Learn something new: Excel

Full disclosure: I am not an expert at spreadsheets. In fact, prior to teaching, I used them in one temporary job where the maximum skill required was learning how to apply and unapply filters. This was simply to locate the location of a set of physical files between various hospitals to have those files carried to another by courier. The end. That was it. No formulas. Just filter, make a note, unfilter, end exercise.

In teaching, I have used very basic spreadsheets for the purpose of keeping track of student work (offline) and used school or district Google sheets to input data for various data collection purposes. Again, simple data entry. Nothing fancy (someone else did that).

My initial goal in learning something new was to learn how to import excel gradebooks into Powerschool. This is the program that my district (and many others) use. I’m not saying it’s bad but I do not like it. It is not user-friendly for me. I’m no tech guru, but it’s data entry at my level. That is, of course, after you create assignments for each assignment you want graded. So, say you want to grade every day’s homework for 170 school days. That’s 170 assignments that you must create. I do not do that. That’s tedious and redundant. I use excel to track every assignment because it’s new column apply percentage insert grades end exercise. Even as easy as that sounds, it’s still tedious with 70 or so students every day. Then I go and insert their quarterly or semesterly average as the end of the marking period approaches. So, I wanted a way to import those Excel columns into Powerschool in the same way I do now, but with all of the assignments. It turns out I can import spreadsheet data one assignment at a time. docs.powerschool.com/PTPH/late… Big ups to Powerschool for that giant explanatory waste of time.

So now what? I still have to use Powerschool because that’s what my district pays money for. Same old same old in that regard. I will still be keeping grades in Excel, offline, until Powerschool catches up with my mind (and the same gradebook format that has been used since, I dunno, the sixties? Just columns and rows…

I am creating an active file to share with parents, but in my research on Excel, I found a fun tool that is kind of like creating an active PDF. So you can find a tool in the Quick Access Toolbar called “Camera” (it even has a camera icon). Then, you can select an area that you would like to share:

Like this.

Then you can click camera and it takes a kind of screenshot of it. I put it on a new sheet for demonstration purposes. I know you’re yawning. Here comes the fun part… You edit the original data.

Like this. And the “picture” you took changes.

Like this. And that picture cannot be manipulated. It’s like a window that you set parameters of. It’s magical. Unfortunately, it does not cross into Google sheets with the same magic. It’s just an image. That would have been clutch because we use Google docs to communicate items home to parents. So, I wasted an hour fooling around with that, but it gave me an idea for communicating data with parents and students. It’s a non-stop shop for data collection that can be shared to parents and students while also serving to collect individual data for each student. It’s like a math standards portfolio that can updated anytime (you have internet access). So it wasn’t a fully wasted hour. Now I just have to do all of that ahead-of-time work for my new students and families. What I have learned: Um, not much. I learned a single tool in Excel, that my intended goal is a dead end, and that I have a lot of self-inflicted work ahead of me (surprise, surprise). I also found a blog post about some (reportedly) not-so-well-known functions that can really help educators. They all looked really useful, but are generally above my knowledge level and all the “assumptions” the author made do not apply to me. Check it out here: www.schoolstatus.com/blog/5-ex… What I will strive to learn now: As I mentioned before, I am not the world’s foremost expert in Excel. In fact, I’m definitely in the lower half. Way, way lower. When I decided to look more into Excel and how it can help me monitor progress and collect data while also being internet access friendly, easy to follow and manipulate, and organized, I turned to the person every tech wizard turns to for help. I turned to the person that can find the scissors she asked me to find in, the drawer where the scissors always are, even though I don’t see them: my wife. Turns out my wife is something of a mid-level guru who has been working in and with Excel extensively since before I swept her off her feet (I’m a good sweeper) back in ’09.

