Intro Letter

Hola! My name is John C. Hall, 20 years wise from Murrieta, CA where I’ve lived 17 of those years. The first 3 were in El Cajon, my birthplace. However, I consider Murrieta my hometown, and San Marcos is definitely my second home, as I currently live there in the UVA apartments on campus. I also work on campus as a CSO, and am a member of the Orientation Team, both of which I absolutely love! My schools consist of Alta Murrieta Elementary (Go Mustangs!), Shivela Middle School (Go Panthers!), and Murrieta Valley High School (Go Nighthawks!). I enjoy drumming, tennis, and a little gaming every now and then too. And maybe a little trash TV too (just finished 2 hours of Animation Domination on Fox!).

Well, as far as my technological know-how, that’s VERY little, despite the fact that so many people think I’m a genius with the stuff. Look, playing games does NOT make you a computer expert (especially considering I’m not a cpu gamer). I am DEFINITELY a PC person, but I’m willing to see what Macs have to offer. As far a my tech savvy, I can check my e-mail accounts, access and update myspace, use internet explorer (which I hate) and firefox, do all the things this school asks me to (so far), and use yahoo and AOL instant messenger. In this regard, the computer is where I go when I have nothing to do, so not having a computer in my daily life would definitely change my day. Thankfully, I have a life enough that I don’t depend on it, but with e-mail, instant messenger, it sure makes life a lot more convenient!

Well the quote that I like the most in the COE mission statement would be “Our practices demonstrate a commitment to student centered education, diversity, collaboration, professionalism, and shared governance.” I think this quite in particular defines the type of classroom I’d like. The student is what I do my work for, and making sure they’re at the center of anything I want to do is absolutely essential. Diversity is also important. Depending on where I work, this can be a much more difficult lesson to teach, but making it a celebrated rather than unspoken idea, is incredibly important. Collaboration and professionalism is important in building trust and the inspiration to learn, and shared governance is important in keeping students involved, and giving them the comfort to speak out if they need anything I’m not providing… all in all, some of the cornerstones of a successful classroom.