TED 633 Introduction

TED 633 Introduction and Self Assessment

Hello There,

My name is Amanda Domingues.  I currently live in Santa Barbara County.  My husband is the superintendent for the Santa Ynez Flight Crew.  He is a wildland firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service.  We have a 12 year old daughter, who is finishing up seventh grade.  We have an 8 year old son, who is finishing up second grade.  My children are busy with track and field, gymnastics, theatre, and baseball.
I grew up in Davis, Ca.  I grew up loving visual arts and performing arts.  I danced ballet through college.  I taught ballet as well for three years before I transferred to a state university.  I have a BFA in Art and Design with a concentration in photography from California Polytechnic State University.  After I graduated, I began working with a few other photographers on the Central Coast.  A few years later, I was able to branch out on my own.  I ran my photography business part time and was a full time mom.  We have relocated a few times due to my husband's job with the Forest Service. 
I have been an instructional aide at an elementary school for the past three and a half years.  I passed the CBEST in December 2015.  Last year I was asked to give health support to a student who became newly diagnosed with type-one diabetes.  I assisted with his blood sugar monitoring, calculated carbohydrates, calculated his insulin dosage, and administered his insulin dosage.  In January 2017, I passed the CSET in Art.  I have always enjoyed working with children.  Once I passed the CBEST and subbed for teachers at the elementary, I enjoyed that opportunity to fill in for a teacher.
This year, I began working in a fourth-grade classroom; supporting my diabetic student.  In February, I was asked by the district to long-term sub for a teacher at the middle school who needed to take a leave of absence for the remainder of the school year.  I have been teaching two periods of 7th grade Social Studies, a period of 7th and 8th grade Drama, and a period of 7th and 8th grade Photography.  It has been challenging coming in this late in the school year.  The Social Studies class is very behind when I arrived.  The drama class had begun rehearsing for their performance of The Wizard of Oz, and the photography class had to meet a deadline for the yearbook design and submission (which when I arrived, the yearbook design was less than half way completed).  It has been difficult picking up where someone left off.  I am proud of the students and the transition they had to make.  The photography class achieved the order deadline on time, we perform The Wizard of Oz  at the end of this month, and we are continuing to learn in Social Studies.  My daughter is actually in my Social Studies class and my Drama class.  I am enjoying this time with her, as a mom and as her teacher.
TED 633 is my 13 class with National University.  I am going for a Master's in Education with a single subject credential with a specialization in educational technology.  I am aspiring to become an art teacher.  The classes that I have taken are: HEDX 1101X, EDX 1201X, TED 602, SPD 604, TED 606, SPD 608, EDT 610, EDT 605, EDT 671, TED 623, TED 626, and TED 634.
I decided to embark on this journey becoming a teacher because I have enjoyed working with children.  I enjoyed teaching ballet in Davis when I taught for three years.  When I worked with the photographers after I graduated from Cal Poly, they always asked me to take photographs of the flower girls and ring bearers at the weddings because and they stated, "had a way of working with children."  I taught ballet for a year when we moved up north to Plumas County when my husband received a job promotion.  When I began working at the elementary school my children attend, I realized that I should pursue a career in teaching.