My objectives: (This is the paraphrased version of what I remember our conversation sounding like a few nights ago). Me: “So, I use excel to keep track of grades, and I wanted to do something that I could export into Powerschool, so I could easily impo…” Her: “That reminds me, we have to fill out a bunch of forms in Elliott’s Powerschool for going into kindergarten.” Me: “Okay. Are you listening?” Her: “Yeah, you said Powerschool, so I just, never mind, go on.” Me: “well, it turns out I can’t really do what I want, so I want to make Excel really work for me.” Her: “what do you want?” Me: “So, I need a few things. I need a gradesheet that is easily adjusted by percentages. So say I want to do it chronologically. It would look like ‘Lesson 1, Lesson 2, homework, Lesson 3, Quiz, Lesson 4, Homework, Test’. Each homework might always be valued at 5%, while a quiz is valued at 10%. The total value of the lesson work would be 40%. The test might be 20%. Then I would have 25% credit for small group lessons, but those would change frequency based on each individual student in a given unit. Does what I’m asking make sense?” Her: “Sort of, I get the percentage parts. Not sure about that last part.” Me: “Well, secondly, I would need a sheet that I can track student progress on a given standard. That would be a 1, 2, 3, or 4 out of 4. In this circumstance I would want to know the average score for the class in each standard, which would be columns, and I would want to know the average score for each student in the rows. Also, for both, I need to be able to omit a particular cell from totals in case a student arrives later in the marking period or whatever” Her: “that’s easy” Me: “says you.” Her: “well, I can teach you how to make this.” And we’re off. To start, I made a sheet that is formulated to the structure of what I need (i.e. lessons, quizzes, homework, and assessments of a given unit). I did not/ cannot include student information because I do not have access to that information, but it can easily be filled at a later time. Next I started labelling the columns with what my anticipated timeline looks like based on last year’s scope and sequence of that grade level as provided by my soon-to-be grade partner. Then she showed me how to add the appropriate weight for each column and how to adjust it as needed. As for the standards grading, it was pretty straightforward. I also wanted to add some colors to indicate (at a quick glance) how students were performing based on their standards. So a 4 is purple (my favorite), 3’s range is blue, 2’s range is orange, and 1’s range is yellow. The important thing is to keep this updated regularly and use it as appropriate: to help kids get as close to purple as possible in each standard.

Images incoming…

Teaching El to read. Maybe.

Who: My son, Elliott (“El”) Background: I have been putting this off for a year or so. I should have begun last summer break. I did not. My kid, “El,” is pretty bright, incredibly stubborn, sometimes very sweet, sometimes very aggressive. The gamut of human emotions, really. But ALWAYS at 101% of that emotion. He has been in daycare and/ or prekindergarten since he was 2 (with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic), and he has certainly picked up some reading skills from his teachers and caregivers. We also make a point to read to him (pretty much) anytime he asks and at least once a day (pretty much). He has started writing his name as early as 3 years old, and more recently has started copying what we write for birthday cards (and the like). The Plan: When: Approximately one hour per day, 5-6 days per week (usually while the younger child is napping). What: My plan is to teach my son the fundamentals of reading three letter consonant-vowel-consonant words. This is a foundational skill that has to be approached with careful understanding of the nuance associated with various vowel consonant combinations (for example, R-controlled vowels sound slightly different than a vowel not in front of an “r”). How: To start, I will evaluate his understanding of each letter sound based on his own explanation. He will tell me the sound(s) that each letter makes when I show him a book that associates words with their beginning letter and has pictures of those words. Though this may seem like “cheating,” this is also a foundational reading skill for blooming readers (using the whole text to make sense of a word). Next we will practice sounding out words based on his understanding of each letter. I will take notes on any confusion, misunderstanding, successes, and opportunities for improvement. I will continually collect data and evaluate his understanding based on his mistakes and growth over the course of 2 weeks.
As his familiarity with letter sounds grows, I will incorporate digital flash cards and games to help him practice his reading and bring “fun” into the mix. I will also provide physical and digital texts that incorporate the words and sounds he is working on.

Why: Aside from every kid needing to learn to read, El is approaching kindergarten, and I would like him to enter school with some general understanding of letters, sounds, blending, and general reading skills. I do not anticipate nor expect him to be a fluent reader going into kindergarten, but I do not want him going into school with no idea either. I am approaching this instruction in a way like small reading groups. I do not particularly enjoy teaching reading, but I love to read and want to encourage that love in all kids. Providing an individualized, and sometimes “fun” approach to reading is a great way to encourage that enjoyment. Technology also provides the opportunity for games, nuanced approaches to standard reading, and visual cues that may be unobvious to a student reading on paper. Tools such as ABC Mouse, Okapi digital literacy, and various digital texts will help guide Elliott through reading fundamentals with support from a teacher (me). Aside about reinforcement: I will be utilizing a physical chart so Elliott can earn screen time, treats, and a choice of activities (here goes $75 to the trampoline park) as rewards for mastering a list of approximately 120 words that will help solidify his CVC word recognition. I will be using “nonsense” words and actual words to test his skills using various vowels to confirm his understanding of each vowel and consonant sound combination as appropriate for a kindergartener.

