  Currently, I am a 2nd/3rd grade teacher at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in downtown Los Angeles, not far from USC.  This is my 19th year at King.  Before King, I taught for one year in Lee County, Florida and two years at Rancho El Chorro Outdoor School in San Luis Obispo, CA.  Previous to choosing teaching as a career, I worked in International Agricultural Development in various countries, including six months in Taiwan and three months in Japan.  Having the travel "bug", I have now visited 139 countries of the globe.  I have 69 more countries to visit if I hope to see the ones remaining!  I truly look forward to this USC US-China Institute and the ways it will help me introduce the world of Asia to my students.  

[Dennis O'Connell]

Heidi Kwalk, I was pleased to see the first post was from another elementary school teacher!  I look forward to meeting you and working with you collaboratively on ways we might incorporate what we are learning into our lesson plans.  See you on Saturday!  Dennis O'Connell

[Marcos Rico]

Good Morning everyone,

My name is Marcos Rico. I was born and raised in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Immigrated to the U.S.A.  in 1993, (10th grade). Because of my limited knowledge of the English language, I was places in English as a Second Language (E.S.L.) classes.   Thanks to the encouragement and support of my teachers and AVID program, I was able to enroll straight into San Diego State University. At S.D.S.U., I worked hard on improving my knowledge of the English language and earned a Bachelors in Science in Psychology along with a double minor (Spanish and Mexican-American Studies). I earned my BCLAD through an intership program at San Diego Unified School District.

I currently teach 4th grade at The Language Academy in San Diego. Our school is a Magnet school, we have students from all over the world. It is an interesting mix of different cultures and languages. Our two biliteracy programs are French/ English and Spanish/ English. People are surprised when they find out that I am part of the French program. I have been teaching 18 years at San Diego Unified School District, one of my favorite grades is 4 grade. California history is a complex and intereresting topic to teach. This is my third school in the district, and I have had the pleasure of teaching different grades such as 2, 3, 4, 5 and even a 4/5 combo (yes,on my 1st year as a teacher).  

Looking forward to learn more about China and share the knowledge with my 4th graders.

[Marcos Rico]

Hello Heidi,

It is wonderful to have more elementary school teachers in this group. You are teaching a 4/5 combo class!! Wow, it is a difficult thing to teach combo classes, but when they have a seasoned teacher like yourself it must be a great experience for the students. My only experience teaching a combo class (also 4/5) was on my first year as a teacher, it was not a great experience for an inexperienced teacher, but I survived 🙂    

Where you on the fall 2018 Online seminar on Contemporary China? That was my previous Seminar with USC. 

[Marcos Rico]

Hello Dennis,

As a mentioned to Heidi, I am glad that a seasoned and experienced teacher is teaching a combo class. 139 countries, that is awesome. I have only been in 3 different countries, and all of them in North America. From a Latin American perspective, I have visited all the countries in North America, but from the U.S. perspective I still have 20 more to visit.   It is great to have a 2/3 grade teacher taking this class, during my previous seminar (online), it was mostly middle school and high school teachers. So far, we have 3 elementary school teachers in this seminar.  Looking forward to our first class this weekend.

[Dennis O'Connell]

Marco, it sounds like you have had an interesting background.  It is also nice to know you have taken another seminar.  You can help us navigate these new waters!  I look forward to meeting you and collaborating with you this spring.  Dennis J. O'Connell

[Scott Craig]

I've enjoyed reading the other introductions. I feel like the outsider because I am a high school history teacher. I have been teaching high school social studies for 27 years. I am currently teaching U.S. History and AP US History at Sylmar High School. This is my sixth year at Sylmar, previously I taught for 19 years in Las Vegas and 2 years in Utah. A few years ago I took the summer seminar on East Asia literature and I really enjoyed it. I'm very excited to take this course and get to know all of you.

 

[Dan Thalkar]

Hello everyone -

It's been nice to read your introductions; I look forward to meeting you all soon. I currently teach 4th and 5th grade Ethnic Studies at KIPP Corazon, though next year I'll be teaching high school social studies at a school in South LA. This is my ninth year teaching and 7th in Los Angeles. Prior to moving to LA, I lived in the Philipines for 2.5 years while serving in the Peace Corps. 

[Amy Chen]

Hi Everyone,

I'm Amy. I currently teach 6th grade English and History at Thomas Starr King Middle School located in Silverlake. I also teach Mandarin as an elective. At this magnet school, I teach in the Environmental STEAM magnet. This is my 6th year teaching as a full time teacher. I've worked with students for over 10 years. During my undergrad at UC Irvine, I studied International Relations with a focus on Asia and Latin America. Looking forward to meeting you all in person!

 

[Tiffany Chang]

Hi everyone! 

I teach 5th grade at Baldwin Stocker Elementary in Arcadia Unified. This is my 4th year teaching full-time. In the past few years, our grade-level team had rotations so I mainly taught language arts and math. We made some changes this year and I am now teaching social studies for the first time. It's been quite a journey learning the curriculum (reviewing U.S. History) and implementing project-based learning. Given our student demographic, it would be helpful to know more about the history and culture of East Asia. I've taught short-term English classes in Taiwan, South Korea, China (Urumqi), and Thailand. It was quite a diverse experience seeing how students engaged with the language and interacting with one another. I'm very excited to meet you all and take this course! 

(Having trouble uploading my photo right now. Hopefully I can get it to work soon!)

[clay dube]

Hi Folks,
Without question, the elementary teachers win the prize for being first to jump in. Well done! We're delighted that you are all with us. I'll be the lead instructor, but we have many excellent specialists lined up for the course. And we're bringing in a special guest speaker to discuss environmental issues on 4/13.

I taught at the secondary level for three years, but have spent the bulk of my career in college classrooms and as an administrator. I love history, perhaps a bit too much, and to illustrate my confusion, I think we could all benefit from knowing more of it and from approaching more issues from a historical perspective. I enjoy photography and travel and it's been my great honor to have taken eleven groups of teachers to East Asia over the years. Catherine and I last did this in summer 2018.

[Stephanie Rodriguez]

Hi everyone!

I am so excited to begin. My name is Stephanie Rodriguez and I am a 5th grade teacher at Eucalyptus Elementary in Hawthorne, California (not far from LAX). This is my fourth year teaching and I am so excited to learn so much more about it. I got my teaching credential and masters in teaching from USC so I am really excited to be back. I love teaching traveling the world and teaching (history is one of my favorites, my students really enjoy it). I look forward to meeting you all and sharing resources and experiences, see you tomorrow!

[Linda Gonzales Diaz]

Hello Everyone, I am a 6th grade teacher in the valley. I teach history (ancient civilizations) and English and ELD levels 1 and 2.

I am so excited to meet everyone and grow as an educator and bring back what I learn to my colleagues and students.

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