Reflection

I found this activity very interesting.  I actually did not know much about my name.  I talked to my grandmother and she is the one that told me who picked my name.  I had seen the meaning manifestation of god before.  The activity on India was difficult for me because I did not have a lot of prior knowledge about the country or its customs and culture.  I see how hard it would be for a student to write or even learn a topic when they know nothing about it.  As teachers we need to know what our students know and provide the opportunites for students to gain prior knowledge if we want them to succeed in our activities.  I have learned a lot from both of these activities.

Meaning of a name

My full given name is Tiffani Marie Guiser.  My first name was picked by my mother.  She liked the unique spelling and picked the name early on in her pregnancy.  My father picked my middle name.  My gram wanted me to have her middle name Ann or her sisters middle name Jean.  My first name is greek and means Manifestation of God.  Other background information is

'Medieval form of THEOPHANIA. This name was traditionally given to girls born on the Epiphany (January 6), the festival commemorating the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus. The name died out after the Middle Ages, but it was revived by the movie 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' (1961), the title of which refers to the Tiffany's jewelry store in New York.'  My middle name is from the french origin and Marie means sea of bitterness. 

Other background information is

' French and Czech form of Maria (see MARY). A notable bearer of this name was Marie Antoinette, the queen of France who was executed by guillotine during the French Revolution. Another was Marie Curie, a physicist and chemist who studied radioactivity with her husband Pierre.'

I have some nicknames from my family and friends.  The main one is Tif, the other nickname my family uses is Tiffy-re.  It was just a fun sing song name from when I was young.  Tif is obviously just a shortened version of my full name.  Many of my close friends and family call me Tif more often than they call me Tiffani.

Assumptions/Beliefs About Learning

Here are my assumptions/beliefs about learning

• students need structure and organization about what is expected from them but also chances to places for creativity needs to be interspersed
• a teacher needs to know their students and their personalities for learning to take place
• a teacher must be flexible when teaching and take advantage of teachable moments
• a teacher must make any tools a student needs accessable
• such as comfortable reading area, lighting, partners or space to work alone, etc.
• a teacher must be able to accept students who are different from them but still have the same expectations from all students