The start: El demonstrated significant understanding of the consonant sounds. The only sounds he struggled to recognize were vowels. He referred to almost every vowel sound as “uh.” He did correctly tell me that “a” makes the “aaah” (short a) sound. He also said the letter “o” makes the “oh” (long o) sound. Other strengths I noticed were his recall was almost completely in order. For example, when he sounded out “cat” he said, “k…aah…ttt. Caaatuh. Cat.” There were some instances where a previous word’s final sound would be the first sound of the next word (erroneously). One similar instance he sounded out “lat,” and on the next word (gas) he said “gat.” He also made the (very common) mistake of mixing up the “b” and “d” sounds when sounding out some words. I used that as an opportunity to introduce the “bed” trick where you use your left and right thumbs to represent the letters at the beginning and end of the word. We practiced a few more words before he became restless.

Ongoing: Every (week-) day Elliott and I sit and practice sounding out words for a few minutes between jumping on the trampoline or playing with toys. It has become a chore to him, but he is also recognizing some words and sounds in the books that we read together at night. He’s even demonstrated an interest in sounding out some words that seem “approachable” to him. He gets a little bummed out when he is wrong, but I try to explain that it’s okay to make mistakes and that he’ll learn from them and do a little better next time. We have focused on one letter sound at a time. The first few days we spent with the short “a” sounds. After day one, when we returned to the practice on day two, he had a few slip-ups, but it seemed to be sticking. He would get excited to add stars to his chart and most days he spent his stars on a treat (usually something unhealthy like ice cream, but the occasional activity arose). After a few days with the “a’s” we moved onto the short “e” sounds and repeated the process for a couple of days. I made sure to bring back some short “a” words so he did not lose that practice. With the start of the e sounds, I also introduced some assigned activities on ABC Mouse. ABC Mouse is an educational game that Elliott has used periodically for a couple of years. I usually let him do whatever activities he chose, but in this case I introduced some reading activities. There is one game that is a set of word families. I had Elliott use the short “a” families for no more than 15 minutes a day. For the remaining 15 minutes he was to listen to a book being read to him using the “read to me” feature in the library. Though he was given the option to split up his time, he always chose to use the tablet for 30 minutes straight and never opted to “do it later.”

We spent a few days on the o sounds. For whatever reason El struggled to show as much confidence and mastery as he had with “a” and “e.” Perhaps he was just getting burnt out. Regardless, he pulled through and showed some confidence with “o’s.” Elliott continued to practice all sounds we had already covered on ABC Mouse and we focused on the short o almost exclusively in our one on one work. He also decided to start saving his points because (I think) he figured out that he could probably get ice cream some days anyway.

As of two weeks in, we are currently moving into the short I sounds. He’s showing progress. Hopefully this helps him have a foot forward when he enters kindergarten in a few weeks.

Who: My son, Elliott (“El”)

Background:

I have been putting this off for a year or so. I should have begun last summer break. I did not. My kid, “El,” is pretty bright, incredibly stubborn, sometimes very sweet, sometimes very aggressive. The gamut of human emotions, really. But ALWAYS at 101% of that emotion. He has been in daycare and/ or prekindergarten since he was 2 (with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic), and he has certainly picked up some reading skills from his teachers and caregivers. We also make a point to read to him (pretty much) anytime he asks and at least once a day (pretty much). He has started writing his name as early as 3 years old, and more recently has started copying what we write for birthday cards (and the like).

The Plan:

When: Approximately one hour per day, 5-6 days per week (usually while the younger child is napping).

What: My plan is to teach my son the fundamentals of reading three letter consonant-vowel-consonant words. This is a foundational skill that has to be approached with careful understanding of the nuance associated with various vowel consonant combinations (for example, R-controlled vowels sound slightly different than a vowel not in front of an “r”).

