The one time that I can remember a teacher using the comphresion processes in the book and also encouraging me to think deeply about the text was way back in fifth grade. Unfortunatly, I do not remember the title of the book that we read but I do remember how many different activities we did to help us really comphrehend what we were reading. I remeber we had to read the book on our own, usually during class time, and then she had us illustrate the book. We made our own books about the parts of the book that we thought were very important to the story line. We had to draw pictures and color them and make them look really nice. We spent a lot of time working on our books and trying to portray what we saw in our minds. It was very interesting to see how each student depicted each scene in their book and also to see what they thought was important. Although everyone was reading the same book, our illustrations were all very different and we had a great time with the project. This teacher did a few things that were taught in the chapter such as giving us an opportunity to visualize and portray what we were reading. It allowed us to think about the storyline and determine what makes the story good and which parts of the story are most important. As I go into my classrooms I hope that I can understand as my teacher did that every student learns differently. Some students may enjoy reading alone but other may need to visualize the story in a different way in order to comphrehend. It is important to me that I give all of my students the best opportunity possible to be successful and that means giving them various ways to learn.

My name is Austin Soper and I live in Manti, Utah. I have lived here most of my life and I don't plan on moving any time soon. I am almost finished with my Bachelors Degree in Mathematics Education with a Chemistry minor. I never thought that I would be teaching math as a career but somehow I ended up here and I am excited for the future and the opportunities that I will have to work with the youth. I am 28 years old and I have been married to my wife Laney for 6 years now. We have two kids

Sienna 4 yrs old

Deacon 2 yrs old

They are much happier than they look in these pictures. I wanted to post the most recent pictures that I had and these pictures were from a very cold day and they were not that happy about it. Anyway, I am taking this class as part of my major and I am excited that it is one of my last classes. I enjoy working the the youth and I am looking forward to helping them become successful individuals. 

I love spending time outdoors and playing sports. This is one of the reasons that I chose teaching as a career. It gives me the opportunity to coach and that is something that I have always wanted to do. I love anything that has to do with football. I am always trying to learn as much as I can about the game. I like to play all sports such golf, basketball, and softball to name a few. I also enjoy going hunting, fishing, and camping with my family as much as possible. My family is very important to me and I love spending time with them. 

When I am finished with my degree I will be a certified level four math teacher with a chemistry minor. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if I never taught chemistry and only focused on the math. But if the school would like me to teach a chemistry class here and there then I would not mind doing so. It would give me more variety in the work place which is always a good thing. 

When I think of literacy I think of reading and writing. Literacy is very important in math and most other disciplines. If the student is not able to read what is stated in the problem or assessment, the probability of success decreases significantly. Furthermore, if the student is not able to transfer their thoughts to the paper it can also hinder the progress of the student. It is important that we help our students to continually develop their literacy skills so that they can progress towards becoming successful individuals. I am looking forward to the future classes and the many things that literacy has to offer.