About Me

My name is Kristin Viner and I have lived in Carlsbad, CA my whole life. I went to school at Jefferson Elementary, Valley Middle School, and finally Carlsbad High. I loved elementary school; it was fairly easy for me, and I had many different friends. However, things changed when I started middle school. I began struggling with time management and the stresses that accompanied having six different classes instead of one. These struggles continued throughout high school, and new ones emerged, too. I was very shy and did not know how to make friends; I often felt as if I didn't fit into this "cliquish" environment. After graduating, I went to MiraCosta Community College in Oceanside. The social aspect of college was so much better than high school. Everyone was so accepting of me, which increased my comfort level tenfold. I enjoyed the freedom I got in college, such as picking my own schedule, my own classes, etc. However, I continued struggling with time management, and became so engrossed with my studies that I hardly had a social life. After two years at MiraCosta, I transferred to UCSD to major in math. The first two years were incredibly difficult. When I was not in class, I was usually in office hours trying to get help. Furthermore, the fact that I took the bus to school every day from Carlsbad just made the day seem to drag on. However, in my third year, I finally became comfortable enough with my academic abilities that I could relax a little bit and not work as heard. This was probably my favorite time of my academic career.

I am about average on the technology curriculum. I catch on to most technology fairly quickly, but I never seem to develop a very sophisticated understanding of it. To be honest, my brother is the technology geek in the family, so I bother him for all my technical questions, especially those that relate to computers.But while I was at UCSD, I had to take a class that required a moderate understanding of  MATLAB (mathematical programming). I was incredibly lucky that our TA was very understanding of the fact that most of us were not computer science majors, so he was able to help us immensely. And I must say that I am not crazy about this "computer revolution." I think computers are very necessary, but they are given too much importance. They cost people jobs. Children become addicted to them. Students use them as a crutch and forget how to do real research.

The Mission Statement was not a factor in my decision to attend CSUSM's SOE. However, after reading it, I must say that it is right on track with how I believe teacher education should be approached. "We are committed to diversity, educational equity, and social justice..." In order for teaching practices to be effective, they have to reach out to a variety of students with different backgrounds and upbringings. They have to be diverse and unique and must reach out to many different learning styles. Furthermore, they should grab the students' attention. This ties into educational equity and social justice.