How: To start, I will evaluate his understanding of each letter sound based on his own explanation. He will tell me the sound(s) that each letter makes when I show him a book that associates words with their beginning letter and has pictures of those words. Though this may seem like “cheating,” this is also a foundational reading skill for blooming readers (using the whole text to make sense of a word). Next we will practice sounding out words based on his understanding of each letter. I will take notes on any confusion, misunderstanding, successes, and opportunities for improvement. I will continually collect data and evaluate his understanding based on his mistakes and growth over the course of 2 weeks.
As his familiarity with letter sounds grows, I will incorporate digital flash cards and games to help him practice his reading and bring “fun” into the mix. I will also provide physical and digital texts that incorporate the words and sounds he is working on.

Why: Aside from every kid needing to learn to read, El is approaching kindergarten, and I would like him to enter school with some general understanding of letters, sounds, blending, and general reading skills. I do not anticipate nor expect him to be a fluent reader going into kindergarten, but I do not want him going into school with no idea either. I am approaching this instruction in a way like small reading groups. I do not particularly enjoy teaching reading, but I love to read and want to encourage that love in all kids. Providing an individualized, and sometimes “fun” approach to reading is a great way to encourage that enjoyment. Technology also provides the opportunity for games, nuanced approaches to standard reading, and visual cues that may be unobvious to a student reading on paper. Tools such as ABC Mouse, Okapi digital literacy, and various digital texts will help guide Elliott through reading fundamentals with support from a teacher (me).

Aside about reinforcement: I will be utilizing a physical chart so Elliott can earn screen time, treats, and a choice of activities (here goes $75 to the trampoline park) as rewards for mastering a list of words that will help solidify his CVC word recognition. I will be using “nonsense” words and actual words to test his skills using various vowels to confirm his understanding of each vowel and consonant sound combination as appropriate for a kindergartener.

“A focus on content. This may be anything from committing to use OER material, textbooks and OA articles (aiming primarily to reduce costs for students). That model can be complicated to apply if insufficient high quality materials exist for one’s subject matter, or if choosing this route implies lack of content from marginalized populations. A more pedagogically-focused extreme would involve having students curate their own content or create their own textbook (for example, what Laura Gibbs calls “untextbook”, Kris Shaffer calls “critical textbook”, and Kate Bowles calls “content, it’s us” after the rhizomatic learning work of Dave Cormier, and what I call in my practice: content-independent teaching). The latter aims to empower students to construct their own knowledge, but may need some scaffolding depending on students’ incoming critical digital literacies, and again runs the risk of missing valuable material if it is not easily available online, because “the internet is like having a classroom made of glass where students can look outside easily – but outside needs to be rich enough for that exercise to be useful”. For example, if you care that students are exposed to diverse perspectives or authors, this may not automatically happen without scaffolding.” - Maha Bali, PhD, Associate Professor of Practice Center for Learning and Teaching, The American University in Cairo

Go check out the article at Year of Open

(Image taken from www.seancast.com/parenting… ) And find the author on Twitter

Why stay private? What does privacy mean?

Other than the fact that a few microblog users may have a vague idea who I am physically, no one here knows me. Little that I say here (or in several other online spaces) can come back to me in the physical world. Similarly, I play a multi-user RPG daily. Those people do not know me, either. However, those people get a side of me that many people in the real world do not. I can be boisterous and silly, and that is expected of that profile. It is a part of who I am, but it is contextually inappropriate for (most of) my coworkers in my school building. Keeping that profile different from my aforementioned Instagram handle all about vinyl records is important. The people on Instagram do not care about my shenanigans on a videogame. They (barely) care about what picture of a record I post. Similarly, my wife does not care about either of those things (and actively dislikes my massive record collection. It is a burden of both space and money). I have compartmentalized my life. I think, in today’s world, this is important. I care deeply about all three topics mentioned: the game, the records, and (most importantly) my wife. However, they are like the north end of three different magnets; they do not connect. I have game friends who like records, I have record friends who like games, and my wife has records amidst my collection, but they remain separate in my life. What does this have to do with privacy? I don’t know precisely, but I think my personal example is an example of how the world has multiple facets. The way we interact with different outlets varies. I would not want my boss to read the nonsense I share with my online friends in a game. Likewise, I don’t think she would enjoy (at all) most of the music I post. However, we are friends on Facebook, so when she sees me online, it’s mostly silly posts or pictures of my (adorable) children. That personal side of me is mostly private from my record friends or gamer friends. Privacy serves as a way to compartmentalize your life in a meaningful way to you. I could easily say the same things from my gamer profile in real life or on Facebook or Twitter, but without the context or the circumstance it would go unnoticed or (at worst? best?) get me unfollowed by my boss and grandmother. Who am I kidding? She can’t go without seeing her great-grandbabies. I only fully embraced the compartmentalization afforded to me in the past couple of years. I spent countless hours debating the value of people’s lives with folks I used to (some still do) care a lot for. Societal sways and shifts and currents lead us to a point where I had to stop arguing, and frankly, voicing my opinion in favor of human lives online because it was “controversial.” I did my best to educate or (at the very least) provide my perspective, before I could no longer take the weight of being a “social justice warrior” online. I will always hold (and share if you ask) my opinions and takes on the world (and the U.S. specifically), but it’s more of an in person, one-on-one situation than it is a feed of comments on Facebook. (They’re still out there, but I’m not going to continue that road. It was so tiring). Privacy allows us to the affordance of different faces for different places. It allows us the outlet to be ourselves (whether the same or different for any given place). That is important in today’s world. It also has the potential to be dangerous (think: extremists), but I believe the people who would use that concept for harm would intend to cause harm without it anyway. It’s almost therapy to have an outlet for each side of my personal interests. You would not know I collected records (specifically punk rock) unless you saw my record collection or asked specifically about my music tastes. You would not know I played an RPG unless the topic came up. Much like you would not know I taught elementary school unless it was relevant to the conversation. There’s no need to intermingle your worlds unless the overlap is comforting, obvious, or needed.

The open web, or better worded “openly sharing yourself online,” is beneficial to society as a whole. This comes with a myriad of caveats, but in general, I think it is important. There is so much to be learned from one person. A person’s experiences can guide others in a certain direction (or away) based on situational circumstances.

For (a hyper-specific) example, in my first post here on microblog, I cited that my wife and oldest son were overcoming food poisoning from shrimp. I could list the name of the retailer and the specific product purchased to warn others to (at least temporarily) stay away. This situation could be considered very private. I mean it’s gross, and it impacted 2 members/ 50% of my human household. Sharing this openly could prevent others from succumbing to the same results.

For a different (broader) example, I could cite my experiences in the U.S. Army. For reference, I am not a pro-war, pro-gun, pro-anything violent person, but I was in the military for four years. It served me very well for the time I spent in. I am not recruiting anyone into the military. I will practically forbid both of my sons from following in my footsteps in that regard. However, for a person who is like how I was as a teen, this is a feasible option when there are few/ no others. I was stuck in my hometown. I was extremely underpaid, lived well below poverty, and worked at least 40 hours per week. I needed out. The military job I chose was afforded to me because of my analytical abilities and a score on a test. That job (mostly) kept me away from harm to myself or harm to others. It allowed for the opportunity to do that job as a civilian at a wonderful rate of pay (I declined that option). I spent 4 years in the Army, and one year of that was in occupied* Iraq (*this is debatable, but I’m not here for political discourse. I’m not Iraqi, nor were 98% of the people I worked with, yet there we were.) The Army circumstantially allowed me to meet my wife, to later move to Connecticut, attend the school I attend now, and eventually to this blog. Many of those things could have happened without the military, but I can almost guarantee I would not be here writing anything along these lines without the experience. My point, with the life story bit, is that I could help someone in a similar situation as I was in. I could share, in pretty great detail, what my experience was like and even offer advice for their journey. That’s being open.

Privacy I don’t regularly share my experiences with shrimp or the military. If I do, there is usually some relative context surrounding the conversation, and I would never posit an opinion about the military, war, a specific grocer’s seafood section, or the effects of said seafood section without openly mentioning that ahead of time. I am of the opinion that little we do online is “private” in the sense of “it’s just me talking to you and you talking to me.” We know that is not the case unless we left our electronics inside and went for a quiet walk through the neighborhood to talk. “They” are always listening.

However, when I think of “privacy” online, I think of what I am sharing with whom. Sometimes I block people from certain posts. Sometimes I refrain from commenting because of someone else’s privacy settings. More often than not, nowadays, I keep my opinions in person and family photos online. I do not use Twitter for more than entertainment purposes. Literally. I follow musicians who I like and rarely interact. Similarly, my Instagram handle is records_mostly. I post pictures of records I am listening to. I follow other like-minded users and musicians who I appreciate. There are a few family and friends on there, but their interactions are relatively limited. Facebook. Ugh, Facebook. I use it because I am not native to where I live and am able to share posts with family and friends abroad about my children (I’m old now, they only care about my kids). The last post I made (shared, really) was over 2 months ago. My linked in is incredibly outdated. I don’t think my old MySpace is around any longer. That’s pretty much it. I am extremely private online. On the surface. I’m sure that anyone with half the ability to could take one of my Instagram posts, locate my coordinates with a picture, somehow manipulate the web into tracking my Google accounts and steal my credit card information within a few minutes. I’m certain that is possible. My limited understanding of the background of the online world leaves me vulnerable, probably. However, ignorance is bliss. Until my credit cards are maxed out and my bank account is emptied, I’ll consider my situation pretty private.

collaboration > curriculum (Ryan Boren boren.blog/2018/02/0… )

Many colleges and universities have attempted to use or have used active student participation in curriculum design. A 2016 article by Chris Havergal highlighted the benefits students reported based on organizational experiences associated with codesigning curriculum (1).

This article (http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/57709/1/57709.pdf) from Bovill and Buley presents evidence (or ideas) to support the concept that students develop a deeper understanding (and possibly connection) to the content when they are involved in their instruction.

This segment of a video of a conference speech (https://youtu.be/lelmXaSibrc?t=1132) highlights how dynamic user created videogame levels can be.

All of these ideas lead me to my opinion. Students should be able to guide their own learning.

I teach elementary school. Mostly science and social studies (for now). Students have a wealth of background knowledge they need to develop at this age. Teachers can still guide students to their goals and objectives while students get (at the very least choice or) individualized learning opportunities. I am not just talking about the legally required adjustments that IEPs or 504s bring.

I mean full on student-led learning.

This does not have to be all year. It does not have to be all class period. It does need to happen. Certainly students have information that they should learn before being “released into the wild.” They may need support for whatever they are studying.

The internet, as it stands now, is full of resources and opportunities for students in any subject area. There are programs that can help students learn to read or complete complex mathematical computations instantly. There are websites filled with resources and information via text, video, games, and more. There are simulations that can be used and manipulated to act out scientific principles in a way that reading on paper cannot do justice.

These are all options, but there are many sources for any topic, and that is just the internet. The physical world has as many opportunities (more even) that can be utilized based on the needs and wants of a student.

I am trying to keep this vague, blanketed idea as direct and simple as possible, but any educator knows that nothing is so easy. Certainly, a teacher is not going to just start the year off allowing a room of 25 eight year-olds to choose what they want to study and how they want to go about it (within the confines of the concepts and skills required), but that teacher could.

Taking a suggestion from the oft-cited Carol-Ann Tomlinson, teachers could implement one part of their curriculum at a time to allow for student-led (or designed) learning. Maybe it is one aspect of a unit or a whole unit of study out of several. Perhaps teachers could use a final unit as a “capstone” project to allow for more student-led opportunities.

I would suggest only starting there. Keep expanding as often as possible.

“What about the obstacles in doing this?” one might ask. Schools or districts can be difficult to circumvent. I mean, they just paid thousands/ millions of dollars for this new, award-winning curriculum (that will be discarded and replaced in 4 years), so why we would just not use it?

Use the curriculum. Curriculum is too often treated as an be all end all. It is a resource. Treat it as a resource. Use it like an encyclopedia (remember those?) or a text with information.

OR

Use the curriculum as intended but create opportunities for students to go outside of what every other 6th grader in Anytown, USA is doing. Build off the information. Push it to the side and try something else entirely.

Close your classroom door and allow for experiences that a textbook will not offer. Allow students to integrate technology, their own ideas, other’s ideas, your ideas, other ideas, and the curriculum into whatever works for their vision for what they need to learn what they have to. That’s a mouthful.

Allow students to reach their objectives by whatever means they see fit. Afterall, they know themselves better than anyone. Allow them to trust themselves and guide them when they need it.

Post #2

This blog exists to reflect on teaching and education and its relationship to technology and the digital world. It also exists so I can talk about myself and my life out loud. I am an elementary school educator, a student of education, a lover of music, and more.